Vtwin Ford Race Mower

Just got done welding up the spider gears in this thing. Was a little different becasue of the way its set up. I don't know if I can speed it up with the gears I have though because they're out of a spicer and won't fit easily. I don't have a lathe to bore them out. I'm pretty sure 3dmachines just used parts from the transaxle but he hasn't answered me. The only thing I can think of is that he used the reverse gear to run the gears because he said it ran backwards and was hard to turn after because the chain was worn into the direction it usually goes. He also says the tractor has N12345N for gears and apparently no reverse. I'll take a look at that tomorrow. Has anyone pulley swapped a tranny to do like 40 or 45? It is gonna be running some big tires.

Finally finished welding this so the reverse gear drives the axle. I still have some grinding to do on the smaller gear so it rolls smooth and get a bushing and some grease then I'll be putting it back together. I brought the frame to my house now and I'm gonna be dropping the front end in the next few days. I also found a golf cart at a junkyard I frequent with a nice steering box so I'm using that instead of direct steering.

Those welds should work. just make sure you get all the slag off before you put it back together. And i just noticed if you break the axle you won't be able to get the snap ring off to replace it.

Ghyde97 wrote:

If you do a 3' pull on the transaxle and a 4.5 that will give you 13mph in 1st gear, 26mph in 2nd, 39mph in 3rd, 52mph in 4th, 65mph in 5th, and then a massive 78mph in 6th. But really who would want to go that fast with no windshield

Quick question, What is the formula to figure out how fast you would go?

ThatOneTeen wrote:

Ghyde97 wrote:

If you do a 3' pull on the transaxle and a 4.5 that will give you 13mph in 1st gear, 26mph in 2nd, 39mph in 3rd, 52mph in 4th, 65mph in 5th, and then a massive 78mph in 6th. But really who would want to go that fast with no windshield

Quick question, What is the formula to figure out how fast you would go?

I'm not sure. Like I said before it was an exel link that I found on here. I wasn't able to find it again and I can't figure out how to post the link from my iPad that i have it on. If you pm me with the pully sizes I can send you a screen shot of what it come out to be.

Ghyde97 wrote:

ThatOneTeen wrote:

Ghyde97 wrote:

If you do a 3' pull on the transaxle and a 4.5 that will give you 13mph in 1st gear, 26mph in 2nd, 39mph in 3rd, 52mph in 4th, 65mph in 5th, and then a massive 78mph in 6th. But really who would want to go that fast with no windshield

Quick question, What is the formula to figure out how fast you would go?

I'm not sure. Like I said before it was an exel link that I found on here. I wasn't able to find it again and I can't figure out how to post the link from my iPad that i have it on. If you pm me with the pully sizes I can send you a screen shot of what it come out to be.

Not for sure (will be sure when I get the new ride)

I think I might just put what you said ( 3' and 4.5') And not go past 3rd gear.

My current plan is to purchase a tractor from craiglist that has a blown engine / no engine and swap my 14HP B/S into it then swap the pulleys and make it look cool. Thread will come when new tractor is found.

ThatOneTeen wrote:

Ghyde97 wrote:

ThatOneTeen wrote:

Ghyde97 wrote:

If you do a 3' pull on the transaxle and a 4.5 that will give you 13mph in 1st gear, 26mph in 2nd, 39mph in 3rd, 52mph in 4th, 65mph in 5th, and then a massive 78mph in 6th. But really who would want to go that fast with no windshield

Quick question, What is the formula to figure out how fast you would go?

I'm not sure. Like I said before it was an exel link that I found on here. I wasn't able to find it again and I can't figure out how to post the link from my iPad that i have it on. If you pm me with the pully sizes I can send you a screen shot of what it come out to be.

Not for sure (will be sure when I get the new ride)

I think I might just put what you said ( 3' and 4.5') And not go past 3rd gear.

My current plan is to purchase a tractor from craiglist that has a blown engine / no engine and swap my 14HP B/S into it then swap the pulleys and make it look cool. Thread will come when new tractor is found.

That's would be pretty cool. I did a pully swap on my craftsman last night. I left the front stock(4.5) and put a three on the rear. With stock turf savers and no gas pedal I clocked it at 14mph in 6th gear with a crap tone of belt slippage so I need to put another tensioner on there that way I can get more speed with less slippage.

Moved my attention to the front end last night.

Got the axle off and started cutting the welds to drop it but I can't get at the bottom of it without taking off the clutch pedal. The pin holding it on is all rusty so I got it soaking.


Someone decided not to run bushings in this so it's gonna need new spindles. It wore some nice grooves in it but at least the rims are good.

This is pretty good build. I like pictures too what's the goal behind it? Just really fast speeds? Looks like your off to a good start. Clear out all the mower deck stuff, should be less congested under the frame.

LAWN MOWER MUDDER wrote:

ThatOneTeen wrote:

Ghyde97 wrote:

ThatOneTeen wrote:

Ghyde97 wrote:

If you do a 3' pull on the transaxle and a 4.5 that will give you 13mph in 1st gear, 26mph in 2nd, 39mph in 3rd, 52mph in 4th, 65mph in 5th, and then a massive 78mph in 6th. But really who would want to go that fast with no windshield

Quick question, What is the formula to figure out how fast you would go?

I'm not sure. Like I said before it was an exel link that I found on here. I wasn't able to find it again and I can't figure out how to post the link from my iPad that i have it on. If you pm me with the pully sizes I can send you a screen shot of what it come out to be.

Not for sure (will be sure when I get the new ride)

I think I might just put what you said ( 3' and 4.5') And not go past 3rd gear.

My current plan is to purchase a tractor from craiglist that has a blown engine / no engine and swap my 14HP B/S into it then swap the pulleys and make it look cool. Thread will come when new tractor is found.

I have a 3" back and a 4.5" front with 20" tires and no governor on my engine and i get 20-25 mph cranking like 5k rpms.  

BTW: the calculation thing he used to get his speeds was WAY off. So don't worry about taking it out of third gear.

Front-Rear pulleys- Speed
4.5"- 5"- 13 mph
4.5"- 4.5"- 18 mph
4.5"- 3"- 20 mph

These are the pulley ratios I have used on my tractors already.
NOTE: The speed you get also depends what tire size you have. On my tractors I was either running 18" or 20" tires. The bigger the tire the faster you will go, and vise versa.

Nothing is set in stone but I do know that I will be picking up a tractor with a blown engine for $50 sometime soon. I don't know how fast I would want to go and I would probably start out at around 13 mph so I could get a feel for it and adjust things that may go bad while at high rates of speed.

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

This is pretty good build. I like pictures too what's the goal behind it? Just really fast speeds? Looks like your off to a good start. Clear out all the mower deck stuff, should be less congested under the frame.

The pictures do make it real easy to explain things! It's gonna be a road/field mower. I'm looking to go around 45 to cruise around on the back roads around my house. I've still got to decide what I'm gonna use to actuate the brakes because I'm using some of the deck hardware and a mechanical caliper from bmi. The frame is a bit rustier then I first thought so I have to sand and paint it then brace it.

Sorry for the lack of updates on the project but it is moving forward. First off I welded this front assembly in its new position.

I realized my axle is nothing but a paperweight because I forgot to tack it while it was in the case first... So I was romping across my road with my other mower and came along an abandoned mower with this in it:


It's an 817 and I couldn't find any info on it online but its a 3 speed thats very similar to my 801. I stole the axle out of that and put everything back together. She's gonna be unlocked I guess.


Today I cut out the slots for the tranny and mocked up how it's gonna sit.


I also found out the stock steering is good as in there's no play from the wheel to where the tie rod connects so all I'm gonna need is some new tie rods. I'll probably be stealing an axle from another mower because my spindles are junk.

im glad you found the option, makes me work less lol, it was really gunna be a pain in the ass to get the rims off. Watching this closely!

Yea I was very surprised to find it and even more when the axle dropped right in. Only problem is it has needle bearings instead of ball bearings on the ends. Is this ok? The rims won't budge and I don't have an e clip puller that will fit to separate it at the spider gears so I can't get my other bearings on there.

osiff wrote:

Yea I was very surprised to find it and even more when the axle dropped right in. Only problem is it has needle bearings instead of ball bearings on the ends. Is this ok? The rims won't budge and I don't have an e clip puller that will fit to separate it at the spider gears so I can't get my other bearings on there.

if your dropping the axle into the original case, you need the ball bearing bc I think they are bigger. E clip pullers arnt to much and you're gunna use them more then once.

The cases accept both kinds there's a shallow wider slot and a narrow deeper one. I just don't know if I shouldn't use these because they're not high speed bearings.

Welded some mounts together and bolted it up.

Your transmission speed up is same as 3D's. Be aware, the stock 41 chain won't last long, we swapped in 40 chain at pugs when his broke, it held up fine.

It's a huge speed up, think you can go 1 to 1 belt ratio and still do 55.

Is a 40 chain out of an 820? The mounts aren't completely welded in just a little to make it stronger I've just gotta cut the top (well bottom) welds. I'm gonna take it apart again to put the 40 chain in and I think I need some thinner grease because it's really hard to spin and I can hear the tackyness from the outside. I didn't pack it but I used bearing grease. Also I still can't decide what to use for brakes because I can't use kart brakes on one side with a differential because the other tire is free to spin but the rims are stuck on so if I put a kart caliper on it and lock the diff it'll be stuck on there (unless I cut it off).

I think it is a go-cart chain, peerless only used 41. http://www.bmikarts.com/Chain--Purchase-by-the-Foot-_p_635.html you can buy it here.

Bought some parts from bmi.

I'm gonna be welding the kart spindles on a mower front axle using the 6" bearing wheels and hooking everything together with the tie rods.
So to go:
•Put front end together
•Fit the chain in the transaxle and reassemble with the good bearings (and turn it around because it was backwards)
•Shifter and brake linkage
•Flip it over and get started on motor things and seat
•Finishing touches - paint and electronics (gonna mount a 12v outlet on this one and my offroader)

Check into KPI, camber, caster, accermann and how it can effect your steering. Karts are close to how mowers should be in steering geometry. Some of those can really effect the quality if steering.

Good web page to use as a guide: http://blog.kartbuilding.net/2007/07/12/steering-geometry-and-setup-for-go-karts/

Reeeaally sorry about this but...

Picked this and a 12hp flatty for $100 so I guess I'll have to change the title... if I can get it to run!! It apparently sat for awhile and I can see some rust down in the carb so I believe the guy. It's an 18 horse while the vtwin is a 14 I was thinking I'll probably need a little more ass anyway.
Anyhow I put my front axle together.

And had to grind the welds down more on my custom part.

My friend took the one flat tire I had off the rim so I can tube it. The transaxle should be going back together for good soon. Then I'll be rolling.

So I've been real busy on this thing despite the lack of posts.
First off reassembled the transaxle put good bearings in and welded diff. It spins much easier after taking some of the thick grease out and mixing some thinner stuff in.

Next I mounted the thing the way it actually has to go.

Welded on the front axle and now for your viewing pleasure...


Just recently hooked up tie rods (I still have to go from steering arm to front end) and started figuring out the shifter.