Troy Bilt 3214HRS help.

I am new to this, and when I say new... I mean NEW GREEN FRESH. So I bought a 1990-91 Troy Bilt 3214HRS. initially I just wanted an older looking tractor to cut the grass. She runs perfectly, cuts just fine. But that's boring. I am trying to learn as much as I can about this tractor. The previous owner took very good care of her, they even provided the original manual. I am able to get some information from that book but I cannot confirm some of it. My biggest head scratcher is the engine. It is a B&S and that's all I know for sure. There is nothing stamped of the engine that I can find. Also, from what I have read, the transmission is a hydrostatic belt driven (not sure if I am saying that correct.) I am looking to do a pully swap and put a light bar on the front. Again, I am new to the community, so if I got something wrong please correct me. My end goal this this tractor is to have it to cut grass but also to have it to go around the neighborhood and just have fun with it.

Welcome to ATLTF... 

Pully swapping a hydrostatic doesn't get you anything really but burning up the pump faster.  Sorry.  Geared tractors on the other hand!  That's where it is at for pully swaps.

I second mightyraze. If you can, post a pic of the engine. There’s a how-to on posting pics In mightyraze’s signature

Welcome to the forum! If you want to pulley swap your tractor, I would recommend finding a cheap or free tractor (you will see these a lot in the spring) with a geared transmission for parts. Transmission conversions are relatively easy to do if you have an understanding on how to do them, and for speed a geared transmission will be much easier to work with. The hardest part is matching the shift linkage but if you have a hand hydro that’s not too bad either. I’m a rookie at this too so you aren’t alone!

Or, going along with what rustbucket was saying, find ya a cheap geared tractor (AYP is my go-to) and build that one. A woods/neighborhood tractor will likely get beat up or rolled a time or two. If it were me, id leave the nice hydrostatic Troy bilt a stock mowing mower, and build one separate for play.

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Or, going along with what rustbucket was saying, find ya a cheap geared tractor (AYP is my go-to) and build that one. A woods/neighborhood tractor will likely get beat up or rolled a time or two. If it were me, id leave the nice hydrostatic Troy bilt a stock mowing mower, and build one separate for play.

Good point there on the damage factor, that could ruin the deck quickly. To build off that, a dedicated rally machine would work better too because you can keep mowing with the hydro. I don’t know about your lawn but as much as I love having the clutch, with the number of trees I have it would get very old very fast. Just my 2c.