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Hi All.

I am new here, and posted another question in a different section about my trusty Craftsman DYT 4000 riding mower. I'm entering year 12 with this Craftsman / Kohler 19hp DYT 4000 riding mower, and I am thinking about replacement options for when this one dies finally. I wanted to have some idea what to look for in a non-disposable replacement. It seems that the consensus from folks on this forum believe most new stuff that I will see at Home Depot et al is junk.

I perform regular maintenance on my mower, I keep the mower clean, and I have 2 sets of blades so I always have a set that has been sharpened to swap in. It has rewarded me by having been perfectly reliable the entire 11 seasons (although it does blow grey smoke when I engage the blades these days). My lawn is about 1/2 acre of flat grass (and other plants, unfortunately), and I cut it once a week, at the highest setting and I bag the clippings since this mower has never been good at mulching. I store everything indoors, and do not let the mower get wet, and do not cut wet grass.

I am thinking about pulling the DYT 4000 apart for some maintenance before the spring arrives here in NJ in about 5 weeks, and I was thinking about the transaxle (which I have never serviced before). My mower has a Peerless 206-545C and I see no way to drain the oil out of the bottom. The trans has never given me any problems, but should I be thinking about changing the fluid or am I asking for trouble (if it aint broke don't fix it)?

I see that there is a rubber fill plug on top of the trans, but no drain plug. I could try to suck the oil out using a pump and replace with new 80W90. Is this worth my time?

Also- a mechanic friend of mine suggested that I ALWAYS use ethanol free fuel, a good fuel stabilizer, and Lucas upper cylinder lubricant with every tank (none of which have I done before). He also advised that I drain the oil and replace it with a high quality oil - something with zinc- or a full synthetic to keep heat down. Is any of this common practice amongst those who love and care for their mowers?

Thanks!!

Anthony
NJ

You take good care of your mower and should have a lot of life left in it. I'm still putting anywhere from 40 to 80 hours per year on a 1994 2140 Cub Cadet.

Yes, use NON-ethanol gas but the other stuff isn't necessary.

What does your book say about the trans-axle? I doubt that it needs a fluid change.

Most "S" (auto) oils are formulated to protected catalytic converters. The "C" (trucks) rated oils are not. I use either 15w-40 conventional or 5w-40 synthetic oil in my engines. The synthetic is not needed but doesn't hurt anything, either.

The manual (which I have in front of me) states nothing at all about any maintenance for the transaxle. Part of my suspicion stems from my long-term ownership of a beloved manual trans BMW station wagon, where the owners manual specifically states that the transmission fluid is rated for the life of vehicle. It does have a drain plug, and when I owned that car I changed it every two years. I don't believe any transmission oil is really "lifetime" ( unless the manufacturer wants that lifetime to be shorter than longer, if you get my drift).

thank you for your reply.

Anthony

Anthony,
Yes you have to take the tranny out pull the plug and turn it upside down then go have a few beers.
Because yo never do mechanical work after drinking, come back the next day and refill.

Mulligans have a really good technical department and have always provided information in the customers best interest.
Service & repair details will be in the Tecumseh / Peerless service manual ( 691218) which can be found all over the web.
I got mine from https://www.mymowerparts.com/pdf/.
You might find other useful manuals there if you poke around.
All ofthe other manuals listed in the transmission section are the parts break downs for the transmission with the shown model numbers.
You should have a sticker on the tranny itself another under the seat and perhaps even under the hood to tell you which model your tranny is.

One add to what has been said so far. I add about 10oz of Seafoam to the transaxle then put it on jack stands and run the rear tires for 5 or 10 min. This will make the grease thinner and easier to remove.

BlazNT said:

One add to what has been said so far. I add about 10oz of Seafoam to the transaxle then put it on jack stands and run the rear tires for 5 or 10 min. This will make the grease thinner and easier to remove.

Click to expand...

Good advice for a grease filled tranny but the DYT 4000 has a hydro transaxle.
Can't find a model number for it and Sears do not list it as being available.

One link says it was a Peerless H2000-006A Silent Trac H2000-006A41240053
Another says Peerless LTH2000
another says Hydro Gear 166768 314-0510

Looks like I was wrong as owner says it has a 206-545C which is a geared transmission not a hydro.

My manual states that I have a Peerless 206-545C. Does that help identify what I have?

Also- Bert- are you serious or are you kidding about taking out the trans and dumping the fluid out?

Anthony

Serious.
When I attempt humour I have to put a smiley or 2 in cause we Aussies have a somewhat different sense of humour to the brave & free. :laughing:
The only trannies I know of that have drain plugs are the ones with an external spin on filter ( only found on GT's ) .
So "maintenance free" "lifetime" trannies have to be removed then inverted to drain the oil.
Changing the oil is not really desperately important on the ones with an external brake, but essential with ones that have internal brakes as the worn brake pads can only go into the oil.
Thus they either cause more wear or block the filters .
Most of them use 20w40/50 fully synthetic engine oil but some earlier ones used hydraulic oil.
In any case you can not fill them in situ without getting crud into the oil which sort of defeats the reason for changing it.
Splitting the cases and cleaning all of the filters is better still but it has to be done in a clean DUST FREE enviroment or you end up with more dust ( grit ) in there than when you started.

All mower hydros work the same so if you watch some You Tube videos on rebuilding them you will see what is inside and where they wear.
JD put 5w30 in their K46's which wears quickly in hot Australia so I regularly drain them & replace it with 20w50 and to date most of them are still running strong up to 5 years latter.
We don't push much snow so no need for low viscosity oil.

mzdrati said:

My manual states that I have a Peerless 206-545C. Does that help identify what I have?

Also- Bert- are you serious or are you kidding about taking out the trans and dumping the fluid out?

Anthony

Click to expand...

Looks like some one has a pile of these NOS
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-HUSQVARNA-6-SPEED-PEERLESS-TRANSAXLE-38-42-RIDING-MOWER-206-545C-/390942010144

In which case Blaz was right & I was wrong.
These boxes should have a drain plug if they are oil filled 70W90 gear & diff oil or no drain bolt if they are grease filled.

That's interesting. It's a pretty nice looking transaxle... So you are saying that the gears in the transaxle I have are assembled packed in grease, and the case is not filled with oil? If that is true- is there anything other than cleaning the outside of the trans that I should do to try to prolong its life?

To your previous reply- are there really manufacturers who specify that in order to change the oil in their transaxles you have to remove the part and dump it out of the fill-hole? That is hard to believe. Can you suggest a reason why this would be the case? Do they want to dissuade people from maintaining this equipment? Sounds like pretty lousy engineering to me, but what do I know...

Anthony

Haven't pulled one of them down so don't really know.
manual gear boxes are either filled with grease which goes hard with time & needs replacing or diff oil which should also be replaced occasionally.
It will all depend upon usage, storage, local weather conditions etc etc etc.

If I have read things right, you have an MST type tranny which takes 16 oz of 80/90 gear oil according to the manual mentioned earlier.
Some variants don't have a fill hole either, you put the oil in the inverted upper half then fit the lower & button it up.
Download the manual & read it, it is not very long.
Your section is only about 8 pages long.
The manual does show both a fill & drain port , however it is general for all MST 200's so some variants will have them & some won't.


As for hydro boxes, they are built down to a price so they do not have any method of oil changing other than taking them out & tipping them upside down.
Most push mower engines are the same you have to tip them upside down to change the oil.

Manual boxes have a reasonably easy life for a gear box and will run forever with little lube provided you do not shift while moving which breaks off the shift key.
That by far is the most common repair I do on them followed by replacing the F-N-R gear set & bushes.

Hydros OTOH have a finite life just sitting there in neutral.
Eventually the valve chest wears groves in the valve plate and the oil leaks out of the pump or motor so it whines & goes nowhere.
Thus the mower companies get them without any means of changing the oil which makes them cheaper.
And of course they can be marketed as "maintenance free for life sealed units" which Joe Average seems to think is a good idea, till they realize just how short "life" can be.
The 100 series JD's seem to be good for around 900 hours on their Hydro Gears judging by those in my service run.
Just finished a YTH Husqvarna ( top of the range) hydros dead at 850 hours.

Got some Cub Cadets with 11,000 hours on them, hydros going strong, but they have external filters so they get their oil & filters changed at 500 hours and there is 4 gallons of oi in there.

This is like a differential in your car. Rear wheel drive. Has a fill hole but no drain hole. the 80w90 will last a very long time in a mower so why install a drain plug for the one time it may need to be changed. Remember the lawn mowers are 10-year mowers and in that time would not really need to be changed. This is the thinking for almost everything built today. If you can produce it cheaper then you must or you will not survive as a company.

This is an excellent explanation. Thanks Blaze.

That makes total sense to me.

I was thinking about pulling the deck off of this lawn tractor and replacing the pulleys and either the bearings in the spindles or the spindles as an assembly. I see deck rebuilt kits on eBay for $60 and $70 which is appealing, but I certainly do not want to do the work and install substandard parts. Would something like this be worth purchasing?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CRAFTSMAN-...ur7xv6lycutPIr316lL6o1yxOXnXrdPixSRY3FSwNOg==

Anthony

I have purchased and used things like that before with no problems. Now with the one, you posted without pictures I would skip.

Thanks Blaze. There are many other kits available FS on eBay, but this one states that the part brand is "Craftsman / Husqvarna" so my hope is that these are not "unbranded" parts, but OEM ones. Is there a specific brand I should be trying to purchase?

Thank you!!

Anthony

AYP