2005 MTD 15.5HP Tecumseh Romper - locked diff

Bought this thing from work, customer trade in, it had been sitting in a field uncovered for a few years. The way I got it, it was complete and a little rough; dust everywhere, crooked hood, no battery, bugged up electricals, missing the airbox/filter.. But it had a good seat and rust-free body panels and frame rails. 80 bucks was a steal for a dusty-but-like-new tractor. It also came with a full tank of premium gas [thanks work ]. I used it for both mowing and fun for its first few months.

Here's how it was when I got it home




Rewired it and changed the rear VSP belt [woooo variable speed pulleyyyyy]


And at this point it remained pretty much unchanged for 2 months. Somewhere along the lines I added an early '00s craftsman snowblower headlight. There's a mockup I made using craftsman snowblower wheels [16x4x8 carlisle snow hog/itp holeshot] the rear 5x12 wheels were from a mid 50s simplicity model VA two-wheeled tractor, never used them cause the rubber was toast and the rims were rotten. I also added garden edging as last minute fender flares [work great! never lost one!].




Now things get interesting. I removed the 1spd MTD 618 transaxle, so I could investigate a gear slipping problem in forward, and see how difficult it'd be to lock something like these. The photos tell a better story.




TO BE CONTINUED!!!! Gonna pass out soon aha

Okay, to continue with the MTD 1spd axle locker. I'm not posting step-by-step instructions HERE, but there will be a detailed post in the drivetrain section. In the end though, if you find your axle isn't straight [don't install a bent one!], you can correct it as I will show in the following photos. Just make a grinding wheel wide cut in the carrier across the two spider shaft holes. from here you can vise one axle and push/pull the other till it spins true in the lower casting. Now make a ton of hot spot welds to close up the gap [to prevent warpage] and you're all set.




So that's the diff lock. It hasn't been touched to this day. If it breaks, I'll revive the thread to let you all know haha
I drove around without the fenders for awhile, cause I'm cool like that - nah, it was just to monitor the transaxle, and to make freeing up frozen trans linkages easier cause it's winterer as frig up here in northern ontario canada. I moved the snowblower light to the back and wired it to the alternator and reverse safety switch. It comes in handy at night when trailering or backing out a trail.


I added twin 18W LED Flood lights, six bulb, from ebay. 40 bucks. They are wired direct to B+ and have constant power to a pull switch in the dash where the choke would go. One problem I've had with this setup is in the frigid weather the reed contacts in the switch freeze in the open position when the tractor isn't used.





I added a reverse light using the old craftsman blower light and made a hole in the fender stamping so I can change belts and un freeze linkages without removing the fenders. the old piece will eventually be on a hinge.



And that's how it sits in the driveway! Let me know what you all think! Romp on!!


Plans for the future include better rear tires, new front end [possibly direct steer], increasing speed with pulleys,a boat winch, and a backup rope starter [tecumseh builds a sh!t starter motor...]. Toolbox and other goodies will follow.

Very nice! Now I have a solid thread to show people how to lock fnrs. Thanks!

thats awsome! where did you get those flood lights, i might get a set of those for rear lights on my pickup

Not entirely sure, my father got them off a common eBay seller. I'd just search up 6 LED Flood Light 18w. They were sold individually, but it was right around 50 bucks CAD for the set after shipping. If I find out exactly I'll definitely post a link.

alright, i'll look for em, they look pretty bright, should go under my bumper nicely