MTD - "Budgie"

No i can't get something to neener align or mesh so the case halves will come all the way together

I threw a crescent wrench at it and the case fell down where it needed to be so i tightened it down and put it all back together weeooooo

HAHA....  Glad you got it buttoned down!

Got the trans filled and back in.


Realized the stock jackshaft is looking pretty nice for a clutch...

Weoo to that then..

Getting rid of unnecessary parts and clearancing for the shifter on the clutch assembly.

Sweet deal, should free up some room for sure. Is it just me or are those Mud Lites super bald? Haha.

They are lol. Lotta road wear, so the sides arent missing too much. I think the locker is gonna do most of the work for offroading lol

So instead of locking the your 820 and fixing that whine you just get another tractor and fix it lol. Love them 2300s

Lol I'll get to fixing mutts trans here sooner or later.

Test fitting stuff


Gonna put a flat idler on the clutch here to pinch the belt kinda, like a double pulley clutch i guess.


Cut out a bit for the belt, gonna need an idler too to keep it off the steering. Oh, and the inside of the frame there is gonna need some added support, its a bit flimsy from the bit i cut out.

I'm liking this horizontal shaft conversion so far.  Seem like the hardest part is building the clutch.  Routing the belt seems pretty straightforward.

Yeah, luckily the frame isnt bad for it and the original clutch is pretty easily modded.

So today i just bent some stuff and drilled a bunch of holes


(Idler mount)

Broke the bolt holding the steering wheel on lol


The other side came off fine tho lol


Anyways there's the most of the work. I'm bending up a support now so that piece of frame doesnt break off or something

Support from deck strap thingy


Think I'm gonna put this idler somewhere here to help clutching action and keep the belt from touching itself

Can’t have it touching itself now can we?


Heheh I’ll go now....

I expected nothing less from you

Put the extra idler on. I'm not confident in this many idlers, but i guess we'll see how it goes

That’s gotta add some amount of drag

Definitely. Hopefully these 3 idlers and the one jackshaft pulley isnt too much for it. It's not too bad when i roll it over, but I'll only really know when i get it running lol. It certainly won't be too much for a gx390...

Well, that's a lot of pulleys that can seize, and it only takes one to ruin the belt.

I doubt I'm stupid enough to ignore the smell of burning belt and my engine stalling.

Reusing the vari drive for the clutch and adding in a couple of idlers seems like a solid way to get rid of that belt twist.  I hope you find a belt that works.

I'll prolly take this one i clamped to TSC and measure it and buy one lol

Clutch linkage yay




Normal operation yay


Hmmmm jam the clutch pedal all the way down to the tire and it kinda inverses the clutch action. Kinda cool that that happens but i dont wanna die so it'll get a clutch stop i guess


I stole mutts belt and it kinda works but the belt wont really stop, even if i start her in gear. Makes for fun situations. Guess I'll be getting her an inch or two bigger belt than mutt uses.