pulley swap a vari-drive?

Hey guys just wanting some reassurance before I mess anything up. Can you pulley swap the transaxle pulley on mtd's vari-drive setup? Will the vari-drive still function properly will a pulley swapped transaxle? thanks

Its doable.. ive done it..

get a 6 or 7 inch front pulley, leave the rear pulley alone, make sure you buy a new front belt that is at least 5/8 wide, 11/16 is better due to the action of the vari-drive. I had one I swapped, it worked well, key thing is the belt width, 1/2 belts dont work for poopie.

Creepycrawler wrote:

get a 6 or 7 inch front pulley, leave the  rear pulley alone, make sure you buy a new front belt that is at least 5/8 wide, 11/16 is better due to the action of the vari-drive. I had one I swapped, it worked well, key thing is the belt width, 1/2 belts dont work for poopie.

Truth. 5/8 works great, its what mine had, but if you run 1/2" belts you will be changing them all the time. When I pulley swapped mine for convenience I went with a 1/2" rear pulley instead of a 5/8 like I should have and I probably spent as much on belts as it would have cost me to buy a 5/8 pulley.