1980 MTD 918 - 'Ol Rusty!

Brianator wrote:

No worries, I couldn't have stayed long anyhow. I'll let you know next time I'll be down that way.

Works for me man!
If things work out maybe I'll be able to bring the tractor out your way and we can go for a ride

Sounds good to me! There are LOTS of trails just down the road from me!

Hoo boy! She's ghetto but it drives under it's own power!

She bucks in 4th gear, boy that's scary without brakes lol.
Definitely not riding again until I get the brakes together.






Lots of play when the clutch is engaged, definitely need to tweak it more. Right now I can't shift gears unless the motor is off. I suspect that's because the brake isn't working yet, so the transaxle is always spinning a bit as the lose belt catches the pulley. Once the brake works (need to find a spring and adjust it) I think I'll be able to switch gears with the motor running.


Any thoughts or tweaks you guys see that can be made?
I'm thinking stronger spring on the clutch or some different setup maybe spaced out more?

Brakes won't help you with shifting, belt guides around the pulleys are what provides braking to the belt such as this, without them the belt won't fully come off the pulleys. There's a possibility you'll need more slack or a longer belt. The 2300 did come with a plate that had little belt guide tabs on it but you'll need some in the motor as well.

I'd say your clutch pulley is upside down, you want the tab up and that flat idler to be pushing down on the belt, correct me if I'm wrong but this rod (circled) looks like it would connect between the pedal and the clutch so it would pull the flat idler up to disengage the clutch.

You're getting close! Glad it's moving under power now!

Here's a pic of what the trans mounting plate with belt guides looks like. Those little tabs prevent the belt from coming too far out of the pulley which is turn allows it to slip when the clutch is pushed in. That plate bolts to the trans behind the pulley and based on your pics maybe you didn't get it with the machine or trans? It's a big triangular plate.

Brianator wrote:

Brakes won't help you with shifting, belt guides around the pulleys are what provides braking to the belt such as this, without them the belt won't fully come off the pulleys. There's a possibility you'll need more slack or a longer belt. The 2300 did come with a plate that had little belt guide tabs on it but you'll need some in the motor as well.

I'd say your clutch pulley is upside down, you want the tab up and that flat idler to be pushing down on the belt, correct me if I'm wrong but this rod (circled) looks like it would connect between the pedal and the clutch so it would pull the flat idler up to disengage the clutch.

You're getting close! Glad it's moving under power now!

That rod you circled connects to the "speed control lever" I disconnected it for now to use the hole to attach the clutch.

So if I understand correctly, those tabs and guide kinda flex the belt in such a way that it stays off the pulleys right?

And I am definitely missing that triangular piece you showed. I'll have to make something up

I think that circled rod could be replaced or lengthened to give the clutch the proper action, it's kind of upside down and pulling on the belt for tension instead of pushing.

Yes that's essentially what they do, they allow the belt to come off the pulley for slip without it coming all the way off the pulley. They also prevent it from stretching way out and grabbing the pulley and provide a braking effect for the belt itself.

You're so close man, I'd really love to get down there soon and guide you along

Brianator wrote:

I think that circled rod could be replaced or lengthened to give the clutch the proper action, it's kind of upside down and pulling on the belt for tension instead of pushing.

Yes that's essentially what they do, they allow the belt to come off the pulley for slip without it coming all the way off the pulley. They also prevent it from stretching way out and grabbing the pulley and provide a braking effect for the belt itself.

You're so close man, I'd really love to get down there soon and guide you along

Sounds good man! Now that it runs and drives, I'm going to tackle the smaller things on it and do the bigger tasks towards springtime. I know my father in law is itching to work on his Pontiac Lemans so he'll be needing the garage for a while.

I'll find some 1/4" rod or something and bend up a few belt guides. Two around the motor, two around the trans pulley probably.

Need to figure out the front wheels, either leave them as is and remove the slop, or find a way to put bearings on them so they don't wear down the shafts they sit on.

Alot of front wheels have a 1-3/8" bore and you can replace the bushings with bearings that are easy to get on Amazon, you won't find the right ones at Princess Auto.

https://a.co/d/4eqrsQo

Those are just cheap ones but better quality ones are available.

On the subject of wheel bushings... my MTD had white plastic wheel bushings up front. It appears they had never been lubricated. Those bushings had worn notches clear into the spindles! The really crazy part was that the plastic was still super tight coming off the parts of the spindle that weren't worn- the bushings hadn't worn a bit in 40 something years! I just went ahead and greased them and ran them. I'm not even sure if they were the normal 1-3/8 size bushings.

Brianator wrote:

Alot of front wheels have a 1-3/8" bore and you can replace the bushings with bearings that are easy to get on Amazon, you won't find the right ones at Princess Auto.

https://a.co/d/4eqrsQo

Those are just cheap ones but better quality ones are available.

Yeah that would have worked, but I put snow blower tires on for the tread they had and I liked the narrow profile
I'll have to nab some fronts later on probably then.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

On the subject of wheel bushings... my MTD had white plastic wheel bushings up front. It appears they had never been lubricated. Those bushings had worn notches clear into the spindles! The really crazy part was that the plastic was still super tight coming off the parts of the spindle that weren't worn- the bushings hadn't worn a bit in 40 something years! I just went ahead and greased them and ran them. I'm not even sure if they were the normal 1-3/8 size bushings.

Holy cow what kind of plastic is that?? I'm worried about wearing down my spindles as well, but I've already greased them well once so hopefully wear will be low for the time being.

Good point @RichieRichOverdrive, I have a couple pairs of 6" MTD front wheels that came with plastic bushings and I believe the bore on them was 13/16", basically impossible to find actual bearings for them (needle roller being the only option and expensive).

@Silver_Pharaoh I've wondered that as well and my best guess is that it's what's known as "bakelite", before modern plastic that's what alot of plastic things were made with and it was really durable.

They were definitely not bakelite, bakelite is fiber material in resin, usually canvas or cotton in resin but glass fiber and paper can also be found. Not suitable for thin walls like bushings have. These bushings were not fibrous but a solid white plastic. Too hard for UHMW i think, likely nylon or delrin.

Thanks for the history lesson @RichieRichOverdrive!

Back on afternoons for now, so I have time to tinker! Also gave her a name- Ol'Rusty! Seems kinda cliche maybe but I think it fits. I mean, it is Rusty and I like that

Installed the control lever I got from Amazon since this motor was from a genny it did not have one.




Also mocked up some belt guides, initial testing looks good with the wheels in the air, I'm able to shift with minimal grinding. Once I get the motor belt guides figured out I think that will work well.

@Silver_Pharaoh that U bolt as an adjustable belt guide is a great idea

Crazy_Carl wrote:

@Silver_Pharaoh that U bolt as an adjustable belt guide is a great idea

Thanks! I figured they would come in handy, and they were a good long length too so I figured that couldn't hurt.


Took it for a spin today and it was pretty fun! Need to secure the battery and fix a loose kill wire, but it drives and has some brakes lol!

It lives! That's awesome @Silver_Pharaoh, sounds like that motor is running great, I also like the Ubolt belt guides... thats pretty slick!

To embed a YouTube video you'll notice a YouTube button in the top bar of the messge box, all you have to do is copy the link address there and hit "insert". I fixed the above one for you, the first one's a freebie! Lol

Brianator wrote:

It lives! That's awesome @Silver_Pharaoh, sounds like that motor is running great, I also like the Ubolt belt guides... thats pretty slick!

To embed a YouTube video you'll notice a YouTube button in the top bar of the messge box, all you have to do is copy the link address there and hit "insert". I fixed the above one for you, the first one's a freebie! Lol

Thanks! How much will it cost next time?

Crazy_Carl wrote:

@Silver_Pharaoh that U bolt as an adjustable belt guide is a great idea

I will be using that!

PizzaKitty26 wrote:

Crazy_Carl wrote:

@Silver_Pharaoh that U bolt as an adjustable belt guide is a great idea

I will be using that!

Every once in a while I think of something. Every blue moon I think of something good

Brianator wrote:

Silver_Pharaoh wrote:

Thanks! How much will it cost next time?  

Got ya covered

Been using Ol'Rusty to pull stuff around the yard, and my father in law is loving it so much he bought his own tractor:


Same transaxle, a Peerless 2300, opposed twin 16hp Briggs and already has ATV tires all round!

Previous owner welded on Suzuki hubs for the front too! Even comes with a snowblower!

Definitely curious to see how this vertical shaft drives the 2300. I'll take a peak at it later!

That Dynamark GT looks to be in GREAT shape.

If I were guessing, the belt twist probably looks like a Murray of similar generation.

MightyRaze wrote:

That Dynamark GT looks to be in GREAT shape.

If I were guessing, the belt twist probably looks like a Murray of similar generation.

Ahhh that's how they did it! I kept wondering how they did it and kept the belt on. Thanks!!

I always thought that series of Dynamark had an awesome paint job. I wonder if any of them had right angle gearboxes instead of a belt twist.