[john_incircuit]

I have a 7 year old Toro Rider 8-25. Don’t laugh; it was donated to me 2 years ago by my 87 year old neighbor. The Toro is pretty slow, but it cuts very well and we use it a lot to haul things around. Sure beats pushing the wheelbarrow at 90 some degrees.

Anyway, I noticed that the clutch pedal suddenly is pulsating a lot, plus the traction spring is expanding / contracting very fast with the engine running. There is not a lot of tension on the drive belt, and I can easily push in the drive belt by one 1 inch. The large traction spring looks OK. The transmission pulley has almost no run out with the engine running, with the belt removed, it has some play when I wiggle on it, perhaps 1/16 of an inch, it certainly has more play then the wheel bearing play on a car or trailer. The pulley has perhaps 1/8 of in inch up and down play.

Are those figures normal for the transmission? Any troubleshooting help is appreciated!

John

 

[john_incircuit]

Forgot to tell you that my Toro Rider has a Peerless 700 transmission according to the operators manual ---John

 

[Restrorob]

I have a 7 year old Toro Rider 8-25. Don’t laugh; it was donated to me 2 years ago by my 87 year old neighbor. The Toro is pretty slow, but it cuts very well and we use it a lot to haul things around. Sure beats pushing the wheelbarrow at 90 some degrees.

Anyway, I noticed that the clutch pedal suddenly is pulsating a lot, plus the traction spring is expanding / contracting very fast with the engine running. There is not a lot of tension on the drive belt, and I can easily push in the drive belt by one 1 inch. The large traction spring looks OK. The transmission pulley has almost no run out with the engine running, with the belt removed, it has some play when I wiggle on it, perhaps 1/16 of an inch, it certainly has more play then the wheel bearing play on a car or trailer. The pulley has perhaps 1/8 of in inch up and down play.

Are those figures normal for the transmission? Any troubleshooting help is appreciated!

John

Sounds like you may be about ready to replace the input shaft bearings and possibly the shaft, But if you remove the drive belt I'll bet you will find a flat spot on the inside thats causing the clutch pedal to jump as it goes around the pulley. This is caused from prolong idling with the parking brake on,possibly while loading your pull behind trailer.
If you find no flat spot check the pulleys for a stick or something possibly stuck in the groove. It sounds like the belt is stretched any way if its that loose.

 

[john_incircuit]

Restrorob,

Thanks for the quick reply. Assuming the best case and the problem is just with the idler pulley or the belt, should I still go ahead and plan on changing the input shaft bearings? Is this a relative easy thing to do?

Thanks --- John

 

[Restrorob]

Restrorob,

Thanks for the quick reply. Assuming the best case and the problem is just with the idler pulley or the belt, should I still go ahead and plan on changing the input shaft bearings? Is this a relative easy thing to do?

Thanks --- John

Well if you plan on keeping this mower for a while then it wouldn't be a bad idea before any other damage occurs. You have to remove the transaxle and pulley, Remove all the screws holding the cases together, Remove the snap ring on the shaft under the pulley and slide it out then drive the old bearings out and lightly tap the new ones in and reassemble.

 

[john_incircuit]

Thanks for the help --- John