I was thinking about this the other day. Has anyone ever swapped the belts and pulleys for chain and sprockets? You could use a clutch right on the motor like they do in gokarts. Seems like it would eliminate any slipping. I have no intention or need to do this, but it did spark my mind.

Lawntractor racers do that - only real issue is chain 'slap' and or binding- would need regular oiling to keep it free.

Id find a heavy duty go kart clutch - actually id planned on using a 5HP honda horizontal motor, a go kart clutch, fair amount of chain to a straight rear axle on my 80's MTD wizard for a sorta 'mini tractor kart' - that setup would be a platform for a large horizontal twin cylender motor as a future mod( along with lowering, smaller wheels, ect).

Ill have to dig that out n add it to my list.

couple ppl have some chain drives on here

All the chain drives I've seen were horizontal shaft motors. I was thinking along the lines of the more common vertical shaft motor in most riding mowers. I've never messed with anything chain drive so I didn't know about the slap.

Heres a racing tractor with a chain drive ( chain isnt present yet) :


Its got the clutch- it runs to a RAGB - you could make a stacked pulley with an old mower mandlrel to get it to the trans.

That's a cool looking mower. I see what you're talking about now, they run much shorter sections of chain.

Ive been thinking about trying that for a while but issues would be braking and shifting for me

Braking and shifting wouldnt be an issue- brakes would have its own pedal - the clutch does the shifting- there is no trans.

They make some heavy duty clutches - if you could get a rebuildable type- its pretty easy to take it apart , rebuild it and stick it back in once inna while.

Best bet would be to get a large horizontal shaft motor, mount a snowmobile clutch , driven shiv and trans( snowmobile) to a tractor ( with brakes) - have it all in one heavy duty package.

I would, but my old sled is back north .

This place i used to buy used tractor parts from would race his tractors every weekend - he said he mounted a regular go kart clutch to the engine, welded a larger sprocket on it and went racing, says ( at the time ) had never had an issue with it- you have to clean them once inna while as well- they do require some maintenence.

It shouldnt really wouldnt be any different then a go kart - most those go offroad anyway. If a go kart clutch holds up to racing- it should hold up going offroad . Id look for a good heavy duty one , cheep ones wouldnt probably last too long. Im going to use on my wizard project ( whenever i get around to building that)- ill see how long the clutch lasts on it ( hauling my butt around).