thanks for all the tips guys......I'll give it another shot. Never had any trouble on the few regular mower tires I've done....must be the wider rims I guess?? The one side seated up just fine but this other one has made me string together cuss words that I don't think I've ever strung together before. 

I'm ready to mount my front axle. What I was planning on doing is cutting down to the 3/4" tubing ( red dots) and putting another piece of 3/4" between the frame bracing and then welding the axle to those pieces and up the frame. Any problems with doing that? Hopefully that makes sense. It'll be welded to the frame on both sides and then all the way across the length of it to the 3/4" tubing.

Any options other than EC for a brake hat?

I ran into the same problem with not enough keyway. I used Roosters trick and extended to keyway using a die grinder with several cut off wheels stacked together. Then took my time and extended the keyway all the way to the transaxle housing. It worked fine I have done several that way.

that might be an option if the hat is too short. Good idea too......as long as you don't sneeze mid cut. 

I ordered the golf cart rims today. Those should be fine to get me started. It's easier to nickel and dime it once it's all built because you're not constantly shelling out cash for parts like I am now. I ordered my hubs, the .75-1.25 bushing for the brake, and wheels. I have the front axle and spindles coming next week sometime. I still need to find front hubs/wheels then it's on to tires. This initial punch is what's killing me. After this stuff and the brakes it starts to get cheaper. I sold some track tires I had for my car so that gave me some cash to play around with. I'm about out of stuff to sell though.  

thanks.....I have a front axle and spindles coming from SaltAMF so when I get those I can figure out what I need for the front end to get wheels on there. Then it's just a matter of setting the height. After that I'm going to tackle the steering, finishing the brakes, and jackshaft set up. This thing might be running before the summer's over yet. 

I have used that chassis with and without the tunnel with a transaxle....I could not find a way to fit a jackshaft in there!
A transmission and live axle fits, but a tran-saxle when sucked up into there fills the space up!

are you saying even with the tunnel you couldn't fit it using a transaxle? Looks like there's room if I do it that way.

RULES ONLY SAY NO CHOPING THE FRAME. THIS INCLUDES WIDTH,WHEEL BASE OR LENGTH.
NOTHING THERE ABOUT ADDING TO THE FRAME AS LONG AS IT DOESNT CHANG WIDTH,LENGTH OR WHEELBASE.

HOW MUCH IS THIS TUNNEL GOING TO CHANGE THE LOOK OF THE MACHINE?
WHAT FRAME ARE YOU USING? WHAT CLASS ARE YOU BUILDING FOR?
I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A PICTURE OF WHAT YOUR DOING IF POSSABLE.

Here's a picture of what I'm working with. The red lines will be my cuts and that brown thing haha will be the top pulley of the jackshaft. Then I'll build a cover for it. It won't change the dimensions of the mower at all. It's a craftsman frame and I'm not sure on the class yet. It currently has a single ohv intek but I can get a v twin for free from a buddy of mine if I decided to go that route. The local track has a "stock modified single" and "stock modified twin". I just have the bracing in now and will be getting a solid front end this week. At that point I think I'm done until I can get wheels/tires for it so I can lower it and set the height.

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Wouldn't be easier to just use a tunnel chassis?

yes....but I gotta work with what I got. Once I get my feet wet with this one and learn more about what I'm doing then I'll pick and choose my next one. This was free though so I have nothing but time invested so far although that's about to change.