peerless vs spicer question

Maybe this has been asked before - and I know the consensus is that the peerless is a superior brand of transaxle compared to most -

BUT -

Why do people dislike the spicer so much? I've had 3 spicers and just as many or more of peerless. With the exception of the peerless transmissions for chain drive, they have not put up with any more abuse than the spicer/foote transaxles (in my experience anyway), even being prepped for such abuse. Even going so far as rigging up axle truss type supports to stiffen the housings.

Again, why do people say the peerless is so much better?

It kind of reminds me of a debate that a farmer friend and I had about tecumseh vs briggs engines.... we both had our pros (he being pro tecumseh) and few cons....

ive had only a hand ful of peerless transaxles and gearboxes ve had more spicer's then anything i did notice that peerless transaxles feel like there built better but the 700 series ive had lots of trouble with the shift key in it ad a foote gearbox and it worked great for the time i had it ive had a peerless 600 h pattern and it was a good transaxle just had shiting probloms but my spicer did have 1 error and thats locking it ive blew the bottom casing on it once from having it locked and pulling some stuff overall i think spicer and peerless are great but o have some probloms

From what I've seen, the peerless have bearings instead of bushings, and higher quality gears.

I've had a spicer in one of the tractors, and it did great for many years.


They all will fail under abuse. We have gone to the peerless 820 series. They have 1 in axles, and beefier cases.

SOME Peerless models have bearings for the mainshaft, countershaft, and/or axles. Most simply use the bronze oilite bushings. They usually have bearings only on the input shaft.

I suspect this is very much a Ford/Chevy thing- a matter of personal preference- with a smattering of MISinformation thrown in for good measure. For example, Tecumseh carbs seem to have a bad reputation and are generally dismissed as junk. Mostly due to one idiot having a bad time with one, and spreading the word. On the other hand, I LOVE Tec Series 1 carbs, and snap one up every chance I get...

it really wasn't a Ford vs Chevy type of question. Rather, it was trying to clarify why people seem to prefer the peerless over the Spicer. It seems to me that it is a matter of personal preference more than of proven durability or reliability because as you say they all will break in time. Just like locked or unlocked rear end. I was merely curious of other people's opinion on the matter. I have heard the same for and against many times. I really just want to know why people think that's the peerless is better overall because I don't see it that way