MTD Trail Runner Build.

Pretty much going for a trail tractor. The original plan was to just put a motor on this beast, but that wouldn't be much fun would it? Hopefully it will be powered by a 6.5hp powerfist engine and a peerless differential.


The tractor when I first received it.

Tires and differential.

Shafts need to be cut off and keyed shafts welded on.

Shafts cut and welded on.

Some goodies! Too bad I couldn't find centers for my pulleys.

Still don't know what happened there.


Lots of stuff in there. Lots of potential weight savings when all that is removed.
Will have more updates soon.

Nice,can't wait to see it in action.

Cool- have y tried at tractor supply? They have all types of pulleys n sprockets along with weld in centers- im going to buy my gears there.

Im making a 'fun machine' ( call it a go kart) out of my MTD wizard- itll be lowered, straight rear axle and use a 5HP horizontal OHV honda motor i got free- itll stay like that till i find a huge horizontal twin cylender motor.....

Chunk wrote:

As for that engine bay picture, I really dont know what could have happened there! Pretty weird. Someone must have vhad problems with a pulley or something!

Look like it was a stuck pulley to me too!

That a really nice rig youve got there! lots of potental! I want some of those goodies too! Don't put too big of a sproket on the rearend, it'll be the first thing to bottom out. Are you keeping the diff unlocked? If you wanted it locked, just use a 1 piece axleshaft, that would never break.

I bought my bearings, pulleys, and sprockets from princess auto, the only problem is they were all out or never had the proper centers for my pulleys.

Currently the plan is to keep it unlocked, but if I need more traction I should be pretty to slide a solid axle through and throw a different center on my sprocket.

Chunk: Do you have any electrical supply shops around? If they carry electric motors, they should carry pulleys.

Managed to get it basically down to a bare frame today.

Brought it inside today and started mounting the engine.

I had to make spacers so the engine shroud will clear the frame bolts.

Engine sitting on the tractor.

I will build a custom exhaust since the stock muffler will dump straight at the plastic dashboard.

Motor spacer.

Another view of my motor mount setup.

Chunk wrote:

It's looking nice! Are those tiny front wheels staying on it?

Wow, a brand new motor, sweet! You got the whole cut in the chassis for the chain yet?

I will be putting the stock wheels back on once I get tubes.

Also I plan on running a belt back to a jackshaft and then chain down to the axle. So I really won't need to cut the frame.

Thats a rough idea of what my belt drive will look like. I pulled the idler pulley off a tiller.

I should have plenty of clearance to run my belt inside the frame to keep it out of the elements.

Thats how my jack shaft will be set up. I plan on going to get centers for my pulleys this weekend.

Looks nice! New parts are sweet. Is the a robin subaru engine? It look identical to the on we have on our plate compactor at work.

What are you doing for a clutch? Is it that pulley in the first pic of your last post?

The engine is made by Launtop. The clutch will just be a tensioner style setup with a 4" pulley on the motor and 8" on the jack shaft.

Cool setup- i was going to do something similar on the wizard- im using a go kart clutch on the motor and chain drive to the axle - its a small tractor - i dunno , might need to do a jackshaft if the chain gets too long- since the tractor was free and was missing alot of parts- im not worried about hacking holes in it.

Ill probably need a couple sprocket idlers , and have seen plastic pulleys used for chain tensioners. This is getting a near full mod setup as well, eventually id like to find a monster twin horizontal shaft motor....

Well this morning I started drilling the 1/2" holes for my rear axle bearings. I managed to drill the first set pretty much dead on. The second set I didn't get so lucky. Since it's hard to find the center of a hole after it's drilled I was forced to guess, since I was making a copy of the first one and caused the holes to be about 3/16" off. But I had a plan, rather than drill a new piece I tried to use a burr to elongate my holes so they line up somewhat. So now I only have about an 1/8" inch to go. I will have to see how it turns out.

I will need to make a trip to princess auto before I can do anymore. Yesterday I was in and bought a solid axle and my pulley centers. Today when I mounted my pillow block's on the axle I noticed that it's bent.

Sounds about right! Nothing is ever simple.

Chunk wrote:

Sounds about right! Nothing is ever simple.

Always something gone wrong.

if your gonna run big tires and a lot of power, I would put 3 bearings on that jack-shaft, that's gonna be a huge stress point. I hate when stuff doesn't work out. Espicaly when I have have to spend money because of my mistake.

thats how i felt about when that trans pinion gear popped out- nothing ever easy when y want it to be.....

Finally have another update.


Got my tensioner welded in. Now I need to find a spring.


Jackshaft,belt and chain have been installed.

Slot to accommodate my large rear sprocket.

Do I put a tensioner on the bottom top side of the chain?

View from down under.

View from the top.

Very cool- comming along nice! Most racers that do setups like that offset the drive sprocket to make room for the brakes on the opposite side. I like how y used the belt from the motor- then y dont need a go kart clutch.