Craftsman Lt4000 mild off-roader

The AYP and sears/roper 633 isn’t made by the same company for both brands? But I meant what’s less heavy duty exactly? What did they cheap out on?

Well I think the case is just not as quite as heavy as the original ones. I could be wrong though, but I'm pretty sure there's a bit of a difference.

Huh. Interesting....

Does anyone make vertical shaft cast iron cases?

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

The AYP and sears/roper 633 isn’t made by the same company for both brands? But I meant what’s less heavy duty exactly? What did they cheap out on?

They went from cast iron to cast aluminum.

muckmudd wrote:

Does anyone make vertical shaft cast iron cases?

Peerless 600? @AllisKidD21 runs one of those I think?

mightyraze wrote:

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

The AYP and sears/roper 633 isn’t made by the same company for both brands? But I meant what’s less heavy duty exactly? What did they cheap out on?

They went from cast iron to cast aluminum.

muckmudd wrote:

Does anyone make vertical shaft cast iron cases?

Peerless 600?  @AllisKidD21 runs one of those I think?

Right, forgot about that one.

No the Peerless 600's have a cast aluminum case. The axle sleeves are cast iron though I believe.

Oh I thought yours was cast iron. Is there any vertical shaft cast iron tansaxles?

I thought so too.

Yeah haha, it'd be cool if it was cast iron though. I can't really think of any cast iron vertical input transaxles, but I'm sure they have existed at some point over the years.

I wish I could find one somewhere. The cast iron ones are just so damn tough.

muckmudd wrote:

Yeah, it might not be totally worth it but if I need to at some point, I could probably swap in into a peerless.

Here's the difference between the Peerless and a Spicer differential gear:

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

They are, because they’re the same design as a craftsman. But with more corners cut. Bushings, transaxle, etc

While I'm at it, here's the MST in my WeedEater.  Also, Poulan and WeedEater are the same company.

WOW! I never realized that there was such a big difference in the bull gear size. I guess I might have to make a hub on the lathe that would fit a spicer in order to solid axle it.

Yeah, I was surprised too.  The spider gears are smaller too, which is why most people don't just weld them together like they do on a Peerless, because the welds don't have as much surface to grab.

Locked and ready to rock.... Except it doesn't work. I put it all back together and put it on the mower and wouldn't go forwards... I had a very hard time aligning the shift fork but it finally all came together and looked like it was in place. So then I closed it up and turned it and the axles were spinning so I figured it was working. I don't know what it is so if you have had the problem please tell me what you did to solve it. Tomorrow I will probably have to take it all back apart to see whats wrong.

Should be much much better!

What do you think the problem is? the little shift balls?

That's the only thing I can think of...did you check them?

Yeah I had a hard time putting it together. I think I lost one of the two so I had to go find a ball out of a bearing. But in the end I thought they were both in.

When you say "lost one" is that like outside of the case in the yard or something, or inside the case ?  And when you got a ball out of a bearing was it the same diameter as the other one?

Yes Muddstir. The bearing is the same size. I just pulled it out of a ball bearing. However I do not know where the ball ended up. It could still be in the case for all I know but I did drop the case once and it could have fallen out then. And I did try to feel for it in the grease but I couldn't find it so I guess we will see when it blows.

Well I don't think that the ball would keep it from working like that, however it's obviously not a good idea to have it bouncing around in your tranny. Hopefully you can figure it out!

So does the imput shaft turn freely? if it does not you could have a bushing tab that got flipped over in the center of the case and that will freeze up the gears and shifter but the axle should still turn .

But if your axle is not turning you could have warped the spider gear rod when welding the spiders.( i dont think thats very likely) i would recommend welding some 1/2" square steel rod to the sides of the spider gear rod to the spider gears, i had my spicer welded like yours and the welds held fine but ripped the steel out of the sintered steel gears and welding some steel to the rod and gears would do better at taking the strain of being locked.

I bought a craftsman that had a locked up transaxle. Tore it apart and one of the shift balls was jamed between the one input gear and the case.
I had to bend the plate the balls operate on up alittle bit reinstall the balls and springs, and worked like a champ

Ummmm.... where can you buy the proper key for the input shaft........

You can make your own out of 1/8" steel , just grind it into a half moon shape, i have done that when i lost one and couldn't find it.