NEW MEMBER,

hey guys & gals, just got into the world of off road tractors, heres my 97 craftsman 15.5 hp, so far the only mods are bear klaw tires on back.. more to come, gotta do some research on here to see what the next step should be, I have front tires ordered, and I'm debating on getting the rear end welded, I can't weld and I wanna make sure whoever does it knows what they're doing,

hey man!! welcome to the forum! Looking at your tractor, im thinking youll love it here lol Im livin the tires! Id say leave the transaxle alone and just pulley swap it. Get some good speed! Another thing thats nice to have is a gas pedal. very nice to have.

If you want more ideas, check out my youtube channel. Ive got several modded tractors and i know my way around them lol.

https://www.youtube.com/user/arild365?feature=mhee#p/u/2/PcYOfPEfLH8

If you have any questions just fire away! Good luck!

PERFECT!!,, thanks for the info!. I deff gotta get a gas pedal on this thing!!.. and I'm gonna go pulley shopping this week.. will I lose much torque with a slightly smaller pulley?

id go for a 4 or 5 inch pulley judginge by the size of motor and your tractor you got. As long as you dont go smaller than a 4 inch (great crawl/ top speed) you should be fine. good luck!

Welcome! Nice to see another Nova Scotian on the forums.

thanks for the welcomes and the info!.. anouther question for u experts,, when I go to a smaller pulley, do I subrtact the differences in the pulley to the newersmall pulley, and what ever that is, ratio that out to finding out the correct belt size? (sorry thats the engineer math dork in me) .............. or could a use a string for a rude way of trying to figue out the belt size

i usually take the old belt and cut it too size while the clutch fully depressed. then i measure it and add 1 to 2 inches depending on the clutch setup. Just make sure you keep your recipt haha

good luck!

I tried using math and it didn't come out right for whatever reason. You would think that simple circumference calculations would be easy, but it didn't work for me. Then I tried string which was doomed from the start since it fit inside the pulley too deep. Finally I cut an old belt like Arild365 said. Mine was too short so I put the clutch in a neutral middle ground and just added the gap length to the old belt length. Then just ordered a cheap one off surpluscenter.com and now it works great.

all fantastic info guys!!. heading to the tractor store this week for a new pulley!!.. see what happens!

What I usually do for belt size is go to my favorite parts store, bring my tractor on back of my truck, and try on my guessed size. Then trial and error till I get it right, and purchase that one lol. Also I have about 100 spare/semi used belts on hand for that reason!