MTD off-road build (Mobile Terrain Dominator) "1"

Yeah a shortened rack would be awesome CQ, but like you said, a bit too complicated haha. I got it all planned out how I'm gonna do it with the snowblower gear box.

And Matt, it's still got the factory flat half-gear and pinion gear. It's a decent setup, but she skips a bit sometimes hahaha.

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Yeah a shortened rack would be awesome CQ, but like you said, a bit too complicated haha. I got it all planned out how I'm gonna do it with the snowblower gear box.

And Matt, it's still got the factory flat half-gear and pinion gear. It's a decent setup, but she skips a bit sometimes hahaha.

MTD had two setups, the one that you have, and a vertical "pie slice" gear like you would find on a craftsman or something. I prefer yours. There is just less sideways pressure on the gears and is less likely to grenade.

I have the horizontal 'half-moon' gear on both my Westwoods. On the Westwood setup, there's an adjustment for the pinion gear on the shaft, you can move closer to nearer to the half gear.

By the way, if you're still looking for a 600, lots of old lawn tractors were fitted with them, like old Wheel Horses, old Bolens, Sears etc. When you start noticing them, they're everywhere haha.

Yeah that lawn tractor graveyard I was telling ya about has an ol' Ford LGT out front of the building. The 600's in those had three bolt hubs on the axle shafts which is a bonus, I just hope he'll part it out for a decent price.

Wish there was a mower graveyard near me. Will those 3 lug hubs fit your Duro rims?

No, but since they're for an 8" rim I'll just swap them on to the lawn tractor rims.

AllisKidD21 wrote:

No, but since they're for an 8" rim I'll just swap them on to the lawn tractor rims.

...assuming its a reasonable price

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Mkay. Maybe grab a datsun 240z steering box

On a serious note though, I feel like a golf cart rack-and-pinion setup would work well on a mower, its just that you would have to run your steering shaft over the engine down to the front...but thats a little complicated



.......snowblower gearbox it is then

I have plans to use a golf cart steering setup on the Gravely GT. You could run it underneath, just would need to watch where the steering shaft goes. Could always Z snake it to the side and around the engine so it doesnt need to be disassembled to remove the belts.

AllisKidD21 wrote:

No, but since they're for an 8" rim I'll just swap them on to the lawn tractor rims.

Ah right. Are you gonna get the whole tractor or just the trans?

Well, I contacted the lawn mower place and got some pretty rude service from the guys wife. Kinda sucked haha, but she told me to call again tomorrow and talk to him. So, fingers crossed and hoping I get better results tomorrow aha.

Lol I bet she was thinking 'what on earth is he wanting that old heap of junk for?'

Yeah maybe. Though she was rude even before I told her what I was looking for, haha oh well.

Probably just your typical rude old lady. At least she didnt tell you off lol.

Yeah hahahaha!

Well boys, I got on the phone today and called the place like I was told to do, and long story short I'll be picking up a Peerless 600 this Friday! I'll probably start mocking everything up on the weekend and we'll see how that goes. Stay tuned!!

Getting the whole rig or just the trans?

Naw, just the trans

Are you going to try to run the vari-drive with the 600 just for fun? Not like a permanent thing but just to see if it would work and how well.

Yeah that's pretty much the plan. I think It'd be real cool to have a 15-speed tractor haha!

Well, the 600 is in! I got the mounts all done, trans bolted up, shifter re-done, and the fenders cut for the shifter to poke through. I'm having a problem uploading pics right now, but I'll show you guys soon hopefully. Just gotta figure out a new rear belt and it should be done. Sorry for no pictures right now, but I'll figure that out soon enough so stay tuned!

Did you get those 3 bolt hubs too? How many speeds? Plan on locking it?

Naw, it wasn't out of the Ford tractor like I thought. So no hubs, but I'm ok with that since I still got the wheels with it. It's a 3-speed and I might try locking it sometime it the future. The 600's have the same differential carrier as the 800's, which I like. That might make it easier to lock it without screwing it up.

Well I managed to post some pictures of the progress on the transaxle swap! I got the mounts and the shifter all done, so I just have to figure out the right rear belt size since the pulley sits in a different spot than the F-N-R one did.

Sittin on all fours!






The mounts:




That's what I have done so far. I also gotta get a new woodruff key for the input shaft since I lost mine hahaha! Anyways, I hope to get this finished soon and then mount the new tires. Let me know what ya think!

That will be cool. I put a 6 speed peerless in my mtd at one point, I was trying to do pulling competitions with it and the belts always slipped. It would work ok without a lot of load though.

Thanks! Yeah I'm hoping it will work good, what model Peerless did you have in your tractor?