Pulley Question

Chunk: "I'd say steel, its fairly hard, bit not as brittle as cast iron. Definatly the way to go!"


Ive ran a cast iron 6" pulley on the mod murray and swapped it to the MTD - its held up well - was like $30 tho when i bot it years ago - i bot a set of steel pulleys for the agway last year - when i work on the wheelhorse or wizard- those are getting the steel pulleys with the weld in center from TSC.

there's a TSC about 45 minutes away from me so might go sometime and look around for a pulley. i'm really waning to get it back together.

Yeah, not saying cast iron wouldnt hold up, as it would probably be fine. Its just a brittle material, and possibly more expensive.

Cant wait to see how it works out though, its annoying when something so simple like a pulley stops you driving it!

Chunk wrote:

Yeah, not saying cast iron wouldnt hold up, as it would probably be fine. Its just a brittle material, and possibly more expensive.

Cant wait to see how it works out though, its annoying when something so simple like a pulley stops you driving it!

oh i know!!! lol. as soon as i get a pulley i will be able to get alot done.i'll measure for a new belt and then put on my new rear wheels. try it out and then probably build a rear bumper. maybe some paint and a little engine tune up.
this little round piece of metal with a hole in i is keeping me from all of this fun. lol. oh well,its not like it is my daily driver. lol

I really cant wait until by build gets to the point where I only need to build things like bumpers and stuff. And I cant wait to paint it either!

Chunk wrote:

I really cant wait until by build gets to the point where I only need to build things like bumpers and stuff. And I cant wait to paint it either!

oh me too. i'll be sitting in class and be daydreaming about what color or colors i want it to be. lol

Ive had plenty of time to think about that! I know what colour (mostly) I want mine, someting different. Gonna keep it under wraps until I do it though

Chunk wrote:

Ive had plenty of time to think about that! I know what colour (mostly) I want mine, someting different. Gonna keep it under wraps until I do it though

same here with the paint. i have a few ideas in mind. i want to love looking at it as much as i will riding it. lol

oh, and sometime this week i'm going to a TSC about 30 minutes from me to see if they have any pulleys, even if its the weld in kind.

The weld in kind are good. Really wish we got those out my way. They're prove so useful!

well, i bet you guys over there have stuff we don't in the states

Over seas they have some cool looking tractors and stuff - I always said if i won the lottery id go down to austrailia and buy a couple UTEs and have em shipped back to the states - itd work here because theres no emissions laws or inspections

Ouch! Think of the shipping though.
I was thiking about heading to the states sometime and picking up a nice 65 Pontiac GTO, its my dream car. Would have to have alot of money for that though!

ma dream car is a MK1/MK2 ford escort, okay there not fast but there look and feel amazing!

I wouldn't mind a Renault Clio v6 sport.... Might be fun

hey guys, i found a 6 inch pulley that SHOULD work. lol it was at TSC for 17 dollars (plus tax lol) good deal? it is made of steel so that should be good. i will probably get it tomorrow. (didn't today because i needed to do some more measuring to make sure it fit right) i'm pretty sure i want the 6 inch. but it would be possible for me to get a 7 inch, the only reason i thought about puttin a 7 inch was maybe when i put the quad wheels on i got it might be too fast (correct me if this wouldn't affect it at all) and i didn't know if having a 6 inch in front and a 6 inch in back would cause belt slippage or too fast of a mower. idk, i'm just thinking everything that possibly could happen out in my head before i open my wallet. lol well i'm rambling, sorry for writing a book.

If your going to run a 6" in the front, I would go 7+ in the back. But that just me. Sometimes you need that low gear.

FearlessFront wrote:

If your going to run a 6" in the front, I would go 7+ in the back. But that just me. Sometimes you need that low gear.

thats what i was thinkin about. if i remember right didn't your murray have a 4 inch in front and a 5 inch in back? and the speed you get with it is what i'd like to get

indianaboy93 wrote:

FearlessFront wrote:

If your going to run a 6" in the front, I would go 7+ in the back. But that just me. Sometimes you need that low gear.

thats what i was thinkin about. if i remember right didn't your murray have a 4 inch in front and a 5 inch in back? and the speed you get with it is what i'd like to get

Yup you got it! It's a good speed for what I do with it. I don't feel like it's too slow. It used to be faster, and it was scary.

mine was scary too (26 mph is way too fast lol) i'd like 15 in fifth gear and full throttle.
i might have another mower (junk) with a pulley that might fit it but i think it is an 8 inch (or maybe 9 idk, just looked didn't measure) i might have to think about it some more. ugh, i wish i could try all options without spending the money lol

Luckily mines a 6 speed so I have that little extra seperation inbetween gears. Ive not totally tested mine out yet, 1:1 could be too much, only time will tell!

$17 is a great price- i paid $30 for that 6" cast iron one , but that was like 5 years ago - almost bot a weld in one once- but that was before i had my welder.

My murray was cool in the fact that 1st and 2nd were near stock speeds- after 3rd it got scarey fast ( 6 speeds) - wouldnt of been an issue if it handled better tho- i actually liked running wide open with it .

It ran great on smooth ashphalt - i had it cranked up over at the father in laws dead end street when it was stock - wish i coulda taken the 18HP over- coulda seen what it really wouldve done.

well i'm driving myself insane guys. lol i've been on and off youtube all day (today was my first day of summer vacation) looking at mower videos to try and help me decide if a 6 in front and 6 in back will be what i want. i'm pretty sure its what i want but i still feel alittle uneasy.
Fearlessfront's black murray has a 4 on the front and a 5 on the back and has the speed and power i want. my thinking was that having both pulleys 6 inches would be really close to the same.
But, then i've seen videos where the guy has been asked (in comments) how fast his mower goes with a 1:1 ratio and his response was too fast and that it was unstable.
idk what to do. what ya'll think? everyone has been a great help so far.

I think 1:1 may be a little fast. But mine still have a good low gear. Without testing mine fully yet, I cant tell you. Im most likely keeping the 1:1, with the 16hp twin, it has all the torque it needs.
Plus you can always control the speed with the clutch some. If youve got any doubt fit a 7 inch in the back.

Chunk wrote:

I think 1:1 may be a little fast. But mine still have a good low gear. Without testing mine fully yet, I cant tell you. Im most likely keeping the 1:1, with the 16hp twin, it has all the torque it needs.
Plus you can always control the speed with the clutch some. If youve got any doubt fit a 7 inch in the back.

well what makes me think it will be fine is the fact that i had a 6 on front and a 3 on back (found out two weeks ago the belt was too small of width so it made the front a 5.5 and the back a 2) made it go 26 mph. i'd be doubling the rear pulley size so i thought maybe it would cut it almost in half to say like 15 mph.

Also i've been on youtube alot watchin videos. i found a guy with the same exact mower as mine that had the stock 3.5 inch pulley on the motor and a 4 inch on the transaxle, and it went the speed i am after. also figuring with two sixes it would have more torque than his and his would spin the tires and kick up dirt.

And fearlessfront's black murray has a 4 in front and a 5 in the rear which is very close to a 1:1 and it goes the speed i'd like and has the torque i'd like.

i'm 99% sure i want a 1:1 ratio. just this little part of me says try something different.
i'd like to make a decision in the next few days so i can get working on it again and stop bugging the crap out of all you guys. lol

I really want to change the trans pulley on the MTD- it isnt fast enough anymore! Man that thing was a rocket with the smaller pulley - well for 10-15 mins at a time anyway....

Go with a 1:1 then. If it doesnt work out, we'll both have to change our set ups. It depends on the wheel size too though.

Im gonna say go ahead with the 1:1