# Older Craftsman 46" snow thrower compatability with 2005+ Lawn Tractor?



## Atrus (Dec 3, 2019)

Hello! First post here, although weeks of google searching keeps dumping me onto this forum - seems like you have a wealth of knowledge here!

I have a Craftsman lawn tractor - YTS4500. It's beefy for a lawn tractor, but not a garden tractor. Model is 917.28990, mfg date May 2009. I'd really like to find a used snow thrower as budget is tight and the driveway at my new house is rural and long. 

One I am eyeing locally is a Craftsman 46" - 486.248463. From what I understand, this fits 2005 and older tractors (and, I realize, it's meant for Garden Tractors, not Lawn Tractors). 

When comparing images of this versus the model Craftsman specs for my tractor - 486.24837 - they look extremely similar. I also understand that the frames on the tractors were changed in 2005. 

I realize the "official" answer is that this won't fit my tractor. Searching seems to indicate that these are more universal than the mfg lets on....people have used the "wrong" blower on their tractor with success. Is there a way to fit this to my tractor? For instance, is it feasible that if I were to pick up the frame mounts for the 24837, would the 248463 blower work with that?

I know I am taking some risk and trying to cobble things together - just trying to see if anyone's had experience in something similar or can better explain what changed in the frames from 2005 and 2006.


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## marc_hanna (Apr 10, 2017)

If you can weld, almost anything is possible.


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## Atrus (Dec 3, 2019)

Unfortunately, I cannot - one of those things I'd like to learn, but haven't yet.


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

I have no idea if that blower would fit or not, but they do look similar. Mounting brackets are slightly different, ad the width is obviously different.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

You could probably figure out a way without welding to get the 24846 blower to "hang" on your tractor. The real problem is going to be getting a clutch idler assembly to work to make it a snow blower and not a snow plow. They use two completely different clutch idlers. Here's a couple of PDF's that illustrate the difference
*24846*
http://download.sears.com/own/24846e.pdf
*24837*
https://www.snowblowersdirect.com/manuals/craftsman_24837_manual.pdf


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