Removing varidrive?

Hey do you guys think its possible to remove the varidrive setup on my mtd and just run a straight belt from the transaxle to the engine pulley. I know I'd have to make a new clutch setup and all but do you think if I also through in a pulley swap I could go a reasonable speed (10-15mph max Prbly). Would it work the the neutral,reverse,forward transaxle out back

Yeah there has been lots of people that have did it before. I think you gotta lift the rear end up a few inches to get the belt to line up. but if your wanting to go faster and your making a clutch set up for it why not put a real geared transmission in it?

its posible to do this


in fact i have done it before on my friends.

it was a good lawntractor/gokart

Sure, it could work. The question is, why do you want to? In removing the Vari-Drive unit, you are removing the ability to select varying ratios- your "gears", if you will. Then, you're stuck with one fixed ratio. With the narrow power band and limited RPM range of these engines, you're severely limiting your tractors abilities. IMO, you have really only two GOOD choices- Keep the Vari-Drive (and maybe swap pulleys if you desire) or ditch the whole thing and sub in a geared transaxle.

Id lifetime see someone do various drive with a geared transaxle.

Junkstar made just what you explained, a racer, it looked like it was hard for him to get it in gear. He probably did around 20 tops and had a 10" pully front and 3" rear I think. Real 5-6 speed axles help out alot.

Got to love autocorrect on phones... and oh. I don't think I saw that

I did it about a month ago and so far it works great but I would not leave the FNR on there

Kody6 wrote:

I did it about a month ago and so far it works great  but I would not leave the FNR on there

Yes- but did you keep the stock FNR transaxle, or did you switch to a multi-speed transaxle? More detail will indeed help the OP with his decision-making process.

I took out the vary drive on my MTD, you have to drop the transmission about 3inchs, I used a 2x4 and made them the right height, holds up good, I'll also need like 5in bolts or threaded rod, I have a 6 1/2 in pulley on the front and a 5 on the back I think and it goes 10-15 mph, not the greatest for anything really but still fun. And works well. Check my MTD mudder topic to see the lift blocks I did.

Hope that helped !

GenevaCustoms wrote:

I took out the vary drive on my MTD, you have to drop the transmission about 3inchs, I used a 2x4 and made them the right height, holds up good, I'll also need like 5in bolts or threaded rod, I have a 6 1/2 in pulley on the front and a 5 on the back I think and it goes 10-15 mph, not the greatest for anything really but still fun. And works well. Check my MTD mudder topic to see the lift blocks I did.

Hope that helped !

I mounted my 5 speed right to the frame. The belt will travel to the rear pulley and to my clutch from the front pulley just fine. It's alot stronger mounting to the frame too. I've had no issues with the setup.

I have a pulley welded to the top of the stock one so that addsanother 1/2 - 1inch of extra unalignment...so I just put the blocks in it. Just as strong as mounting to the frame in my opinion, u can wiggle it every angle and the.blocks don't twist or anything.

Thanks for all the replies guys. For simplicity's sake I think I'll just be leaving the varidrive alone for right now. I think I'll work instead on the root cause of my problems,a frozen varidrive pulley assembly, instead of making more work for myself removing it altogether.

Yea, the main reason I removed mine was becuase the pulley assembly wasn't there lol

I was considering doing this. Personally I hate those single speed transmissions. I welded a 4.5 inch pulley onto my old one and that meant I had to drop the transmission about a inch anyway so i wouldnt have to drop it much more if i did it. Looks like its possible with a new clutch setup but I would change the transmission to a 5 speed. Let me know if you do it.

I actually dropped a six speed Spicer in it. You had to offset the tranny bolt pattern but I had to lift nine anyway so I just put the bottom tabs facring in and the upper ones faceing out to compensate for the tranny mounting holes being one inch closer together then ny mtd frame.

I had the varidrive on my mower, 15.5 briggs before I swapped in a 22hpp kholer, completely blew 3 holes in the casing. ended up swapping it out once I realized I blew it up. didn't ride it too long. only had the mower for about 3 months. don't recommend the varidrive to anyone, I may just have had some bad luck. and btw my mover was completely stock, no pulley swap.

The Vari-drive has nothing to do with your briggs throwing a rod. Most likely is was lack of oil changes or the rod bolts weren't torqued to spec

I didn't blow the engine up. I blew the dif up

deadeye13 wrote:

I didn't blow the engine up. I blew the dif up

Ah sorry about that, I misunderstood you. Yes the FNR transaxles are known to be pretty weak