# Freebie from a buddy's neighbor



## TecumsehBriggs (Jun 17, 2011)

Picked up a 1990 Craftsman II, model 917.252502 from a buddy's neighbor. Old Bill is a nice old guy, but his eyesight is very poor. Legally blind. He ran his tractor til it quit. Engine locked up tight. Got a call from my buddy who didn't really want it. "Come get a free lawn tractor". Let it sit in the backyard over the winter & fought the weeds this summer to free it. Pulled the engine. It was a 13hp Briggs Gold 28N707. 

Had a 14hp Briggs ohv , model 287 807, from a "race mower" sitting in an old Murray, but never hooked it up. Set both engines up on the workbench on milk crates & swapped parts over. Carb, intake, throttle/choke assembly, linkage, air cleaner assembly. It had no muffler, but had a good exhaust pipe. Couldn't use the original muffler cuz the L-head has the exhaust exit on the opposite side. I made a deflector for the muffler I removed from my beloved Ranch King & mig welded the pipe to the muffler. Bolted right up. Bolted the engine to the chassis, bolted in the belt guides, bolted on the drive pulley & idler pulley after cleaning & oiling the struggling idler pulley bearings. Hooked up the wiring, hoping I got it right. Cleaned up the battery cable ends & installed a battery. Removed the old fuel filter, shutoff valve & hose. Old Bill had the shutoff valve after the filter, before thr carb. Cut a new hunk of hose & installed everything the right way. Poured in some gas. Checked & filled the oil. Turned the key. Nothing. Set the parking brake. Turned the key. Started right up! Had to adjust the carb. Kept popping once in a while. Runs nice & smooth now. 

Things left to do:
Change seat or install a new seat cushion
Find a headlight lens, sockets & wiring
Check tires for leakage
Go thru deck & install

2nd good day of work on this thing. Engine cost me $50, attached to a "race mower". Battery was $20. Fuel filter $1. 

Soon this will be up for sale on Craigslist & sit in front of my house with the other Craftsman. Both very similar.






















































































Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tractor Forum mobile app


----------



## TecumsehBriggs (Jun 17, 2011)

Pulled the mower deck out & cleaned it up. Removed the deflector & linkage. Straightened the steel mulching deflector under the deck, sanded down the rust & treated it with acid. Belt was rough, but I had a good used belt in the shed. Going to need 2 new blades. I used the blades from this deck to finish the Frankenstein Craftsman tractor.












































Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tractor Forum mobile app


----------



## TecumsehBriggs (Jun 17, 2011)

The new blades arrived, so I figured they weren't gonna install themselves. Found the blade bolts, domed washers & lock washers that attach the blades to the spindles. Ran them on the wirebrush wheel & wirebrushed the underside of the deck & cleaned the spindles. A dab of anti-sieze & attached the blades. Checked the blade alignment. Not too bad. Flipped the deck over & touched up the black paint. Got some white overspray on it from painting the trailer wheels.
Oiled up all moving parts, installed the linkage & belt. 
The seat had been bugging me, so I swapped the seat from a Craftsman parts tractor in the inventory. Cleaned it up, patched the cracks & holes with black duct tape, then wiped it down with an ArmorAll wipe. I may spray the seat back gloss black. It's a little faded. Started to rain, so enough for today.












































Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tractor Forum mobile app


----------



## TecumsehBriggs (Jun 17, 2011)

Reinstalled the deflector chute.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tractor Forum mobile app


----------



## TecumsehBriggs (Jun 17, 2011)

Took some new pics, made a craigslist ad. Sitting out front of my house with the other one.






























Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tractor Forum mobile app


----------



## TecumsehBriggs (Jun 17, 2011)

Took apart the original engine. Rod shattered in a million pieces. Rod journal pretty rough.












































Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tractor Forum mobile app


----------



## TecumsehBriggs (Jun 17, 2011)

Sold the tractor. Separated the engine parts for scrap & recycling.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tractor Forum mobile app


----------

