Vari drive with 5 speed transaxle

Yup, a long one too.

Glad to hear you got it fixed!

I hate fixing MTD's. Just so much to go wrong. I always liked the idler pulley engagement best out of all the decks I've seen.

@Murraymountain I have only had MTD's to use for cutting grass, and I've seen those decks with the idler pulley engagement and think they would be better also. The 50" deck will be set up like that when I get it going. Maybe the electric clutch would work on my MTD too from the GT 6000, that would be real nice, LOL.

Hay People,
I'm stripping the GT 6000. Collecting the parts for this project and others. Pulled the motor, that thing is a heavy one. Threw it in my basement for storage till needed. It needs took apart, doesn't feel right when I spin it. Shouldn't be to hard since the previous owner had it apart but I don't know why or how far he did it. Took hood off for the hinges to put onto mine. Muffler is still solid enough to use too. And the snow plow attachment brackets for the 4x4 mower which looks like a quick release hookup. Pulled the entire wiring harness out to use for whatever, just threw everything in a ziplock bag to keep together. Bolts, nuts, washers are getting their own containers. I save them because that stuff adds up on projects, a good chunk of money is spent on hardware when I build all new, and that's a lot.

Pic of parts so far. I'll finish off the teardown tomorrow.


That electric PTO clutch might not work for this project I'm afraid to say. Too bad, looks simple enough. Works like a AC compressor clutch on a car. Just too long of a setup.

That's it, later.

Hay People,
Got the GT 6000 all apart. Snagged a couple more parts like brackets for the deck and the front end. All the steering was in good shape and will get stored and used later maybe.

Oh, working in the yard doing other stuff is when I found my gas container, LOL. Gave it the ole sniff test, yup! I set the empty container next to the gas container that still had gas in it. You can see how I mixed them up. Never fear, I wrote on the tops as you can see which is which. The evidence is there, LOL. I dumped diesel in the tank instead of gas, motor should be good to go when I fill it back up.


Took a pic of what was left. Transaxle and front axle. That front axle looks cool as hell. Ill probably have to use the GT front axle brackets to mount the axle but if I can't get it to fit right or work right I will be using that front axle for something. Hell, I would build a whole other project around that axle just to use it, LOL. My baby banshee build I'm planning on doing (still gathering parts) is just screaming for it. I wouldn't even have to heat and beat the thing, just a set of dropped spindles would be good. We shall see.

Hay People,
Time to cut the grass again, LOL. Been a while for this project. Last year was cancelled, for mowing the yard, LOL. Which means there was not much to tell. One of the kids would weed wack the back yard when it was knee high almost the whole season, but the last cut of the season, I used the mower to cut the grass once, and I broke it. I found out your not suppose to drive over a cinderblock with the deck blades engaged. Funny short story there! I, well had, 4 of those flat cinderblocks placed around a baby pine tree way in the back yard and was cutting around the pine tree. Figured I would cut the grass between the cinderblocks and then bam!! Blade smacked the cinderblock! Didn't stop the blade, it just took a big chunk out of the corner of the cinderblock, busted the blade spindle, then hard vibrations, deck swaying side to side, motor screaming the whole time! And I only had like 5 more turns to do before I put up the mower for the 2020 season too. Bummer! I used a push mower to finish the cutting. I drove the mower over to the house afterwards and turned it off and left it there. When it started to snow, I threw a piece of plastic over it till just recently.

So about a week ago I surveyed the damage. I noticed last year before I broke the deck, the transaxle was hard to shift. Need to pull transaxle. The deck needs pulled. Busted spindle and patch up the holes in the deck. Just to get it cutting again.
You can see the hole in the deck. Chopping up branches tore that hole open way more in the deck. Flings grass on you while cutting the whole time.


A quick patch for the fix.


Next I remove the side discharge deflector because it gets in the way. The outlet of the deck, I bend the top down to keep the grass from shooting upwards. Works mostly but needs to be pointed down more. I'll take a hammer to it later on.


I stripped the teeth on the spindle that hold the blade in place, when I hit the cinderblock. There was 6 teeth, I clean up 2 teeth with a grinder and weld them up to make 2 new teeth and shape them with a grinder so the blade will fit on it.


Put the deck back together and put it back on. Next comes the transaxle. Busting bolts left and right to get it out of the mower.


Then, busted a bolt and drilled out that center bolt since it was so rusty that the socket stripped it on. Looky, oh boy!!



Pretty much a clean it out, regrease it, reinstall it. I hate cleaning with gas.


The busted bolts got nuts welded to them to pull them out. Got so good that I eventual just welded on the busted bolt until I could grab it with vise grips. 4 total. Cleaned up for reassembly.


Back together. Threw the battery back in. Fixed the battery cable ends. It started right up, WOOPEY!!
Time to cut the grass!!


Still need to fix stuff but for now, just cutting the grass. Later.................

Nice to see an update on this one! Glad to see she's mowing again.

Hay People,
Little update on this. a rewind on the 2021 season. After the post, I mowed, it ate a big stick which jammed the blade and burnt the belt. Went to Tractor Supply for a new belt and put it on to finish cutting the grass that day. 2 months later, it ate another stick, jammed the blade and burnt the new belt. Parked it and used my push mower to finish the grass cutting. The end of 2021 season, LOL. And yes, I only used it twice for the 2021 season.
There it sits.


I need to put smaller tires on the back. When I drop the deck to cut, it drops too far and the belt flies off. Smaller tires should solve this, I think, LOL. And needs oil too. Our new puppy opened the drain plug and dumped the oil all over the ground during the winter. So, fresh oil it is.

Looks like a bit of an interesting rig... 
Your puppy knows how to do oil changes? (or at least drain the oil) That is very impressive...

@TechnoChicken Yah, the puppy tries but does the job only half the way. Just yesterday he was rewiring the headlights but only got as far as ripping out the old wiring, LOL.

Omg, well he seems to like your tractor! There's a product called "bitter apple" to detur that, maybe you should hose the tractor with it or better yet get him his own tractor! Lol

Hay People,
The start of the new season for me. I'm sure you all have already started, I'm a late bloomer, I guess. So, let's get to the problem list. Tires leak somewhat, deck throws and burns the belt. Lost first gear on the vari-drive, no clue where it went but it is MIA, lol

I'll worry about the missing first gear later. Need the deck working so the grass can get cut. My thinking is the back is too high and the deck drops too much which gives the belt a really bad misalignment. Popps the belt off alot. The belt burning can be solved just by picking the big sticks up, LOL. And maybe the bricks too.
Sorry for the bad pic, it was late. You can notice the footboards are angled down towards the front of the mower. The really small tires in the front don't help. It's 20" in the back and 13" in the front.


I pull the back tires off. I grabbed a set of rims and mount a set of 16" on the rims. Big difference between the two. The 16" are pretty much shot but just want to see if it levels out the mower.


Yup!


Next is, I want a set of wheels on the front part of the deck. I'm tired of the deck plowing into the dirt and grass and then get stuck. I cut the wheels and brackets off another old deck and weld them on.


Finally, I need a new belt, or 2. Off to Tractor Supply. After 2 trips I get the right belt. Alignment looks good. so I air up the tires and try out the mower with some grass. Run 2 lines and both rear tires are flat. So I park it. Cut great though. Successful test.


I had enough with the tires! They are dry rotted, full of slime and still leak (front), the back 16" tires was shot when I put them on. So, babies getting a new pair of shoes all the way around. Those pics will be later.
I got 2 belts this time, I zippie the extra belt under the hood so it don't get lost.


OK, I built this mower because the motor was under powered. 12 hp Briggs. Motor runs great and just keeps going, but time for an upgrade. I got the opportunity to get a bigger motor and bought it. It is an 18 hp oppey with the cast iron sleeves in it. It already runs, just have to do the usual maintenance to it



The bigger motor upgrade will be later. I'll put the tires on and get to cutting the grass first. I got the rear tires in today and mounted them on the rims. Just waiting on the front tires, then I'll upload the pics for that.
Ok, it's late, I'm out. Later!!!

keep at it, you'll get it all worked out it just keeps getting better and better.

Two seasons ago I hit a manhole cover in a leaf covered field while on an exmark lazer Z and it ripped the end of the blade clean off, oh man did it shake after that but did no other damage. Last season I mowed over a soccer ball sized rock that was in the tall grass up against a fence and bent one of the exmark blades into a 90 degree angle.
I find it less stressful when things like that happen on the work mowers instead my own mowers.LOL

FatMike wrote:

keep at it, you'll get it all worked out it just keeps getting better and better.

Two seasons ago I hit a manhole cover in a leaf covered field while on an exmark lazer Z and it ripped the end of the blade clean off, oh man did it shake after that but did no other damage. Last season I mowed over a soccer ball sized rock that was in the tall grass up against a fence and bent one of the exmark blades into a 90 degree angle.
I find it less stressful when things like that happen on the work mowers instead my own mowers.LOL

Same thing over here, did the first cut this year yesterday and I already got a hat so stuck in the blades I had to jack it up and pull the blade off to get it off, 5 minutes later I hit a golf club lying in the grass, the blade is still somehow mint? I just rip through any sticks smaller than 1/2", However the left side of the deck is somehow completely missing the tops of it's blade, pretty sure that's because that's generally the side I use to edge the 10 million trees planted around our property last year, there all covered in mulch so I think that side eats about 10 times more sticks

Hay People,
I finally finished cutting the grass for the first time this year, WOW, LOL. Never put the front tires on it yet but I put the new back tires on. The old front tires are still holding air, so not too worried about doing it now, but soon. Been trying to get the deck working right. Kept throwing the belts, burning the belts, breaking the belts. Finally figured it out on what was going on. Just took a couple days of watching it to see what was going on.

The culprit was this bracket.


This bracket engages the and disengages the belt by pulling and pushing the deck forward and backward to loosen and tighten the belt. Since I put the 5-speed transaxle in, the case is longer than the f/n/r case. So, when the deck swings back to tighten the belt, it has limited space to swing back and ends up hitting the transaxle, so the belt doesn't tighten correctly. Smaller belts didn't work right because they wouldn't fit on. Can only go so small, for the belts. Then the drive pulley wasn't down far enough for the correct angle and the groove of the drive pulley was too small. The smaller tires on the back only worked soo much in helping the angle of the belt. That's the problem.

I'll address the bracket first. Need to shorten it about an inch for clearance. The linkage going to this bracket has enough adjustment to work for this shortening of the bracket, barely. Then weld it back together.



If you can figure out what you are looking at, there is now a gap between the bracket and the transaxle. The deck is engaged with a new belt.


The deck now swings back and tightens the belt the way it should. And not even close to the new tires or transaxle.

Next, I find a new drive pulley. No clue where it came from. Found it in a box in the basement. It's longer and has a deeper groove for the deck belt. I put it on the motor.


The end result of the pulley switcharooney is it works great but the deck hits it when the deck is disengaged. Readjusted the linkage to make it work. You know the slots for the deck handle, I only use like 3 slots on it now. I'll get around to clearancing the deck later, so the pulley don't hit it when disengaging the deck. Think that did it. The deck now will stall the motor instead of it burning the belt or throwing the belt. Awesome!!

That'll do it for now. It's late and way past my bedtime. Later..............

Hay People,
Near the end of the cutting season. Mower mostly working, LOL. So in the thick of things, like changing the engine pulley and trying to get it to work, I managed to burn the engine belt real bad. The belt eventually broke. Got a new blue belt being an inch smaller an put it on. Readjusted things and now working good, so I finished cutting the grass. Shot some video too, to show what I am up against. Don't know when I will post it.

Anyways, figured since I finally got it running pretty good, as is. Figure I might as well start the engine swap. From a single cylinder to an oppey twin cylinder.

Got this whole mower just for that. Kid I bought it from said it was a runner. Thought I could just clean it up and bolt it up.




Nope!!
Something was living in it and starter gear jammed up. That's not all. Pulled the heads and signs of running hot.



The white exhaust valve in a black wet chamber is a sign of it running hot, but not for a long time.

After pulling heads, I spin the crank and there is a hard spot while turning. That means metal is fused onto metal somewhere inside. I didn't take any pics but the top piston rod has damage to the bearing surface on the big end of the rod.
All of this is fixable but I can't use the engine just because the crank output shaft is milled only half way and the mower pulley will not fit for proper alignment. I'll fix this engine and store it for later.

Looks like I need an engine. Got this one in the same deal. Kid said he didn't care about it so I gave him $10 for it. Everything is there. Not any better though, but it is 20 hp though with the right crank output.



Checked it out. Full of dirt, starter looked good, stater looked good, missing exhaust, and carb was clean inside. Pretty clean inside too.



Just like the other engine, this one had a hard spot in it while spinning it. So, it was running hot also. This one gets tore down also. Same thing with the top piston rod. Fused metal on metal. Plus, a busted piston compression ring. The crank is in good condition. I can polish the bearing surfaces, no problem there.



I ordered a piston ring set for $36. I'll polish the piston rod and measure it up. If too big after, a new piston rod for this is $55. Any money spent on this to get it running reliably will be worth it for me. It is a 20 hp after all.

Figured I would clean up the starter and stator.




Noticed this while cleaning the starter. The covered wire is routed through the ground wire for the brushes. Don't do this, it will jam up the brush and the starter will stop working. I rerouted the covered wire above the uncovered wire and brush. The wires do not bounce around, they stay put wherever you put them.


Probably a winter project for both engines. I still got grass to cut and need the mower running for the rest of the season.

To be continued........... Later!