i dont want to blow it up...

I have a 1985 montgomery ward lawn tractor. the large model. it has a hydrostatic tranny that works great. but, theres one issue. the thing only goes 8-9 mph max. i want to go a bit faster. ive asked a few people about it before and i hear "be careful, theres a good chance you could blow it up! so. the tranny is a side shaft, so the belt has to twist to another pulley, which goes through a shaft to ANOTHER pulley, which has another belt which goes to the tranny, with a tensioner, of course. i have the front belt on the deck pulley now. thats what got me up to 8-9. i wanna go maybe, idk, 11-15 mph, anywhere in there. but, if its too much of a risk to the tranny, theres no chance in hell that im doing that to my baby. so, should i do it, or is the risk to high? Theres no real chance of it over heating, if there is, ill put in a 12v fan down there. along with the cooling fan thats already on it. i just dont want it to blow. i plan on using it to tow a mower to someones house to mow for them, but driving the other mower is way to slow, considering the fact that she lives a few blocks away. i plan on building a trailer, but thatll be a little later.

you could possibly do a pulley swap on the trans but then that would result in getting another belt and maybe adding maybe 2-5 mph difference but even still then its risking if its a hydro and adding a 12v fan will not help at all it may seem it will but wont cause after those gears inside heat up and that fluid its hard to cool it down and pointing a fan on the casing will not reduce the heat at all...now if u brain stormed enough and maybe build a transmission cooler some how put a fan behind it then it would be fine but then u will have to figure out a way to push the fluid through the trans cooler then may cause more damage having a pump taking fluid outta the case and pushing it back in putting more pressure on the inside of the case blowing out the seals lol its a pain with a hydro it really is but keep it stock and you will be fine i know it sucks driving that slow but if your wanting to get a little more speed may have to look else where for another mower.....

I like your logic. and, just an idea, what about a motorcycle radiator for a cooler. that with a little fan maybe. just an idea. i used to be fine with this speed, then i got spoiled when i drove a golf cart... right now ive got power over speed. which is great. ive also got a 2000 craftsman lt1000. unfortunately, i needed the engine. ive got an engine, i just need a starter for it. its an old 12 horse briggs. which would work fine, im sure. it ran fine before i took it off of the tractor. but, my next project is the trailer, as i said. i actually plan on working on that tomorrow as a matter of fact. that should be fun. lol, not. actually im looking forward to it. itll be a good project for me to do. ive got all the basics to make a good one, but ill need to buy some stuff to make a great one. my plan is for a flat bed trailer that can haul lawn tractors so that itll make it easier to move around, plus i might get interesting looks at the gas station if i go, lol. But my plans are to have a wooden deck, and frame, ik, not strong, but i cant weld, or afford the materials to do such a thing. so, ill have to stick with what i got for now. i think itll be strong enough. i may make it hindged, so that you can push it down and drive up it, and itll fall back down by itself, that kind of hindged. or, i might make the entire thing solid and just have to disconnect the trailer and put it up, drive up onto it, then connect it up again. im not sure yet. that seems like it'd be more solid, but im not sure yet.

wouldnt be too bad just make sure u would have to add enough tranny fluid to replace back for what you will be needing to fill the radiator up and to keep the trans topped off too u can get a small universal trans cooler one off ebay for under 30 bucks i had this idea already once on a hydro mtd i had but it was too late and already burned up lol and if u dont mind me suggesting i bet u can make a killer pull behind trailer from just a gutted transaxle too well dont have to be gutted long as its in neutral u be fine thats an idea i had too lol wouldnt be too bad and yea i have no welder either and funds are tight already so i gotta go cheap and best i can too wood is just as good as any other material long as its good wood and built fairly decent u know and even a old frame u can use too weld some sort yoke to the steering to a hitch or something so when u turn it turns the front wheels too lol i have all kinda ideas in my head just never enough time or parts laying around to attemp them lol

my tractor is an mtd. lol. and its got, well, its hard to explain. inbetween the seat and the dash theres that panel that you can take you and you can get to the tranny and the resovoir so all i would need to do is put some more into that tank after i let it go down a bit until the radiator is full. i know most of my tractor like the back of my hand. i know when something is wrong, what needs to be done, and then fixing it is a breeze.

as for the trailer, i have an old mtd lawn tractor that i plan on removing the tranny and using that as the axle for it. im going to run boards down the sides where it would normally bolt onto, then do support braces everywhere that looks like it would need it. for hindging it, i might do some kind of "A" on both sides, then drill holes into them to fit a pipe, or i have some old threaded rod. i might actually do the pipe through the deck itself, then do the threaded rod through the pipe, then bolt the "a" parts together, and then i think all id have to do then is the supports to hold the weight of the load that will be on it. for the deck i have an old piece of 4x8 plywood that ill be beefing up with more wood. from the looks of it so far, my wood supply is dwindling down quick. dammit....

yeah, ive tried doing this before, this is the most ive ever put thought into this project. itll really come in handy if it works the way im expecting it to.

exactly how i was gonna build my trailer lol sounds interesting too if u do decide to to let me know id like to follow it but yea long as u have some good bracing on the wood it would be fine and dandy to haul what ever u wanna through at it

yeah.  i think i may not hindge it fer now, for now i might just do something like this...
....\________________
---/_______|_______\
______________O_________________

That looks quite ugly, but something along those lines....  you understand.  actually it seems right to do that and just use ramps to drive the mowers up and down off the trailer.  i may look into doing that. be i have ramps... that is much more appealing to the maker, lol.

if you like ill do a video series on youtube.  one thing though, i use my phone and i dont edit... i know i should, but i dont...  my channel name is natewilson99. i only periodically do videos though...  but ill do a series like, "pt 1 pt 2 pt 3" ect.  sooooo.... ya....    

lol i catch ya drift yea video might be a good thing too tho might help some other peeps out i have a youtube channel too nothing fancy just rambling mainly lol later on ill have better videos tho mines big'n89

btw, i like your avatar......... and believe it or not, ive stumbled across a few of your videos. i just do a lot of talking too, its just what i do.

MTD makes some good points on the cooler thing- all you have to do is add the additional fluid volume of the radiator itself. However- flow is a consideration. Using a common bike or car rad has big fittings and big tubes. Large volume flow capability, requires large volume pumping. Otherwise, flow will be dismally slow and may end up negating having the system there in the first place. It would probably be best to solder caps over the original rad fittings, and then just install 1/4" or maybe 5/16" line fittings.

An additional way to assist the cooling is the addition of a reservoir. Fluid that has a bit of a chance to rest before being "used" again, can cool a bit.

something a lot of people overlook are radiators for computer liquid cooling systems. They are relativly small and can use 3/8" fittings pretty much the only drawback though is that you will need a pump of sorts and a filter just in case. I got a buddy that used one with the case fans to build a tranny cooler for his dodge was something like a 480x480mm

Moose wrote:

something a lot of people overlook are radiators for computer liquid cooling systems. They are relativly small and can use 3/8" fittings pretty much the only drawback though is that you will need a pump of sorts and a filter just in case.

Interesting. No additional drawback tho- NO matter what you do, you need a pumping method and a filter certainly is a good plan!

Doc Sprocket wrote:

MTD makes some good points on the cooler thing- all you have to do is add the additional fluid volume of the radiator itself. However- flow is a consideration. Using a common bike or car rad has big fittings and big tubes. Large volume flow capability, requires large volume pumping. Otherwise, flow will be dismally slow and may end up negating having the system there in the first place. It would probably be best to solder caps over the original rad fittings, and then just install 1/4" or maybe 5/16" line fittings.

An additional way to assist the cooling is the addition of a reservoir. Fluid that has a bit of a chance to rest before being "used" again, can cool a bit.

the tranny on my tractor is nothing like what you are thinking. I have a reservoir, some of the hoses ARE one inch, and I do have room for a radiator. I know how small some of those bike radiators are, and I've got plenty of room for one. if you take off that cover I talked about earlier, you see nothing but linkages, hoses and a little bit of wires that go back to the lights that I put on it. Think of an old hydro cub cadet, or maybe a wheel horse. how giant those trannies were. that's how mine is.

Awesome! Sounds like an old Bolens I had!

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Awesome! Sounds like an old Bolens I had!

ya. I think a lot of old mtd-made tractors were hydros weren't they?

@mtd, I got the tranny out of that mtd tractor. I set the 4x8 board on top of the wheels with a jackstand holding the front end of the board up in the air. Im liking the look of it, but im not excited for the woodwork ahead of me. lol.