pulley swap on a hydro

I have a power kraft tractor and it has a 4" pulley & I want to put a 2" or so on it. I don't need it to go fast, just speed it up alittle. Will it help? I will be useing it for pulling a trailer and work.

If you pulley swap a hydro you'll blow the pump inside it, and if you dont blow the pump you will seriously shorten its life. and you wont get much speed out of it anyways, they have a pressure release inside them.

so wouldn't you have to pull out the tranny and remove it?

Hydros will go faster pulley swap it will last if you dont go over board on the pulley

I wouldn't. No no no. Just buy a cheap manual transaxle.

so like my hydro is a 1:1 what would a good Ratio be?

I agree with WTS... sell the hydro on craigslist and buy a peerless manual. It will be worth the effort on the conversion.

I would swap in a manual transaxle. Even if it is a FNR. Ive blown one hydro just mowing my lawn.

Just go on Craigslist or to a junkyard and look for a broken mower. Chances are it will just need a carb cleaning. Then youll end up with an extra body, engine, and a better transaxle.

I must be lucky the hydro in my tractor is from 06 never been repaced and never skips a beat so when it dies then I would get a manuel perless.

Iv got a hydro in mine it does fine but its not pully swaped.
I agree with WTS i would swap it to a manuel.

Hydro transaxles are rated to operate at a set rpm and pressure.

Changing pulleys changes nthe RPM and pressure. There is a relief valve in the system to prevent over pressure situations.

Changing out the pulley to increase RPM increases pressure, which causes the relief valve to start relieving. Problem is, relief valves are not regulators. Constant use of a relief valve tears up the sealing surface, making it inoperable, hence the pump starts bypassing, and the hydro system fails.

You dont need to swap pulleys - you need to adjust the pedal linkage to increase the speed - if any faster then that, then swap in a manual trans.

Hydro transmissions already run a small pulley - the pulley on my 99 hydro murray is about 3 1/2" and its stock ( I know this because the trans case actually forms around the pulley).

i had a hydro it over revd and i could get going almost 13mph

What also helps with my tranny is the stock tires were 20" now they are 22" tires so I go a little faster than normal

Thanks for all your imput. The mower has a 4" pulley now How small can I go? 3 or 2 1/2?

All of the above said don't bother, think on that

Stick with the stock pulley, go with taller tires.

Pulley swaps don't really work on Hydro transaxles. Unless you want to kill it.

avrappy wrote:

I have a power kraft tractor and it has a 4" pulley & I want to put a 2" or so on it. I don't need it to go fast, just speed it up alittle. Will it help? I will be useing it for pulling a trailer and work.

I honestly would do a small pully swap for some added pressure but not alot though and it would give some speed not alot.

Yeah you could do a small pully swap but nothing crazy.
You could try a size smaller but im not sure if it will gain speed.

If you have your heart set on a pulley swap, just do it. When the tranny fails, find a good manual trans and swap them out. Just remember a junk hydro is worth nothing, and a good working one is worth enough to cover the swap to a manual trans and more!!

what is hard to figure out is that the pulleys are 3 1/2" pulleys 1:1 and I would put a pully on the motor not tranny. What pulley size would you recomend doing for a small pulley swap?