MTD being resurrected

Mower seats are crazy expensive to buy
Usually you can get an auto upholsterer to recover one for 1/2 the price in OZ so probably even cheaper in the shakey islands .
FWIW I usually adapt a boat seat to replace a dead ride on seat
Easy with a MTD because the seat switch is external so any bolt on seat will do the job .
 
To me that what ruined him with me. I was looking for serious info and not a lot joking around so I will not even look his stuff anymore.
 
StarTech said:
To me that what ruined him with me. I was looking for serious info and not a lot joking around so I will not even look his stuff anymore.
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Believe it or not adding stupid humour is a proven method of increasing information retention .
The teachers who stuff around in class and are always cracking jokes or allowing student to crack jokes get a better result than the stern sober ones .
OTOH I don't find his humour funny but that is a matter of taste.
Even 55 years latter I can still remember the entire lesson , the room & the class when our Irish catholic history teacher asked "who was the last fascist dictator in Europe ? and the class clown answered "the Pope "
 
OK next stupid question, since I intend to repaint the bodywork of the tractor, how do I remove the rear flat section where the catcher attaches, I have removed the hook brackets but cannot see what should be disconnected next?
 

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Answering my own post here but discovered that about 6 bolts hold that rear panel on, I also found every sharp edge under the mower and have a few new plasters on the fingers. It is the first day of Winter for us here in NZ and it is a balmy 22c (72f) so I should be down the beach I guess. I found half a destroyed belt wrapped around one of the drive pulleys which can't have helped the mower work too well. Happily I also found the rear brake which I think is holding the R/H rear wheel locked, it took some water blasting to clear enough of the rear diff to be able to see all of this, I doubt this poor machine has ever seen any love. Yesterday I got a new air filter ($24) some oil ($65 ?) and a new battery ($145) so I'm getting serious about this now. I think my next moves will be unjamming that darn brake and then removing the mower deck as I don't need it right now and it may make fitting the drive belts easier plus I really want to water blast the underside as it has half and inch of build-up of old grass and dirt. I need to get all the "pretty" bits off so my son can paint them so the rear guards section will be coming off soon too. Today's dumb question: I'm used to two stroke bike engines so when I removed the spark plug I expected to be able fell the piston moving back and forth when I put a straw into the plug hole but no movement at all? The motor is not stuck, I can turn it by hand from the top so am I actually in the inlet valve area directly behind the plug? It doesn't make sense to me but B&S motors are a new thing for me...feel free to throw insult sat me as long as they come with an answer lol.
 
Take photos before you touch the brake
Do not touch the middle bolt that is for adjusting the brake
Put some thing under it before you undo the 2 bolts / nuts at either end of the caliper.
There is a small brake pad and steel shim under the caliper plus another pad behind the disc.
The disc has to move freely on its spline , usually it is rusted solid .
The caliper has a face cam built into the lever and 2 pins that push against the shim & pad.
These rust solid into the caliper .
Once freed polish them and apply some dry lubricant before reassembly
 
Check the brake as it could be rusty. 1/2 nut under right side back it off alittle.
Hush said:
OK more help required please forum members, the right hand rear wheel will not run free? It makes pushing the immobile tractor around to repair things very hard. I have started taking things apart for my son to paint and my job will be to get the motor running and tidy up the electricals. I took some photos from under the seat with the battery box removed. I think this machine is missing a belt which would explain the empty pulleys and I guess they shouldn't be locked together like that either, is this why the R/H wheel is locked up? Also does anyone have a schematic of the under side of an early model (2003) MTD ride-on so I can figure out where the missing belt should go? Any help greatly appreciated, 1970's two stroke motorcycles are what I am used to r
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Not a good idea and will not help if the pins are rusted in place or the pads have rusted onto the disc and then when it does move he will have to readjust the brake which is a problem to get right .
 
Well found the brake, yes it was rock solid seized, disassembled most of it, any tips as to how to remove the frozen in little metal pistons? I have them soaking in some diesel for now. Removed carb too as I will need something to work on this week as we are expecting 6 days of rain. Found that all 3 belts are sort of still in the machine, the transmission belt is snapped and wrapped around somewhere I can't seem to untangle, the drive belt is in place but shattered and the mower belt is the only one of any use but I have a 3 belt order in at the mower shop.
 

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Hush said:
Well found the brake, yes it was rock solid seized, disassembled most of it, any tips as to how to remove the frozen in little metal pistons? I have them soaking in some diesel for now. Removed carb too as I will need something to work on this week as we are expecting 6 days of rain. Found that all 3 belts are sort of still in the machine, the transmission belt is snapped and wrapped around somewhere I can't seem to untangle, the drive belt is in place but shattered and the mower belt is the only one of any use but I have a 3 belt order in at the mower shop.
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They tap strait through
I usually put a socket around them for support and tap on the other side with a brass mallet.
They are steel & the calliper in aluminium so you can also bake the calliper to up to 400C then tap while it is hot.
That usually shifts the most stubborn of them .
Derust & polish then refit .
Did you get the disc to slide on the spline ?

If you have some help or a place to hang a pulley you can stand the mower on it's bum vertical
Take the battery out & if there is fuel in the tank stretch some GladWrap over the filler neck then screw the cap on tight

Do not power wash under the mower et.
Clean the grass off using a compressor & long air duster
Super Cheap & nasty car parts carry one that is about 4' long

Grass clippings do not respond to high pressure water .
Pop some 2 x 4's under the deck and use them like rails to slide the deck out & back again
 
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