I just got done replacing the oil sump gasket on my Craftsman GT5000. The hardest part was getting the stuck pulleys off. After trying two different pullers and alot of liquid wrench I decided to take the four bolts holding the motor on the body off and take the entire plate the engine sits on off. Then I just flipped the engine over, sprayed some more liquid wrench and then using two flat bars I was able to pry the pulleys off fairly easily. The key to the whole job is to take pictures and make notes of where everything goes. At this point I've discovered that I didn't take enough pictures of where the throttle, and governor springs go. When I first got it fired up it was stuck in a wide open rev. I disconnected the spring and went to youtube on how to adjust the governor. Take it slow and you should be ok. Good luck!

I wonder how Norton Man would have spoken about the Kawasaki ZX-11D which was the sole possession of 19-year old Lance Corporal Marineguy. 130 rear-wheel hp (not accounting for the 10% ram-air boost at high speed) moving around 600 lbs at warp speed. Talk about reverence; I recited the Lord's Prayer as I pulled it off the dealer's lot and let the clutch out for the first time. My buddies and I made a trip from LA to Vegas on I-15. I guy on a GSX-R 750 pulled up along us and started pulling wheelies and gunning his throttle. We waved him off, declining his challenge. I waited till he was a 5 mile speck on the horizon of the straight desert highway, dropped it from 6th to 4th and gave him a 175mph fly-by. Man that machine was fun while it lasted. I can't believe it (or any open-class sportbike made since then) is even street legal. To drive it at posted speeds was like walking with no more than a 5-inch stride. Nowadays, when I get ideas about buying a motorcycle again (a cruiser this time, no need for speed anymore), my wife points at the three little boys playing outside, then to the 8" Z-shaped scar on my knee and says "Hell no." At least I can predict thunderstorms with my leg. Handy superpower for a pilot. Rbigg, Back on subject, I'd say pull the whole spindle and wheel off and take it to a garage (or neighbor) where they have an impact gun. It's amazing how something so simple like a lawn tractor tire can be the source of so much frustration. If you think taking a wheel off is a pain, just try replacing a tire on those little rims. Don't even think about attempting that without a large compressor, a valve core removal tool, and a ratcheting nylon strap.

Thanks, both of you. Yes, Virgil sorry for the typo ... the millstone is 62" by 8", the pond is 14.5' interior diameter, 5' deep overall and 7' deep in the center. We are in CT,and based on what I have been told for other projects, 5' is well below the frost line. As for soil type, well there is a reason we have all those stone walls in CT! We had to sandblast several boulders to dig it out. It is pretty rocky. I was hoping we could support the millstone with something of a narrower dimension ... maybe it can widen out at the base to help distribute the load. Thanks again for your help.

Not trying to belabor the obvious, but there is a world of difference in the services, expenses and legal liabilities between "a consult on the build...with a one page build recommendation", and a legally required and stamped structural engineering design, details and accompanying load calculations necessary for building permit. And then there's the requiredconstruction field inspections that are required to assure the builder is correctly following the structural design and specifications. You get exactly what you pay for, assuming your local jurisdiction allows you to do whatever you want. If you have to follow the regulations of the jurisdiction, you will pay for the services required by them. The posts on this thread reflect a whole series of completely different scenarios, which are not comparble to one another. Buyer beware! Better still, buyer check with your local building official to see what your jurisdiction requires so you know exactly what you have to do. You won't get that authoratative information here because no one knows what's mandatory in your area.