Steve G

Hi Alan, thought I would have a read up about this after you mentioned it and you have done a marvellous job. I especially like the bits of bodywork you have made.  

I've got nothing to loose by trying it so I turned the clutch pulley down as small as I dared today. Not sure what it was made from but it was a bit of a struggle on my little lathe. 
 
 
The before and after. I've ended up with the smaller of the two pulleys I found for sale, if they had any in stock. It was 128mm OD and is now about 110mm. If I do decide to get a bigger pulley for the gearbox it won't need to be quite as big now. 
 
       
 
 
Todays other modification, or rather quick lash up to see how it worked was to fit a foot throttle. I've seen people have fitted bike brake levers so for now I have done similar using an old racer lever I straightened up a bit. The hole in the bit of wood isn't a clever design feature it just happened to be lying about. The good thing is it actually allows more gentle take offs so I will give it a try tomorrow to see if it's any more driveable now. 
 

 
 

I've got nothing to loose by trying it so I turned the clutch pulley down as small as I dared today. Not sure what it was made from but it was a bit of a struggle on my little lathe. 
 
 
The before and after. I've ended up with the smaller of the two pulleys I found for sale, if they had any in stock. It was 128mm OD and is now about 110mm. If I do decide to get a bigger pulley for the gearbox it won't need to be quite as big now. 
 
       
 
 
Todays other modification, or rather quick lash up to see how it worked was to fit a foot throttle. I've seen people have fitted bike brake levers so for now I have done similar using an old racer lever I straightened up a bit. The hole in the bit of wood isn't a clever design feature it just happened to be lying about. The good thing is it actually allows more gentle take offs so I will give it a try tomorrow to see if it's any more driveable now. 
 

 
 

I've got nothing to loose by trying it so I turned the clutch pulley down as small as I dared today. Not sure what it was made from but it was a bit of a struggle on my little lathe. 
 
 
The before and after. I've ended up with the smaller of the two pulleys I found for sale, if they had any in stock. It was 128mm OD and is now about 110mm. If I do decide to get a bigger pulley for the gearbox it won't need to be quite as big now. 
 
       
 
 
Todays other modification, or rather quick lash up to see how it worked was to fit a foot throttle. I've seen people have fitted bike brake levers so for now I have done similar using an old racer lever I straightened up a bit. The hole in the bit of wood isn't a clever design feature it just happened to be lying about. The good thing is it actually allows more gentle take offs so I will give it a try tomorrow to see if it's any more driveable now. 
 

 
 

I'm an engineer by profession but unless you can program CNC machines, which I can't, nobody is interested. I start stuff like this to keep sane plus it's something my son seems interested in now.  I rebuilt a pedal go kart for him a couple of years ago but that got a bit involved and took a while so he lost interest with that. I'm hoping to do a few things on this and keep it driveable all the time.

I'm an engineer by profession but unless you can program CNC machines, which I can't, nobody is interested. I start stuff like this to keep sane plus it's something my son seems interested in now.  I rebuilt a pedal go kart for him a couple of years ago but that got a bit involved and took a while so he lost interest with that. I'm hoping to do a few things on this and keep it driveable all the time.

Hi Stormin, I wasn't sure how well the clutch would work and haven't tested it fully yet. The throttle lever needs to be brought up to about half way to get the clutch to engage which the advert said should be between 1800-2000rpm. I'm not sure if still slips much from then so it might be better to go for the smaller pulley version. I found them advertised on ebay but the company are called Petrol Scooter.   Here is a link to the page http://www.petrolscooter.co.uk/heavy-duty-clutch-pulley-1-inch-bore-3-shoe-karting-drive-belt-honda-gx-engine-gokart.html
They are hoping to get more of the smaller pulley versions some time in February.
I did find them for sale elsewhere but for considerably more money, I think the highest was about £180 from a Lawn Mower spares site although my one might not be of the same quality. It's difficult to tell from the pictures though. 

Right, finally took some pictures. 
This is the clutch I got hold of. It's a bit of a lump of a thing but it seems to work quite well. The outside diameter of the pulley is 128mm so it's about twice the size of the original. There is a smaller version available but it's out of stock at the moment.  I pinched a spacer tube from the PTO and turned it down lengthwise a bit so the crank was a couple of mm shorter than the clutch when fitted. I had to adjust the keyway and key slightly as it was a bit tight and find a shorter bolt. 
 

 
 
 
The tensioner is left as standard but the pedal has been separated from it. I will probably be changing the brake but for testing purposes this was OK.  
 

 
 
The brake is on in these pictures and with the rod adjusted as shown ther isn't much travel needed on the pedal anyway.

 
 
A slightly revised version of the brake pedal extension. Again this is on with the handbrake engaged and by moving the pivot forward (no holes drilled) there is somewhere for the spring. Finding something suitable took a while until I remembered I had some old exhaust springs from my kart. 
 

 
 
This shows the 86" belt fitted and the reason why it was easier to keep the two tensioner pulleys.  If I didn't the belt would have been rubbing against the gear selector.
 

Right, finally took some pictures. 
This is the clutch I got hold of. It's a bit of a lump of a thing but it seems to work quite well. The outside diameter of the pulley is 128mm so it's about twice the size of the original. There is a smaller version available but it's out of stock at the moment.  I pinched a spacer tube from the PTO and turned it down lengthwise a bit so the crank was a couple of mm shorter than the clutch when fitted. I had to adjust the keyway and key slightly as it was a bit tight and find a shorter bolt. 
 

 
 
 
The tensioner is left as standard but the pedal has been separated from it. I will probably be changing the brake but for testing purposes this was OK.  
 

 
 
The brake is on in these pictures and with the rod adjusted as shown ther isn't much travel needed on the pedal anyway.

 
 
A slightly revised version of the brake pedal extension. Again this is on with the handbrake engaged and by moving the pivot forward (no holes drilled) there is somewhere for the spring. Finding something suitable took a while until I remembered I had some old exhaust springs from my kart. 
 

 
 
This shows the 86" belt fitted and the reason why it was easier to keep the two tensioner pulleys.  If I didn't the belt would have been rubbing against the gear selector.
 

Right, finally took some pictures. 
This is the clutch I got hold of. It's a bit of a lump of a thing but it seems to work quite well. The outside diameter of the pulley is 128mm so it's about twice the size of the original. There is a smaller version available but it's out of stock at the moment.  I pinched a spacer tube from the PTO and turned it down lengthwise a bit so the crank was a couple of mm shorter than the clutch when fitted. I had to adjust the keyway and key slightly as it was a bit tight and find a shorter bolt. 
 

 
 
 
The tensioner is left as standard but the pedal has been separated from it. I will probably be changing the brake but for testing purposes this was OK.  
 

 
 
The brake is on in these pictures and with the rod adjusted as shown ther isn't much travel needed on the pedal anyway.

 
 
A slightly revised version of the brake pedal extension. Again this is on with the handbrake engaged and by moving the pivot forward (no holes drilled) there is somewhere for the spring. Finding something suitable took a while until I remembered I had some old exhaust springs from my kart. 
 

 
 
This shows the 86" belt fitted and the reason why it was easier to keep the two tensioner pulleys.  If I didn't the belt would have been rubbing against the gear selector.
 

Right, finally took some pictures. 
This is the clutch I got hold of. It's a bit of a lump of a thing but it seems to work quite well. The outside diameter of the pulley is 128mm so it's about twice the size of the original. There is a smaller version available but it's out of stock at the moment.  I pinched a spacer tube from the PTO and turned it down lengthwise a bit so the crank was a couple of mm shorter than the clutch when fitted. I had to adjust the keyway and key slightly as it was a bit tight and find a shorter bolt. 
 

 
 
 
The tensioner is left as standard but the pedal has been separated from it. I will probably be changing the brake but for testing purposes this was OK.  
 

 
 
The brake is on in these pictures and with the rod adjusted as shown ther isn't much travel needed on the pedal anyway.

 
 
A slightly revised version of the brake pedal extension. Again this is on with the handbrake engaged and by moving the pivot forward (no holes drilled) there is somewhere for the spring. Finding something suitable took a while until I remembered I had some old exhaust springs from my kart. 
 

 
 
This shows the 86" belt fitted and the reason why it was easier to keep the two tensioner pulleys.  If I didn't the belt would have been rubbing against the gear selector.
 

Right, finally took some pictures. 
This is the clutch I got hold of. It's a bit of a lump of a thing but it seems to work quite well. The outside diameter of the pulley is 128mm so it's about twice the size of the original. There is a smaller version available but it's out of stock at the moment.  I pinched a spacer tube from the PTO and turned it down lengthwise a bit so the crank was a couple of mm shorter than the clutch when fitted. I had to adjust the keyway and key slightly as it was a bit tight and find a shorter bolt. 
 

 
 
 
The tensioner is left as standard but the pedal has been separated from it. I will probably be changing the brake but for testing purposes this was OK.  
 

 
 
The brake is on in these pictures and with the rod adjusted as shown ther isn't much travel needed on the pedal anyway.

 
 
A slightly revised version of the brake pedal extension. Again this is on with the handbrake engaged and by moving the pivot forward (no holes drilled) there is somewhere for the spring. Finding something suitable took a while until I remembered I had some old exhaust springs from my kart. 
 

 
 
This shows the 86" belt fitted and the reason why it was easier to keep the two tensioner pulleys.  If I didn't the belt would have been rubbing against the gear selector.
 

Thanks. My son is more interested than I expected, he got me to print out some pictures so he could take them into school.  Hopefully anything I do will be easily put back to standard. 
Next on the list are a pair of front tyres. The ones on it are pretty rotten so I have been looking to see whats available. All Terrain Tyres have a good range and I wonder if some slightly narrower ones might make the steering a bit lighter. Some 3 rib ones might look good along with cleated ones on the back but the fronts will probably be a bit narrow. The closest size I have seen are 4.00-6 but I'm not sure about the overall diameter. 
With any luck I can get the clutch fitted at the weekend and see how well it works.

Hi. I bought this for my son as he is interested in tractors and was interested to find this forum.  The cutting deck is a bit rusty but for now I have removed this.  The front wheel in the picture is the wrong one but fortunately the seller still had the original.
 

 
 
My son is 8 so I moved the set forward and made up a pedal extension so he could drive it. I have since made a better job of this (but only slightly) !
 

 
While he can drive it OK now I am considering fitting a centrifugal clutch and wondered if anyone else had done similar. I'd like to keep it as near to standard as possible so don't want to go too mad. With no engine braking I will need to fit a better brake. The original isn't working and I haven't managed to strip it down as the bolts going into the gearbox case are pretty stuck. I think attempting to remove them might involve stripping the threads so I will have to have to try a bit harder. One thought it to fit a brake to the power take off which might work for the time being at least. 

Part of the idea about buying this is to get him doing something other than play on the playstation. He loves driving games and farming simulator so when he started asking for a tractor I spotted an opportunity.  It seems to have worked as he was desperate to have a drive on it on Christmas day !
 
Ideally I would like to fit a proper manual clutch. I have seen some sort of pulley arrangement described as a clutch brake. Not sure exactly how they work but the price pretty much rules them out.
  

Hi. I bought this for my son as he is interested in tractors and was interested to find this forum.  The cutting deck is a bit rusty but for now I have removed this.  The front wheel in the picture is the wrong one but fortunately the seller still had the original.
 

 
 
My son is 8 so I moved the set forward and made up a pedal extension so he could drive it. I have since made a better job of this (but only slightly) !
 

 
While he can drive it OK now I am considering fitting a centrifugal clutch and wondered if anyone else had done similar. I'd like to keep it as near to standard as possible so don't want to go too mad. With no engine braking I will need to fit a better brake. The original isn't working and I haven't managed to strip it down as the bolts going into the gearbox case are pretty stuck. I think attempting to remove them might involve stripping the threads so I will have to have to try a bit harder. One thought it to fit a brake to the power take off which might work for the time being at least. 

Hi. I bought this for my son as he is interested in tractors and was interested to find this forum.  The cutting deck is a bit rusty but for now I have removed this.  The front wheel in the picture is the wrong one but fortunately the seller still had the original.
 

 
 
My son is 8 so I moved the set forward and made up a pedal extension so he could drive it. I have since made a better job of this (but only slightly) !
 

 
While he can drive it OK now I am considering fitting a centrifugal clutch and wondered if anyone else had done similar. I'd like to keep it as near to standard as possible so don't want to go too mad. With no engine braking I will need to fit a better brake. The original isn't working and I haven't managed to strip it down as the bolts going into the gearbox case are pretty stuck. I think attempting to remove them might involve stripping the threads so I will have to have to try a bit harder. One thought it to fit a brake to the power take off which might work for the time being at least. 

Hi. I bought this for my son as he is interested in tractors and was interested to find this forum.  The cutting deck is a bit rusty but for now I have removed this.  The front wheel in the picture is the wrong one but fortunately the seller still had the original.
 

 
 
My son is 8 so I moved the set forward and made up a pedal extension so he could drive it. I have since made a better job of this (but only slightly) !
 

 
While he can drive it OK now I am considering fitting a centrifugal clutch and wondered if anyone else had done similar. I'd like to keep it as near to standard as possible so don't want to go too mad. With no engine braking I will need to fit a better brake. The original isn't working and I haven't managed to strip it down as the bolts going into the gearbox case are pretty stuck. I think attempting to remove them might involve stripping the threads so I will have to have to try a bit harder. One thought it to fit a brake to the power take off which might work for the time being at least.