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Speeding up the Horse

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#21 ·
Gahhhh

I typed a massive post last night, 3-4 paragraphs long...and Idont see it!

CRAP, that took forever to type....

Basically I said that:

A pulling tractor, that is a devoted puller is spinning the engine up in the 5-6K range, and would pull in a gear equal to 2nd High, not looking for speed, as much as you are a good gear that keeps the tires moving without pulling the motor down.

These tractors are run the length of the track and parked.

If you cut the trans pulley size in half, you double the speed every part in the trans, id worry about foaming the oil, then heat, then bearing failure.

Lots of moving parts in the ol 8 speeds.
 
#22 ·
In my craftsman gt6000 I was thinking of reducing the pulley on the rear as well. I would change the pulley on the engine to a larger one, but don't know how I would go about getting a pulley to fit that would be larger?

My rear pulley is 3/4" shaft at 9" circumference. If I drop that to a 4 or 5" pulley, will it kill this old craftsman?

P.S. Is there an application online anywhere that addresses the pulley output ratios to get an idea of horse = speed?? where you can change pulley sizes?

Thanks.
 
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#23 ·
recently taking the original 16hp kohler off a c161 auto and replacing it with another kohler from a gear drive c160 i found the drive pulleys on the engine on hydro's are 5" while the drive pulleys on the gear drive engines are 4".
 
#24 ·
I recall at a show in Michigan a few years ago there was a guy who had changed the pullies on his Wheel Horse. He had to be doing over 20mph in high gear.

I put a smaller pully on the transaxle on my Suburban 400 just to have it go a little faster when getting from point to point. Works fine, although it pops out of 3rd gear pretty easily, which it didn't do with the stock setup.
 
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#25 ·
Interesting thread!

I am also interested in "speeding" up my horse slightly

I don't want to go 20mph, but would like to get 10MPH in the high gear for "point to point" driving.

I do use my low range a lot for plowing and raking, etc.

So would it be better to increase my front pulley from a 4 inch to a 5 inch?
Or drop my Transmission Pulley an inch or so? i do NOT have a Hydro, but instead the traditional Hi/LO geared 3 spd (or 4 counting reverse)

I Do NOT want to burn up my tranny however.

To further complicate the mix my Wheel Horse sports a 10HP Diesel now instead of the stock Gas motor, so torque is less of an issue for me :)

A neighbor changed pulleys on his old "********" and was scooting around the neighborhood doing about 20 -25 mph.
I haven't seen it running in a while, so maybe he melted his tranny?

I thought it was too fast though, with that little bitty riding mower brake/clutch pedal I couldn't see how he could possibly stop it from speed safely. :Stop:

Dave in NC
1985 WH C-125 with a 10 HP diesel
 
#26 ·
Dave, the Wheel Horse stick shift is not a light weight throw away trans. If it is already in good condition and properly lubed, I can't see why a 25% ratio change would hurt anything. However, if your engine is undersized for the load, so that you are lugging it, that could be a problem.
 
#27 ·
Anyone? This 20 horse Onan is just sitting here on this Craftsman girl, eyeing me to death wanting some action. Will changing the rear pulley alone burn up my girls rear end or will I end up getting it in the end myself? :)
 
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#28 ·
Is this a hydro? If so, don't do it! Changing the speed of a hydro pump doesn't change the speed of the tractor. Moving the control stick changes the speed. Is it a gear box? Then, I'm not sure. I don't know the quality of the unit. Remember when GM was putting Vega transmissions in Cadillacs?
 
#29 ·
I'll take this to the proper area. My apologies. :) Thanks
 
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#30 ·
For about the last 8 years I have been using a 2 1/2" pulley on the Trans instead of the 4" and a 68" belt on the 8 horse engines. this will give you @ 10 to 11 mph in speed. Great when riding around the shows. Can move right along and not making alot of noise doing it. Just my 2 cents on the matter. New here and like it. Tennessee Country Boy
 
#31 ·
I don't think you will hurt it.. You are not over speeding it too much..

Now if you wanted to go 35 mph like my racer.. then you might think twice.. everything in that tranny is made for power and is really heavy... i would want it to come apart..

10 to 15 mph isn't gonna hurt it..
 
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#32 · (Edited)
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#33 · (Edited)
rustyoldjunk said:
recently taking the original 16hp kohler off a c161 auto and replacing it with another kohler from a gear drive c160 i found the drive pulleys on the engine on hydro's are 5" while the drive pulleys on the gear drive engines are 4".
Click to expand...
Old post but that's interesting? If your still on here rustyoldjunk did you use the 5" pulley and the same old belt guard without modifying it?
This means there is an inch more space to enlarge the 8 spd tractors front pulley to the 5" pulley. Some models may have it by simply switching belt shields off a hydro model or its already designed in the 8 spd shield? My guess would have been that all the long frame WH tractors shared the same engine pulley/belt guard, maybe I need to rethink that now? To my understanding other than your trans choice all WH tractors are pretty much the same beast. I mean a C160 manual vs c160 Auto are same tractors except trans/controls?
Anyone ever find the same on pulley sizes or switched belt guards from auto/manual on a 400 series and noticed more/less belt space? It could actually be that easy meaning no modifying?..huuum, I wish I had an auto to compare guards but I just have the three manual horses. Thanks all!
 
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