Front drum brake conversion for your atlt!

Here is a quick write up on how i converted my lawn tractor to have drum brakes.

the drums came off of a 110cc chinese mini quad
in my case i had to drill the back plate out to 3/4 in so that it could fit onto my craftsman front axle

i then had to replace the bearings that were originally on the hub to have a 3/4in ID and a 35mm OD

then you need to find away to prevent the back plate from spinning, on the atv there's a little block that fits in a groove on the back plate of the drums. i wasnt able to use that little block so i found that 8mm socket fit inside it perfectly without any slop

this is the back plate, the rectangular indent is the stop that prevents it from spinning

the socket is welded to a small piece of metal that is welded to the spindle, not pretty, but it holds

the back plate mounted up

the hub needs to be tapped on with a socket

the whole assembly still fits onto the spindle and is still held on with a washer and e clip

i was able to re use the atv brake cables and brake lever, the cables slide through holes in the dash and the lever slides right onto the mower deck lever


there yah have it, front drum brakes. this works great and i highly reccomend this mod.

Awesome, thanks for a write up, no one really has done this so you should feel proud!

thanks, im surprised it hasnt been done yet, I've seen so many ideas to mod the transaxle brake but never have i seen someone slap a set of brakes on the front.

Sebastian did, ive thought of it on the Gravely when I get to it in 20 years. Great writeup! Ill add it to the How to, now you have bragging rights over Red.

thanks, i'll have to search for sebastian's i guess, always neat to see someone elses take on something. and wow bragging rights   

Its in his build off thread.

Yeah, it took me like a month to add in his one how-to for his winch and i added yours same day. Lol.

oh   

Well done! I scabbed a set of front drums off an old Honda ATV onto the Bolens chassis that will become my next utility build- hopefully by the turn of the century...

Easy on them fronts heading downhill!

Doug Fackler wrote:

Sebastian did, ive thought of it on the Gravely when I get to it in 20 years. Great writeup! Ill add it to the How to, now you have bragging rights over Red.

You sure do lol. Mine are currently pissing me off, dang cables!

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Well done! I scabbed a set of front drums off an old Honda ATV onto the Bolens chassis that will become my next utility build- hopefully by the turn of the century...

Easy on them fronts heading downhill!

yah, this will come to show how strong the 4 link really is  ........i guess

I've had some time to mess with the brakes lately and have some things to add:

-if adjusted correctly, you can get the drums to lock up on loose/slick surfaces. Pretty good for them being brakes off of a 70cc atv
-make sure that you build your front end of the tractor to compensate for the extra stress of the brakes. I didn't build my 4 link with strong enough metal so now i have to redo a couple of the link mounts. I don't know how stock axle setups will react.
-pretty obvious to me, but for the ones who don't know..... make sure to push the clutch in while braking, seems self intuitive but i know that my brother didn't know this so I wanted to clear this up. It will take alot of stress off the transaxle and the tractor will actually stop (surprising right? )
-the brakes do stop the tractor, but keep in mind that it won't stop your tractor immediatly, remember your tractor weighs a good amount and will have momentum working against you.

Basically thats my "findings" from a month or two of testing. I figured that this would help who ever wants to build this themselves.... put a couple more ideas in their head I guess.