Tranny is busted on the mower now, the 2 cylinder one that has been modified with smaller pullies (not the mower that smoked). After disassembly zxappeal took a quick look at it a while back and noticed some broken/destroyed bushings. Since then I have located a parts diagram but I need to figure out where to get them. Carquest and Clay's in Raleigh have been kind of useless. Spicer has a list of distributors on the bottom of this page: http://www.spicerparts.com/locate_off_highway.asp but they don't seem to be geared toward a DIY kind of repair scenario. Can anyone recommendations for websites?

It is a Dana/Spicer model # 4360-81 , 6 speed.

5/17/2011 7:25:18 PM

check with Brakes, Inc. Only place that I know of in Raleigh that has Dana Spicer parts on the shelf. They are more medium/heavy duty truck stuff. Probably worth a shot though.

5/17/2011 10:01:41 PM

Nah...the only places you're gonna find stuff for that transaxle are gonna be outdoor power equipment suppliers (yes, like Clay's) either local brick and mortar establishments or online.

I personally think that the case is in sad shape and that gear backlash is gonna continue to be a hard thing to control...and that's the problem it's having right now.

Brakes, Inc. is only gonna have heavy duty driveline components, not light duty throwaway transaxle parts. And that's what this unit is, if nothing else: disposable.

Think about it...if this transaxle were truly meant to be serviceable, maybe they'd have put real ball bearings, seals, and gear oil in the damn thing instead of just bushings and bentonite grease. By the way, bentonite grease's primary characteristic is that it's waterproof, so that if you submerge the ass end of your Kmart riding mower in the pond, the damn thing won't seize up.

5/17/2011 11:50:14 PM

When I went to Clay's, the guy in the front told me to talk to the guys in the back. The guys in the back said they were swamped and the only thing they could do is take the entire fully assembled mower (with busted tranny installed) and do a full diagnosis (with payment up front). If I were to actually do that I'm sure they would tell me to buy a whole new tranny.

So you think finding a junkyard transmission is the way to go?

5/18/2011 1:59:00 AM

Why not? with careful perusal on the interwebs you might be able to score a brand new one for chump change. They really are dirt cheap in all respects.

I wonder if they make any models that are actually heavy duty and worth a damn?

I've got all grades of pipe dreams and ideas for mower transmission shit. It really is nice to have gears on something like that, 'specially if you master your shift technique, lol...

Another thing...you gotta know how to handle these power equipment people. They don't have time to waste giving you a bunch of free advice or help...so you gotta do as much of the job for them as possible. It sucks, but power equipment folks are more pompous, arrogant, whiny, etc. than any auto parts guys ever are. That's just my observation...at least the ones in busy urban areas are.

Plenty of places you can order those parts for that tranny from. The damn bushings are like 10 bucks, though, and while it's not totally unreasonable in the realm of parts costs, just replacing the four on the primary shafts brings the total up to 40 bucks. A used tranny can be found for less, I'm betting.

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 3:14 AM. Reason : blah blah.]

5/18/2011 3:10:36 AM

i've found that with cheap small equipment parts like this, online is your best bet. these cheap little parts aren't even worth the time to order/put on a shelf/inventory/etc. to brick and mortar stores.

5/18/2011 7:46:33 AM

^ the obscure nature of the parts makes these harder to locate on website. As I said I'm open to suggestions as far as sites go. Maybe I should be looking at used transmissions though.

5/18/2011 10:02:26 AM

Quote :

"i've found that with cheap small equipment parts like this, online is your best bet. these cheap little parts aren't even worth the time to order/put on a shelf/inventory/etc. to brick and mortar stores."

ding, ding, ding.

you are time and money ahead of yourself to just order the parts online.

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 10:10 AM. Reason : -]

5/18/2011 10:10:02 AM

http://www.mowerpartsweb.com/manuals/foote/4360-81.pdf find the parts you need, and then search the part number

http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/part-number/Footedana-Parts/Riding-mower-tractor-Parts/5510/0071/503/Model-436081/0401/1510000?keySuffixId=NA&productTypeId=x&searchModelNumber=436081&subCompDesc=Transaxle&brandDesc=FOOTE\DANA&modelDesc=TRANSAXLE&blt=11

5/18/2011 10:55:07 AM

^ Thanks. I have seen that PDF and the part labeled "flange bearing" seems to be it. It is tough call on the repair vs junk yard choice though. There are 3 of those bushings so that's $30 plus shipping which will bring it to $40 as Dan said.

5/18/2011 11:18:32 AM