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