Was mowing today with the Cratsman with a Dana 6-speed in it and went to shift from 1 to 4 and heard a loud pop-snap when 4th engaged. It is now stuck in gear and the selector will not move. I looked underneath and the linkage is all intact but the arm that goes into the trans won't budge. What happened and how do I fix it?
URGENT! Tractor stuck in gear!
- Thread starter dwcopple
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Does it start and run? You might consider running it as is until fall, since I think you are going to have to take it apart and see what is busted. I assume it had gear oil?
it starts and runs but only in 3rd (not 4th). It is slow and I have a HUGE yard. I need sixth. There is a MTD rear end on Craigers for $50 by my house. I may go get it. What would've snapped in there? It does not take gear oil. It is packed with grease from the factory and is not serviceable.
Craftsman has a repair manual? that I would look at before doing anything else. I do know that most transmissions can't be shifted while moving or you bust gears. I hope that isn't what happened or a new trans is needed. Ed
Common problem with these rears. MTD has pretty much cheapened this stuff up so your internals are very low quality pot metal. They cut flat lawns well.. That is about it. Hills, rollers, tiller, plows will typically make short work of these.
More than likely a shift fork snapped and got jammed in there. The grease inside the tranny is also not easy to find, so if you do manage to get it apart, you would have to reuse the old grease. It is not regular multi purpose grease.
If the MTD tranny on CL is the same, go for it!!!
More than likely a shift fork snapped and got jammed in there. The grease inside the tranny is also not easy to find, so if you do manage to get it apart, you would have to reuse the old grease. It is not regular multi purpose grease.
If the MTD tranny on CL is the same, go for it!!!
Originally Posted By: Fordiesel69
Common problem with these rears. MTD has pretty much cheapened this stuff up so your internals are very low quality pot metal. They cut flat lawns well.. That is about it. Hills, rollers, tiller, plows will typically make short work of these.
More than likely a shift fork snapped and got jammed in there. The grease inside the tranny is also not easy to find, so if you do manage to get it apart, you would have to reuse the old grease. It is not regular multi purpose grease.
If the MTD tranny on CL is the same, go for it!!!
Agreed. They're made extremely cheap and don't last long under any real stress (much like a stamped axle verses a cast iron axle). A shift fork is the most likely culprit.
If you can find a replacement it may be worth it, but if it's the same age as yours you may be buying the same issue after a short amount of use.
Common problem with these rears. MTD has pretty much cheapened this stuff up so your internals are very low quality pot metal. They cut flat lawns well.. That is about it. Hills, rollers, tiller, plows will typically make short work of these.
More than likely a shift fork snapped and got jammed in there. The grease inside the tranny is also not easy to find, so if you do manage to get it apart, you would have to reuse the old grease. It is not regular multi purpose grease.
If the MTD tranny on CL is the same, go for it!!!
Agreed. They're made extremely cheap and don't last long under any real stress (much like a stamped axle verses a cast iron axle). A shift fork is the most likely culprit.
If you can find a replacement it may be worth it, but if it's the same age as yours you may be buying the same issue after a short amount of use.
Similar thing happened to my neighbor's [censored]. You guys wanna hear a good story?
Originally Posted By: dwcopple
it starts and runs but only in 3rd (not 4th). It is slow and I have a HUGE yard. I need sixth. There is a MTD rear end on Craigers for $50 by my house. I may go get it. What would've snapped in there? It does not take gear oil. It is packed with grease from the factory and is not serviceable.
I would get the $50 one (for less than $50 of course). Take apart old one when you have time.
Maybe you need to update the mower to a John Deere or Husqvarna.
it starts and runs but only in 3rd (not 4th). It is slow and I have a HUGE yard. I need sixth. There is a MTD rear end on Craigers for $50 by my house. I may go get it. What would've snapped in there? It does not take gear oil. It is packed with grease from the factory and is not serviceable.
I would get the $50 one (for less than $50 of course). Take apart old one when you have time.
Maybe you need to update the mower to a John Deere or Husqvarna.
Husqvarna and Craftsman are the same, both AYP, not MTD. The trans is supposed to be one of the strongest. Better than a Peerless I guess. There is a BRAND NEW Spicer/Dana trans on eBay for $99 shipped. Prob gonna go that route. It is the 5 speed that they use in John Deere's. ^^^
got it out and apart. Transmission is a Spicer/Dana 4360-41. It seems that the shifter assembly arms hopped out of the grooved clutch collar that is supposed to slide back and forth along the input shaft. Nothing inside is broken or damaged and everything moves nicely. We'll see...
Did you shift it while it was moving? Is that suppose to be done?
Originally Posted By: dwcopple
clutch it and shift it. been doing it for years.
Yeah that shouldnt hurt anything.
clutch it and shift it. been doing it for years.
Yeah that shouldnt hurt anything.
here are the two damaged shift keys and third gear with some boogered edges on the locking part of the gear.
Seeing as how these three parts cost more combined than a whole NEW transmission. I will be buying a new trans. Ridiculous. How do they price this stuff? $30 a pop for a shift key???!!! $99 shipped for a new Spicer trans. No Brainer. Too bad. Wish I would've never wasted the time getting dirty/greasy tearing this thing apart now.
Seeing as how these three parts cost more combined than a whole NEW transmission. I will be buying a new trans. Ridiculous. How do they price this stuff? $30 a pop for a shift key???!!! $99 shipped for a new Spicer trans. No Brainer. Too bad. Wish I would've never wasted the time getting dirty/greasy tearing this thing apart now.
Originally Posted By: dwcopple
So the clutch keys are around thirty buck a pop. There is four. I can get a whole new trans for $99 shipped to me. Some things just don't make sense
Lucky its not a hydrostatic transmission. I would guess it would be a lot more.
So the clutch keys are around thirty buck a pop. There is four. I can get a whole new trans for $99 shipped to me. Some things just don't make sense
Lucky its not a hydrostatic transmission. I would guess it would be a lot more.
dw, I've seen that exact thing happen on other gear drives like this. I'm thinking it's the repetitive flexing of the case that causes it over time.
FWIW, the best gear drive Sears offered up to lately is the between the knees shift, hi/lo range 6spd gear drive. Kind of an annoying trans in that the fast is too fast and the slow too slow, but those suckers last forever.
Joel
FWIW, the best gear drive Sears offered up to lately is the between the knees shift, hi/lo range 6spd gear drive. Kind of an annoying trans in that the fast is too fast and the slow too slow, but those suckers last forever.
Joel
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