Torque+speed offroad build

Im gonna be using a 20hp kohler vtwin with makuni carb and a 40 series torque converter going to a high/low fnr 1in transaxle for steering an ezgo front end and hopefully im gonna be able to make the ezgo rack and pinion fit nicely inside of the frame and keep all of the linkages away from the belt but this is just a quick mock-up of the chassis so far


02.23.2020

Welcome to ATLTF!  You going to put in a horizontal engine on your project?  Looks like good bones to start with!

Welcome to the forum! Sounds like a cool build, love the golf cart front axle!

Im using a vertical kohler command heres an idea of what im doing, there will be a jackshaft coming down thru the frame with a pulley above the driven clutch and im using a 3/4 wide belt from the driven clutch to the transaxle probably going to do 8" pulley leaving the torque converter and 4" on the transaxle and the reason im using the FNR transaxle is because it has high/low gear and of course reverse the nice thing is this was a big wheel mower so it has the heavy duty 1" rear axle and heck if it blows on me i have a couple of good ole peerless 820's laying around

I wonder what the longevity of that will be?

I don't know but the ezgo racks hold up under some pretty heavy abuse on my gas cart, and i modified my cart with a polaris atv front end, so far its held up

Im going to shorten the shaft and use a couple of steering joints to get to the dash

Little more concerned for the torque converter. Steering should work out well!

Well I've seen this done before and i think as long as i keep it dry and carry an extra belt or 2 i should be fine and since the trans has low gear won't be putting to much strain on the cvt belt, its a build for my wife she wanted a automatic tractor with plenty of torque and good top speed and so the cvt seemed like the best option plus its just gonna be mostly for pulling and trail riding, not planning on sinking it.

CVT shouldn't be too bad I suppose unless it gets wet like you said. Doug had one on his mini bike at haspin a couple years back and it smoked the belt when he got it wet. You'd think it would just slip a bit till it dries off but apparently it gets it way too hot or something.

I think they should make a cvt setup made for 20-25hp engines instead of just the huge snowmobile ones meant for 40ish+ hp and the smaller ones meant for 10hp and under. Then they would be better to use for more tractor projects. There might be something out there but not an easily available one that I know of.

I agree they need to make a mid range hp rated cvt but hey i got this one on amazon for $70 with the belt and its rated up to 18hp and on a bone stock 20 hp i should be fine.

The guys on cars and cameras youtube channel put over 50hp to a 40 series and it actually held up longer than i expected.

I think someone needs to come up with a bolt on sealed wet cvt like the wet centrifugal clutches they make for gokart engines but in a cvt with a steel belt

let me know how the transaxle works out for you since i have one i was thinking of using for a mudder