Seeking ideas for pulley/belt transmission or a solution to gearing problem.

[Wally_Welder]

I like to make home-built machines out of other peoples' junk. My usual setups include a 5-22 hp downshaft engine, mower pulleys and levers, and a few car parts thrown in for good measure. I need some gearing! Any of you good people here have any ideas how to get some gearing using belts and pulleys? There are a couple example I have found online. One example was on an early steam tractor that had high and low range. The gearing was accomplished by sliding a shaft from one set of pulleys to another set of pulleys creating two speeds. Pretty sure you had to stop the engine to change gears though. Another example was a bicycle race where derailers were not allowed to change gears. The riders would actually stop, remove the rear wheel and flip it around to another sprocket. Both of these example would "kinda" work but I need at least 4 different speeds. I would love a simple belt/pulley transmission setup. I might try the sliding shaft approach but any and all ideas are welcome!

[Shade Tree Welder]

a lot of the cheap MTD riding mowers use a 3 pulley design, where the third
pulley will pull the V-belt tight to engage the drive and then, slacks the belt to
disengage the belt. I am thinking you could set of four of those belt each with
a different ratio and just engage one at a time for the speed you need.


I feel the need for speed. Maverick '86.

[GWIZ]

Welcome to the site.

Try searching
vari drive pulley
or
Variable drive pulley.

[Wally_Welder]

Originally Posted by Shade Tree Welder

a lot of the cheap MTD riding mowers use a 3 pulley design, where the third
pulley will pull the V-belt tight to engage the drive and then, slacks the belt to
disengage the belt. I am thinking you could set of four of those belt each with
a different ratio and just engage one at a time for the speed you need.


I feel the need for speed. Maverick '86.

Actually........ I often use a slack belt/tight belt rig which works like a clutch most of the time on my builds. Don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. I can pretty much just duplicate my main drive and connect them. Imagine having 20 speeds lol. Prob would eat up most of my HP, but what a tangle of belts and pulleys that would be! Think I will work on your idea, might enclose it in a cage, 3 or 4 speeds would be pretty easy for me to do. I love overkill and stuff that gets people's attention like a 6x6 all wheel drive wood splitter/bird feeder combo.. :-)

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by Wally_Welder

Actually........ I often use a slack belt/tight belt rig which works like a clutch most of the time on my builds. Don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. I can pretty much just duplicate my main drive and connect them. Imagine having 20 speeds lol. Prob would eat up most of my HP, but what a tangle of belts and pulleys that would be! Think I will work on your idea, might enclose it in a cage, 3 or 4 speeds would be pretty easy for me to do. I love overkill and stuff that gets people's attention like a 6x6 all wheel drive wood splitter/bird feeder combo.. :-)

You'll fit in here.

Also can you salvage an old mower transmission??

[randydupree]

Originally Posted by Wally_Welder

Actually........ I often use a slack belt/tight belt rig which works like a clutch most of the time on my builds. Don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. I can pretty much just duplicate my main drive and connect them. Imagine having 20 speeds lol. Prob would eat up most of my HP, but what a tangle of belts and pulleys that would be! Think I will work on your idea, might enclose it in a cage, 3 or 4 speeds would be pretty easy for me to do. I love overkill and stuff that gets people's attention like a 6x6 all wheel drive wood splitter/bird feeder combo.. :-)

That wood splitter needs an ironing board and one of those treadmill things on it.

If i was building a varible speed whatever it is i would use a drive disc off of an old snapper mower,you can even get reverse with that.
Of course it would be simple,but it sounds like simple may not be good.

[Wally_Welder]

no no vari drive.. i hate those things for ever being invented lol

[Wally_Welder]

and I do have multiple mower transmissions but they are no where near as robust as what I need...

[randydupree]

we had no idea how robust it needed to be.