T1200 Lawn Tractor

[Onoff]

Abandoned this (under cover) last year pretty much as too far to push to work on. Finally found the mojo the other day to take the tarp off and with some help to push, get it onto the concrete.

Up on a couple of stands and a hose off so I can see what I'm doing.

The wife was complaining a year ago it was hard to get into gear and that the belt kept jumping off if you put it into reverse sometimes. New belt btw.

The brake on the side of the Peerless gearbox wasn't working so I thought I'd start there. Two M6 studs hold the caliper on and the whole lot was seized in an ali/steel electrolytic reaction fest! I managed to shear the M6 nut / end of the first stud. My mate, calling me a heavy handed giant proceeded to do the same on the next one!

The caliper was seized on the remaining studs. A bit of heat one side freed that up but...

A mate in the States is hopefully sending me a new caliper as they can be had for peanuts out there.

Going to fire it up one afternoon and see about this drive / gearbox issue. As I understand it the Peerless gearbox is supposed to be sealed for life and maintenance free? Feels alright turning the half shafts...

 

[zzr1200]

At least you have extended studs to weld a couple of nuts to for removal...a small result.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

As I understand it the Peerless gearbox is supposed to be sealed for life and maintenance free?

Yeah, right. BMW [among other marques] will tell you "Sealed for life, Sir. No maintenance required" - yet the gearbox manufacturers [ZF in the brand I cite] say otherwise, and will even sell kits for the replacement of the oil and filter. It all hinges on your v. their understanding of the term "for life".

I wonder who knows better when it comes to the engineering side of things? I know where my money would be.....

Mowers may be another thing though.....

 

[colnerov]

Yeah, right. BMW [among other marques] will tell you "Sealed for life, Sir. No maintenance required" - yet the gearbox manufacturers [ZF in the brand I cite] say otherwise, and will even sell kits for the replacement of the oil and filter. It all hinges on your v. their understanding of the term "for life".

I wonder who knows better when it comes to the engineering side of things? I know where my money would be.....

Mowers may be another thing though.....

Hi, Yes, even Land Rover fell into ZF's trap.

Colin

 

[Rig Pig]

Those Peerless gearboxes are not quite a car gearbox! they are as cheaply made as possible, no bearings or seals, the shafts run directly on the aluminium casting and lubrication is a splat of graphite grease.

 

[frank horton]

dead rite, but there is no facilities to top up g/box's with oil or grease......thats unless u split the cases......on the odd occasion I've stripped 1 out it was still full of this oily greasey mess.........
the old box's that are manual, are hardly no trouble at all.......it's the HYD g/box's that will write the machine off.....sometime a replacement is over £1200.......!!!!!!!!!
my mower's brakes are junk but we use the gear box to slow down...........!!!!!!!.......
everything for mowers is cheap IN THE GOOD OL USofA......shame the import duties kill em.......
lets hope we get a special deal with em after Brexit........or is that swearing.....hahaha.......

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Those Peerless gearboxes are not quite a car gearbox! they are as cheaply made as possible, no bearings or seals, the shafts run directly on the aluminium casting and lubrication is a splat of graphite grease.

Ah, I'm clearly used to more quality machines - even the walk-behind mowers we had had 'proper' gearboxes which required servicing regularly.

 

[Onoff]

My mate in California / Oregon came up trumps with with a brake caliper for me:

Out there it only cost $10.

Silly sod then paid $35.25 shipping on top!

Still, a part of my MK2 Capri lives on in his Federale spec Capri there.

One good turn etc.

 

[Onoff]

FINALLY sorted the brake / clutch. Those two poxy, broken 1/4" BSW bolts fought me and the lad until the end! Moved the big orange patio ornament yesterday. Getting it back to the main lawn was fun.



A mate and I handballed it down originally...he had his hernia op today..

Now to sort:

- Seized pulley on the cutting deck
- Seized pulley on the grass box
- Seized grass roller, back of the grass box.

Biggest problem is the corrosion on the cutting deck side skirt.

Need to immediately replace from the blue arrow around:

I can buy a complete new skirt for £58 but have just lined up a metre of 120 x 2 mild steel sheet 1000mm long for a tenner. Plan is to clamp and heat then form the two lips. Then to somehow knock it round a former and keep the lips intact!

 

[Mick Annick]

I’ve got one of these too, £125 off the bay earlier this year, but no cutter deck - I just use it for trips to the green waste tip at the end of the village.

I have the same problem with the brake but haven’t bothered with fixing it, I’ve had the gearbox apart as it doesn’t feel right but no fault found, though apparently the selector blades wear but it’s hard to see, they run on bentonite grease which is very expensive, let me know if you find a cheap source.

Will post a photo tomorrow, mines been modded...

 

[Red'n'Black]

Abandoned this (under cover) last year pretty much as too far to push to work on. Finally found the mojo the other day to take the tarp off and with some help to push, get it onto the concrete.

Up on a couple of stands and a hose off so I can see what I'm doing.

View attachment 157237

The wife was complaining a year ago it was hard to get into gear and that the belt kept jumping off if you put it into reverse sometimes. New belt btw.

The brake on the side of the Peerless gearbox wasn't working so I thought I'd start there. Two M6 studs hold the caliper on and the whole lot was seized in an ali/steel electrolytic reaction fest! I managed to shear the M6 nut / end of the first stud. My mate, calling me a heavy handed giant proceeded to do the same on the next one!

View attachment 157238

The caliper was seized on the remaining studs. A bit of heat one side freed that up but...

View attachment 157239

View attachment 157240

A mate in the States is hopefully sending me a new caliper as they can be had for peanuts out there.

Going to fire it up one afternoon and see about this drive / gearbox issue. As I understand it the Peerless gearbox is supposed to be sealed for life and maintenance free? Feels alright turning the half shafts...

I stripped and rebuilt one of these for a mate, a couple of years ago, I might write it up in a separate post when I get a minute.
There's no such thing as "sealed for life" IME, the gearbox on mine had had no maintenance for 30+ years and one of the bearings had completely broken up.
The fasteners on the gearbox are UNC not metric, this caught me out first time.
I'm now told the gearbox has failed again, waiting to get it back so I can see if it's worth fixing this time. Watch this space...

 

[Onoff]

I’ve got one of these too, £125 off the bay earlier this year, but no cutter deck - I just use it for trips to the green waste tip at the end of the village.

I have the same problem with the brake but haven’t bothered with fixing it, I’ve had the gearbox apart as it doesn’t feel right but no fault found, though apparently the selector blades wear but it’s hard to see, they run on bentonite grease which is very expensive, let me know if you find a cheap source.

Will post a photo tomorrow, mines been modded...

The "brake" is in fact the combined brake/clutch. If seized up, as in brake constantly on, it makes changing gear a bitch. Now it's sorted all the gears change up/down inc reverse though it's not as fast as I remember it and it doesn't like 5th gear. Not stripped the box yet to have a look inside.

I never mow the lawn anyway, I leave that to SWMBO! If it's a bit slow it just means she'll take longer!

 

[graffian]

I got one of those plus the sweeper in the back of an Austin Maxi;-)

 

[Moose McAlpine]

I have one of those!

Being a moron i bought it off ebay, and an Audi TT, with the intention of building a very fast lawnmower.

No, i don't know why either.

 

[Turbo]

I have a lawnmower with a similar Peerless/Tecumseh gearbox. The shaft the brake disc runs on had worn bearings, allowing grease to leak out onto the brake pads & leaving you with very poor brakes! Not good when you have a steeply sloping garden & a father in his 80's who likes mowing lawns!

So over winter I stripped & overhauled the gearbox. Most of the shafts run in phosphor bronze bushes that are oddly shaped & only available from USA! I had to machine some standard bushes to fit. Most of it was fairly straightforward & there are guides online to servicing them. Most problems occur when folk don't spot the extra bolts in the middle holding the gearbox halves together!

The service guide for my box recommended using an EP90 gear oil so that's what I put in. You can check the level by removing a bung at the back & use a length of wire as a dipstick.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Not good when you have a steeply sloping garden & a father in his 80's who likes mowing lawns!

Take out a big insurance policy and let him crack on.

 

[Dcal]

I’ve got one of these too, £125 off the bay earlier this year, but no cutter deck - I just use it for trips to the green waste tip at the end of the village.

I have the same problem with the brake but haven’t bothered with fixing it, I’ve had the gearbox apart as it doesn’t feel right but no fault found, though apparently the selector blades wear but it’s hard to see, they run on bentonite grease which is very expensive, let me know if you find a cheap source.

Will post a photo tomorrow, mines been modded...

Don't know if it will do but I was recommended Hammer L2M grease for the spider type CV joints and anything that needs a fluid grease.
I stuck it in a sealed for life gearbox on a MTD ride on and it's been fine since.

It's formulated for rock hammers and the like so should take dogs abuse, it's runny so should get into bearings and the like not just cake around the outside.



The correct grease for the CVs was GKN Tripode Grease and even if I could have got it, I didn't fancy paying over £100 a liter for it.

Mick, have you any more info ion the bentonite grease?

 

[Mick Annick]

I stripped and rebuilt one of these for a mate, a couple of years ago, I might write it up in a separate post when I get a minute.
There's no such thing as "sealed for life" IME, the gearbox on mine had had no maintenance for 30+ years and one of the bearings had completely broken up.
The fasteners on the gearbox are UNC not metric, this caught me out first time.
I'm now told the gearbox has failed again, waiting to get it back so I can see if it's worth fixing this time. Watch this space...

I’ve had parts from these guys, Peerless parts ain’t cheap though, https://www.gardentractorspares.co.uk/

 

[Red'n'Black]

I’ve had parts from these guys, Peerless parts ain’t cheap though, https://www.gardentractorspares.co.uk/

Yes they (or one of their clones, the same company seems to have half a dozen similar-but-diffferent shops) were who I used for some of the deck and electrical parts. The gearbox parts needed were silly money, more than I paid for the entire machine. I spent the money on a lathe instead, like you do , and fabricated the needed parts instead or modified the broken bits to take cheap generic replacement bearings.

As I said above it seems to have broken again after two years' not-very-heavy use, but until I take it apart again I won't know if it's my repairs or something else that's failed.

 

[Mick Annick]

I have a two year-old grandson.

Some of the villagers, particularly the farmers, are sniggering behind my back.