Ariens GT17 garden tractor repower

The driveshaft is a rigid steel piece, with a "flex disc" at the flywheel coupler as well as the side that connects to the hydro transaxle.

Those pieces are flat and circular with 4 holes for 3/8" bolts to attach the sides of the DS. They are some sort of plastic with reinforcement of Kevlar or similar, our so I'm told.

You can see one in this zoomed in shot. Sitting on the drive selector on the right side of the tractor over the back wheel. That round off white piece

 

The driveshaft is about 3 feet long, fwiw. I would think that raising the engine up 3/8" would not result in much angle change in the DS over that distance. Also the couplers are flexible to an extent.

I'll measure the difference, and see if there's any binding issues by raising the front mouthing off the DS up 3/8" or .375.

 

I don't think that either 3/8" or .375" would be a issue just whatever you do avoid 9.5mm.

 

Hmm, that's the same, but in metric.

I've been converting MSI costs to sheet/roll sizes all morning and my brain is fried. Lunch soon will help.

 

It's that extra .025 that the 9.5mm that will throw it over the top.

Forgive me, but I'm so deep into this that I just want it done so I can move onto building my woodshed.

 

Notch the frame with a radius and be done. Not like you are going to beat on it that hard. If it makes you sleep better weld some extra steel to the bottom of the frame to beef it up some.

 

This thing's fighting us the whole way, but we are super close now. The risers for the engine are a good idea, since they will give more space for the filter, the clutch, allow me to use my slightly longer belts for the clutch, give more room for the starter, and not cause any issues with the driveshaft.







The filter is tight in there, but it goes on and off just fine. A cup type "socket" wrench for the filter might be best, but there's probably room to use a strap type wrench as well.

We did grind down the frame a little more around the filter area, as well as grinding a little spot at the rear of the engine cradle where the stanchion for the steering wheel it's. It was a minor thing but an easy fix. I didn't want my engine shroud hitting the chassis.

The engine is in, after having to take it out yet again this evening after we had 3 of the engine mount bolts tight. Long story, but the shroud by the starter prevented the bolt from being tightened. We had to add washers, and then that issue was corrected. The only way to add those washers was too remove the engine. Oh well, it should be in for the last time.

 

We'll be back at the tractor fix today. Hopefully the relay / wiring goes easy. We've had enough roadblocks and obstacles....

 

Getting there...

It runs, but only so far on the craftsman wiring. We tried it this way to ensure it runs. Well it does. It runs very well.

Got the driveshaft hooked up, throttle, choke, and fuel line hooked up. Clutch belts on, exhaust on. Added the oil to the engine, as well as the filter. It starts and runs great, but I will need to get new spark plugs once I get it home.

The blower fan works great and really blows a lot of air through the heads.

So I need to study the wiring for the magnum in the manual that was linked here in this thread. The craftsman and the ariens both use indak key switches, and both have the same main 5 pole connector. The ariens has a 6th connection that is separate and that was for the points ignition. That wire went to the coil, so it's not needed. What I need to do is look at the wiring ok the craftsman and see what wire the relay is on. I also had to cut one wire on the kt17 that went from the middle wire of the voltage regulator that went to the keyswitch. I had to cut it as it wouldn't come off of the engine without snipping it.
It goes to the middle connection here.

 

I bought a new battery today for it too.

I jacked the back of the tractor up so that the drive wheels could turn, without the tractor going anywhere. I thought that was extra insurance without having the last safety nanny on the ariens in play with the standalone wiring harness.

Until I get this wiring figured out, I won't be able to test the electric clutch for the front and center PTO, which runs the mower deck and the snowblower. So those are kinda necessary.

I did think for a minute about taking the wiring and running it on the side of the cab, janky style. Then take the positive wire from the electric PTO on the craftsman wiring and hooking it to the electric clutch. There's 2 wires on the craftsman pto and only 1 on the ariens.

I just don't think that will be necessary to run the wiring from the craftsman. I'll get it...I hope.

I used to be a lot better with wiring, but I haven't had to test my wiring skills in a while.

 

Glad to hear you got it running. I changed one out on my mower. It went very well because it was an identical engine. Just a matter of time and you'll have it all done.

 

Yeah, while it was Kohler flat twin for Kohler flat twin, the magnum is a fully different ignition system. Th were were several hurdles to overcome, smaller crank diameter from the kt17, a bad oil seal and caked up stator coil from that oil, needing to swap starters to the old one, having to cut the frame a bit to fit the oil filter, using spacers, now having to space the hood/ grille up due to the spacers making the exhaust hit and not clear the hole in the grille.

All hurdles.. all will be cleared.

 

Well, I just looked through the owners manual of the m18 and there's no wiring diagram. I'll need to look for that before I go further.

 

Well I found these.


Now I'll need to look at the harness of the ariens and duplicate the relay of the craftsman into the ariens. I also think there's no solenoid on the ariens. There's definitely one on the craftsman.

That green wire that I snipped on the ariens goes to the top ( 12 o clock position) on the key, so I can find that wire on the magnum and connect it.

 

Ok, taking the trailer to work tomorrow so we can work on the tractor and hopefully finish it up and take it home tomorrow evening.

It's really just the wiring and I've studied the wiring schematics. The key switches are the same between the two, so it shouldn't be too hard. I will have to add the relay from the craftsman into the attend for the ariens. Just have to find which wire to put that into.

We'll also be spacing the hood up and hopefully mounting the new seat on it. The seat is not a direct swap, but it's got a steel pan so we should be able to mount it on wherever it needs to go. We've got a drill, a grinder, and a welder. It will work...

So anyone that's familiar with the wiring for the electric clutches, I've got a question. Mine has 1 wire, and the wiring on the craftsman has 2. The 1 wire has to go to the positive and the second would need to be the ground, right?

 

Yup

 

Makes sense, but I wanted to ask before I fry it.

 

Ok...I guess I need to clarify...you are using your old clutch, but the Crapsman wiring, right? If so you only need to hook up the power wire from the harness...apparently your clutch gets its ground internally...I don't believe there is any reason to hook up the ground side of the connector to anything...

 

I'm going to use the old 1 wire ariens clutch because it has 2 pulleys and 2 belts. The crapsman has a 1 pulley system. I'll use the ariens wiring ( I think), so I need to add the relay and the solenoid from the crapsman into my ariens wiring.



I think that the best plan, at least. I think. That way the lighting and any safeties left on the ariens will stay in place.