# Basics: How to Source/Find/Locate Craftsman Parts



## E350 (Apr 21, 2015)

I recently purchased an old Craftsman II 19HP Twin B&S 42" deck riding mower ($350) and an old Craftsman GT6000 20HP Twin Kohler electric hitch sleeve garden tractor with 46" deck and furrow plow ($500). Both are in good shape and have been well maintained but I have had to source/find/locate parts for these old tools. I have found that Sears has a well organized/logistical parts locator setup. Better than I have found anywhere for just about anything (similar to the IBM parts locator for you guys and gals whom are familiar with that). (Maybe Ariens, Honda and other manufacturers are just as good, but I don't have experience with them to share.) Anyway, I thought I would share how to source/find/locate parts for Craftsman products.* This is what I do:

Every Craftsman engine powered tool seems to have at least five things:

1. Model Name (i.e., EZ Steer track snowblower)
2. Model No. 
 3. Serial No.​ 4. Owner's Manual​ 5. Part Nos.​ For a riding mower or garden tractor the Model Name is on the engine hood/cowling, the Model No. and Serial No. is on the plate under the seat. For a snow thrower/blower it seems that the Model Name is on the top of the auger housing and the Model No./Serial No. plate is on the side of the auger housing.​ The numbers for various Parts can only be found through use of the Owner's Manual. Put your Model No. in the "Find" field below - not in the Model/Part "Search" field above. Once you have your Model No. you can download the Manual here:​ User Manual Downloads | SearsPartsDirect​
Download the pdf of your Owner's Manual.

Page through the Manual (or use the search field in Acrobat) until you find an exploded diagram showing the Part you need. Next to the Part will be a diagram "item" number. 

Page through further in the Manual until you come to the Parts No. legend/list associated with the diagram where your Part is shown. Look up the item number, select and copy the Part No. next to it.

Then go back to this screen:

User Manual Downloads | SearsPartsDirect

But this time select Part No. from the drop down menu and paste your Part No. into the field and click "Search." It will take you to the page where your Part No. is described and offered for sale. Or it will give the updated new improved substitute Part No. (important for ebay searches, below). Or it will say "not available." Don't worry, you're not done yet.

At this point I may do a "chat" (by clicking the chat button or clicking on the pop up chat window) with a sears parts direct customer service representative to verify that what I have found is what I need. In fact, when I was considering buying a Craftsman EZ Steer blower, I chatted first with the customer service rep and had her do all of the above for me and she chatted back with the link to the tracks I was asking about showing that the tracks were still available. You can print your entire chat session or print it to pdf on your computer with the links active for later.

Once you get your Part No., either buy it from searspartsdirect.com (which has slightly higher prices than at the Sears store and adds a shipping charge, or buy it online and have it sent to your closest Sears store for free for you to pick up or

Enter the part number into ebay.com or amazon.com

I have bought new old stock (NOS) original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and used "not available" screws, bolts, air filter boxes, B&S carburetor rebuild kits, and other stuff on ebay that way.

And do put your Model Name, Model No. or Part No. in front of site:craigslist.org and search all of craigslist. For instance copy this into your browser for fun:

Craftsman EZ Steer tracks snow site:craigslist.org

This is a useful internet search technique because it allows you to search for anything you put in before the site: and it only searches that site and its subsites. For instance you could do the same thing for Ariens like:

tracks site:Ariens.com

I run all those searches in the URL field in the browser rather than in the browser's search field. I use DuckDuckGo for most of my internet searches.

My idea in posting this thread is to contribute what I can even if it is basic stuff, so that when I ask you guys and gals a question you will be more apt to contribute back.

* This is what it says on the searspartsdirect.com FAQs: "Sears PartsDirect has parts for all major brands, including GE, Whirlpool, Briggs & Stratton, Husqvarna, Maytag, Craftsman, Kenmore, Bosch, Sony, Panasonic, Singer, ProForm and many more."


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## CO Snow (Dec 8, 2011)

*$$$$$*

I always found that SearsPartsDirect was more expensive for Craftsman parts compared to buying them elsewhere.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

CO Snow said:


> I always found that SearsPartsDirect was more expensive for Craftsman parts compared to buying them elsewhere.


In this case what I would do is find the OE part number on the Sears site, then do a google (amazon and ebay are always good in price) search for that part number or a crossreference number and get the part that is available and fits my bill. :smiley-confused009:


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## CO Snow (Dec 8, 2011)

hsblowersfan said:


> In this case what I would do is find the OE part number on the Sears site, then do a google (amazon and ebay are always good in price) search for that part number or a crossreference number and get the part that is available and fits my bill. :smiley-confused009:


Agree. But in my case, I had my owners manual for the part #. So I'd check the price on the Sears site and then check elsewhere for comparison purposes. Usually I could find it cheaper elsewhere.


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## E350 (Apr 21, 2015)

You know, Mr. *CO Snow* makes a good point. Although the purpose of the thread was to show how to source, find, locate parts (especially for older Craftsman tools) as far as pricing goes, I agree I have never purchased anything from searspartsdirect.com because, as mentioned in the original post, their prices are higher and they charge shipping. Most of my purchases have been on ebay.com NOS OEM or used OEM and one purchase on Sears.com (a new OEM riding mower bumper) which is Sears' online store which provides the ship-to-store for free option.

As far as pricing goes my experience is the best pricing is found in the following order:
1. ebay.com (with the best buyer protection on the planet BTW)
2. Amazon.com
3. craigslist.org (actual ranking depends on the item and the locale, and the pirce can be anywhere from overpriced to underpriced to free. 
4. Sears.com online store
5. searspartsdirect.com


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

CO Snow said:


> Usually I could find it cheaper elsewhere.


I agree, I does happen.
On the other end the Sears site should help people that do not have the owners manual or parts manual for their equipment to locate the part number and or the part itself when needed. :smiley-confused009:


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## bwdbrn1 (Nov 24, 2010)

This is all good information to keep in mind when searching for parts, and the best prices on them. I've had similar experiences with other manufactures, including Honda. With the part number in hand, you can search for the best price, including shipping charges which can vary from one supplier to another, and get yourself the best deal.


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

I think Sears direct parts are always more expensive for *anything* you are fixing, not just snow blower parts.
But they are a good source for info on whatever machine your trying to fix.

E 350......Would you know anyway to put a date of manufacture on an older Craftsman?
I forgot when I bought mine, it is from around 2000....I think.:redface:


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## E350 (Apr 21, 2015)

*Big_Ed*: Hmmm... This works for lawn tractors:

TractorData.com - Craftsman lawn tractors sorted by year

I will look for a similar list for snow throwers. But I would bet that by chatting with a searspartsdirect.com customer service rep could tell you.

Assuming that you bought it new and still have the printed manual, the last page of the manual has the date of printing. (A downloaded manual would likely have been updated and would have that later updated print date.)

*sscotsman* says it is easier to date the year of manufacture of the engine than the snow thrower itself:

http://www.snowblowerforum.com/foru...on/1026-haban-craftsman-manufacture-date.html


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

E350 said:


> *Big_Ed*: Hmmm... This works for lawn tractors:
> 
> TractorData.com - Craftsman lawn tractors sorted by year
> 
> ...


Hmm, I will check the manual. I do have the original....somewhere.
When I find it, it is somewhere in my mess in the garage.:redface:

I probably still have the receipt in my spare receipt box, which is a 3'x3' box, filled with all my "miscellaneous" receipts from the last 25 years or so. 

It would take a week going through that box!:icon-embarrassed:

You think there would be a way to date it off the serial numbers, like on my old Snow Bird.


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## E350 (Apr 21, 2015)

This is interesting:

Craftsman Snow Removal Equipment Parts | SearsPartsDirect

Rep at searspartsdirect did not have a simple cheat sheet list of models and year of manufacturer. Maybe nothing like that exists?


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