Any way to gear down/slow down David Bradley tractor?

[swindek]

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have a David Bradley 5HP Special garden tractor. When the clutch is engaged it LURCHES forward and the travel speed seems too fast. It makes plowing, harrowing, etc., very difficult because it is hard to keep up to the pace of the machine. The clutch is either "engaged" or "not engaged", there is no way to partially engage the clutch. I was wondering if replacing one of the gears would help to slow down the ground speed? I am not aware that this model of DB tractor had a speed changer. It does have a reverser. Thanks for any help on this; if I could slow this thing down a little, it would be much more pleasurable to use.

 

[firemech]

Had a David Bradley about twenty five years ago and it was old then. Cannot remember if it was belt or gear driven, but to slow the tractor the engine gear should be smaller and or the driven gear should be larger:thumbsup:

 

[2manyrocks]

The orignal David Bradley had an engine pully with two different grooves on it. One of the grooves was for a higher ground speed and the other one was for a lower ground speed. If yours doesn't have this pulley, you can find a different pulley to change the speed a bit.

The later David Bradleys had a variable speed pully arrangement on them that allowed a pretty wide ground speed variation.

 

[Soundguy]

smaller tires..

 

[DJ54]

If you could find a donor model with the complete speed reducer, you could mount it on yours. They simply clamp to the frame, between the engine mount, and differential. I say complete, as the lever and rod, that activates the pulley mechanism mounts on the left handlebar, so as to change on the go.

I've got a Special 5 myself. Never had any problems when cultivating to just creep when plants were small. It pulls along great at just off idle.

I also have a rare '55 model Deluxe Super 3, with Continental AU85 engine. It was only made for 6 months. I've included a picture of the speed reducer pulley mechanism. If you enlarge the picture, you can see where it clamps to the frame.

Note the tires, they are the original Allstate tires from Sears. My Special 5 also has a set on it. No checking, or weather cracks, on either one.

Here is a link to a David Bradley reference guide. David Bradley Reference guide Find the number on the differential case on yours, then look for that number on this page. There are even pages from the Sears Farm Catalog, with the DB tractors, and attachments for the year you choose.

I actually have 10 more over at the homeplace. Picked them up over the years for spare parts. Pretty neat little tractors, and just the ticket to cultivate in a large garden.