Peerless 2600 hi and low , locking differential

Has anyone messed around with these 2600 yet? I understand they are of a hydrostatic configuration and most people on this great forum usually hear hydrostatic and immediately rip it out. Im guilty of it as well .anyways I have a MTD yard machine with a 18 HP opposed twin . It has the 12 inch rear rims and 8 inch in front if I'm not mistaken. But from reading the peerless repair manual in which there 2 different 2600. I have the hi and low one, so it apparently equipped with the lock collar on the differential . Also it's of course a 6 speed varidrive. So I guess I have 12 imaginary gears haha . NO MY QUESTION IS NOT " CAN I SPEED UP A HYDRO"  haha . But is it worth using for maybe a utility tractor or towing of my other projects ? Or maybe something else if you guys have an idea . Let's throw some ideas around.

It's early and I got the day off . (Cough cough)

Should I throw it in the 97 craftsman and use it for 6 wheel mower with a flatbed and run a undriven 1spd for the additional axle instead of using two 930s for the rear of it. Hmm decisions ...decisions.

I have done a mild pulley swap on a hydro. Yeah it ran faster but it ran hotter too so I went back to the factory pulley set up. I like my hydro for just casually driving around properties and it's really nice for moving trailers and utility work. You can drive it with one hand and one foot. Depending on what your doing (gulp gulp) it's nice to have a hand free.

The big issue with vari-drives is that they slip bad in mud and water.

2600 is gear drive. Pretty sure it’s basically a cast iron version of the 633 in the sears

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

2600 is gear drive. Pretty sure it’s basically a cast iron version of the 633 in the sears

No I think 2600's are a shaft drive hydro, like what's in a John Deere 300 series hydro. You might be thinking of the 2300 4 speed geared trans CQ.

Yep, I was thinking of the 2300. Thanks allis!

@Crazy_Carl I see what you mean by slipping in the mud lol . I was thinking more along the lines of building it to be just on the dry, maybe somewhat wet trails I got in my backyard. Definitely won't go through the claypits out back . I might even be leaning towards utility maybe throw a winch on the back or if possible Ill build it with the 6 wheel mower with flatbed and I have a old engine hoist A-frame laying out there and make a miniature 6 wheel tow mower. . Hmmm. Now I'm thinking

How about a 6 wheel flatbed with a wheel lift on it? Then'd you would have the best of both worlds.

Pure genius right there . Haha I will considerate it with my last minute decisions I should enter the build off but I been seeing some pretty gnarly builds some of these guys got going on.