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Riding mower question. HELP!

blazinzuk

blazinzuk

Buzzbox voodoo
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I need a riding mower I cannot mow my yard without one. It's just not possible with my health.​

So my old mower gave up the ghost. Its pretty old and has a knock in the engine burns a quart of oil when I mow and now the deck is shaking violently when you engage the blades. Also had to fix the axle on it.

So my Dad gave me his old one. It had trans issues. Wouldn't go into reverse for a while, then it changed and wouldn't go into forward.

Had been taken to a repair place ( a trusted one) he said new trans. Well I bought a transmission for it.

Pretty sure it's the wrong one even though everything on Sears parts direct said it's this one.

Now I'm thinking it may be a smaller problem like a linkage issue.

Any lawn tractor guys here.

Here's the info on it.

IMG_20171024_142840911.jpg

IMG_20171024_142907019.jpg

The old trans, I realize it has the plastic shroud on it but it looks totally different than the new oneIMG_20171024_142826242.jpg

I hate being the neighbor with the crappy lawn. And this year I was.
 
That sucks. :(

Can't help specifically, but I ended up with two riding mowers...one was my grandfathers, the other was a family friends.

The one, my grandfather liked to disassemble things. It had/has all sorts of problems...deck height doesn't adjust right, 1st gear didn't work right, reverse was hard to get into, etc. It was indeed all adjustment and making sure everything was put together properly.

The other one, ran fine, but the guy was told it would be $500 to repair, since the deck was "rusted out". 15 minutes with the mig welder and some sheet metal, It was up and cutting.

I've only owned the two, but I've had no problems with any of the drivetrain, the one mower I think is 1995! Leaks a bit of oil now, but too much effort/time to fix for as little as it does.
 
I’m not an expert but if the deck shakes when you engage the blades my first guess would be a bent shaft that the blades mount to. That’s what happened on my push mower. :dunno:
 
rampage said:
I’m not an expert but if the deck shakes when you engage the blades my first guess would be a bent shaft that the blades mount to. That’s what happened on my push mower. :dunno:
Click to expand...
It is a bent shaft. It's also the fact the deck where the shaft goes in has several cracks. There's a myriad things wrong with my old one. If I have to fix it I certainly will. But like I said the motor had started making some pretty terrible noises. We shall see
 
Sadly, if there's one thing I've learned about used lawn equipment, it's given to you because someone else was completely fed up with fixing it. I just fixed my mower again, for the 20 time this year it feels like. In the long run it's normally better to just but a new one vs fixing it. Mowers seem to be built as cheaply as possible these days and don't last. Sorry I was no help, but having just fixed my mower again, I feel you pain.
 
might be a newer version...looks like the axle mount bolt hole line up..will the pulley fit on the new shaft?
 
if the pulley fits you might just need a longer belt and loose the whole plastic shroud
 
Firdaddy said:
Sadly, if there's one thing I've learned about used lawn equipment, it's given to you because someone else was completely fed up with fixing it. I just fixed my mower again, for the 20 time this year it feels like. In the long run it's normally better to just but a new one vs fixing it. Mowers seem to be built as cheaply as possible these days and don't last. Sorry I was no help, but having just fixed my mower again, I feel you pain.
Click to expand...

Truth! Lol but this one is way newer. And it was my Dad's. It's kind of had problems for a while.....but the same problem. It was out of warranty when he decided to fix it. And he just bought a new one

Blazooki said:
might be a newer version...looks like the axle mount bolt hole line up..will the pulley fit on the new shaft?
Click to expand...

Blazooki said:
if the pulley fits you might just need a longer belt and loose the whole plastic shroud
Click to expand...

Yes I still need to take the pulley off to get the plastic crap off so maybe all my woes will be gone but it looks totally different.

Now I just gotta figure out how to get the pulley off without destroying it
 
I don't know how to fix it either, but on the bright side, lawn mowing season has to be over in Star Valley.

I'm hoping for you that your riding mower isn't your snow blower too.
 
LNielson said:
I don't know how to fix it either, but on the bright side, lawn mowing season has to be over in Star Valley.

I'm hoping for you that your riding mower isn't your snow blower too.
Click to expand...


Nope 4 wheeler has a plow!
 
AJs72K5 said:
Pay a neighborhood kid to do it. More time to work on the burb.
Click to expand...

Got an acre. Tried to get several people over here to do it this year. No dice.

Well except for landscape companies. They want 200 bucks a month and for me to sign a 3 month contract. Not kidding
 
Cheap craigslist pushmower tied to rear bumper of the burb doing donuts in the yard? That's all I got Eric.
 
AJs72K5 said:
Cheap craigslist pushmower tied to rear bumper of the burb doing donuts in the yard? That's all I got Eric.
Click to expand...

So in this vein at some point I would like to plant actual grass in the back yard.

My idea is to basically have some friends come up and rip around the yard on the 4 wheeler. I figure 30 bucks in fuel oughta tear up the ground pretty good
 
The area could use some mud drags again, They stopped doing them in Soda Springs 3 or so years ago. You won't have to mow it...
 
blazinzuk said:
I need a riding mower I cannot mow my yard without one. It's just not possible with my health.​

So my old mower gave up the ghost. Its pretty old and has a knock in the engine burns a quart of oil when I mow and now the deck is shaking violently when you engage the blades. Also had to fix the axle on it.

So my Dad gave me his old one. It had trans issues. Wouldn't go into reverse for a while, then it changed and wouldn't go into forward.

Had been taken to a repair place ( a trusted one) he said new trans. Well I bought a transmission for it.

Pretty sure it's the wrong one even though everything on Sears parts direct said it's this one.

Now I'm thinking it may be a smaller problem like a linkage issue.

Any lawn tractor guys here.

Here's the info on it.

View attachment 248817

View attachment 248816

The old trans, I realize it has the plastic shroud on it but it looks totally different than the new oneView attachment 248818

I hate being the neighbor with the crappy lawn. And this year I was.
Click to expand...

Your original transmission looks like a General Transmissions RS 800P, which is a variator automatic.
Here is a link to the service manual- http://services.generaltransmission...formation/Service Manuals/39020-B_RS800_P.pdf
That will let you adjust it, or find out if a replaceable part is broken.
If the manual says it's fixable then go here-
https://www.searspartsdirect.com/mo...odelSearch&q=917.203901&searchTerm=917.203901
Scroll to the diagram to the far right and it will show the transmission parts. For whatever stupid reason, the online lookup on your specific model doesn't list a complete transmission. My best guess would be part # 580486201, but I suggest confirming it with Sears.

The new transmission you've got appears to be for a manual transmission model (Dana, Peerless???), would take some creativity (and/or a lot of parts) to make it work properly.
 
JeremyK5 said:
Your original transmission looks like a General Transmissions RS 800P, which is a variator automatic.
Here is a link to the service manual- http://services.generaltransmissions.com/en/service-manual.html?file=files/general_transmissions/images/Technical information/Service Manuals/39020-B_RS800_P.pdf
That will let you adjust it, or find out if a replaceable part is broken.
If the manual says it's fixable then go here-
https://www.searspartsdirect.com/mo...odelSearch&q=917.203901&searchTerm=917.203901
Scroll to the diagram to the far right and it will show the transmission parts. For whatever stupid reason, the online lookup on your specific model doesn't list a complete transmission. My best guess would be part # 580486201, but I suggest confirming it with Sears.

The new transmission you've got appears to be for a manual transmission model (Dana, Peerless???), would take some creativity (and/or a lot of parts) to make it work properly.
Click to expand...


Woo hoo excellent!!! Given diagrams I can fix most anything!!

Thanks a ton man. :bow::bow:
 
Firdaddy said:
Sadly, if there's one thing I've learned about used lawn equipment, it's given to you because someone else was completely fed up with fixing it. I just fixed my mower again, for the 20 time this year it feels like. In the long run it's normally better to just but a new one vs fixing it. Mowers seem to be built as cheaply as possible these days and don't last. Sorry I was no help, but having just fixed my mower again, I feel you pain.
Click to expand...


While that is often the case--I have scored many free riding mowers that were left out in the weeds after a relatively minor issue happened,and the owners not being mechanically inclined at all.either just gave up on it and bought another one--or worse,tried fixing it themselves and did more damage than it had already..

I have dragged home dozens of riding mowers and most were running the same day,all most of them needed was a good carb cleaning and some maintenence they never got before--some parts were usually NG,like a gas tank,or the mower deck was rotted away,but many I got looked like new still and only needed something stupid like a gas filter...others were hopeless cases that had already blown up,or were about too--those got stripped for parts..

Many of the "newer" riding mowers have hydrostatic transmissions that die an early death when they lose some fluid from a minor leak and they stop propelling it,and the owner assumes its junk--sometime just a fluid dump & refill will get more life out of them--otherwise your better off just getting a parts tractor with a good one that had a blown engine and swap it in..
--also many of the later Briggs engines blow head gaskets easily and will smoke like a tire fire,and eventually let it run too low on oil and chuck a rod--if you can get it before it got run too low,its a fairly simple cheap fix to replace the head gasket--push rods,rocker arm studs,and valve seats often fail on the later Vanguard engines too...

In the case of the original poster,I believe Jeremy is correct--looks like you had an "automatic" (hydrostat) transmission and you were sold a manual transmission..most Craftsman tractors could come with either one,but to swap a manual into an automatic one will require a "donor" tractor that had a manual,to get all the different mounting brackets,a clutch pedal,linkages,the brake setup may be different--etc...its not a simple bolt in deal otherwise..

Also I have run into transaxles that may look almost identical,but had the drive pulley end up being higher or lower than the original ,that nixed any hopes of making it work,despite it bolting right up..others lined up OK,but the pulley was smaller than the original,and trying to cheat by using a shorter belt didn't pan out because the belt would grind against things in the way..
 
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