jerky transmission, 80's MTD

petebert

Member
Got a late 80's MTD mower under the Powertech brand. It's a project for my 9 year old. He won't be mowing with it, he's going to pull a yard cart around and maybe plow snow with it.

1st gear is really jerky, 2nd and 3rd don't work. 4th works fine but it sounds like the rear end is making a rhythmic noise while it drives, like eh-eh-eh-eh-eh.

Aside from replacing the belt was wondering if there's anything else I should be looking at.

Also have a couple of other random questions. I know MTD made a ton of these under different brands. When researching, is there a generic model I can google to try and find information? The model number for this one is mtd 138-752-314.

Also anyone know where to find the model number on the briggs motor? I tried googling it but the results were all for newer engines.

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The transmission should be a Peerless 801. It's a 1988 model. All the gear drive 700-series lawn tractors that year used the same transmission.
 
Almost every large retailer had a version of that tractor.
There will be a lot of good transaxles at any mower salvage place.
You might even find on on the curb every once in a while.
 
The engine model number for those flat head twins is usually stamped on an aluminum plate that is riveted to the fan cover on one side of
the flywheel screen or the other. If no tag, look for two holes about 3 inches apart. Since your machine is about 5 to 7 years older than
those I have experience with, if you don't see the mdoel/type/code there, look around the edge of that same cover.

If you still have the covers for the heads on the engine it will stay much cooler and probably last longer if they are on there. It will
run cooler.

Is this one of those models that uses two belts from engine to transmission? I am not familiar with any other MTD drives. If it is, and
you are having problems controlling speeds, replacing both belts with the correct OEM parts is the way to go. Every time I tried
aftermarket belts the machine was either painfully slow or jerky or would not pull well at all.

Also jerking with audible pops from the transmission indicates the dog clutch that controls forward and reverse is skipping over teeth
instead of engaging them inside the transmission.
 
Do a search for this
Peerless 801 transaxle forum
Very common transaxle from the 80s and up.
They are not all configured the same as MTD, Murray, John Deere and maybe others used this transaxle.
 

I have the plates for both sides. I took them off to see if it has an oil filter and it appears there's no oil filter. Still no luck on an engine model number but I found the plate on the transaxle, Peerless 801008B

This one looks like it has a single belt and the belt looks like crap.
 
Where are you at?? I may have the parts you need since I have a number of old riders laying around the place. I'm in MO the Lake of the Ozarks area
 
(quoted from post at 16:19:48 01/06/23) Where are you at?? I may have the parts you need since I have a number of old riders laying around the place. I'm in MO the Lake of the Ozarks area

Michigan
 
That's only around 600 miles from me LOL. But back in the 70s I sort of lived up there. My parents lived in Stanton MI and I did some motorcycle trading when I was home on leave when I was in the Navy. That would have been back in 1977 if I remember right
 
Model, Type and Code number for the engine is commonly found stamped in one of the shrouds that goes around the heads. Since you have them off, look closely with a bright light, sometimes it is hard to see under the paint.

The other place is either the top, or the sides of the flywheel shroud on top. Briggs and Stratton stamped the numbers directly into the sheet metal for decades.
The code number will tell you the age of the engine once you find it.
 

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