MTD Ranch King no brakes

Hi all!

‘91 MTD type 130-600-000 14.5 h.p. riding mower with no brakes! Transaxle is Peerless 719-3013. Replaced brake pads on transaxle brake caliper, installed spring in tightest spring hole on brake actuator rod, but still had slop, installed a shorter spring. Adjusted brake caliper lever to minimum clearance. Foot pedal does seem to be actuating brake caliper.

With back wheels all the way off ground, gear selector lever in Parking Brake position, and F-N-R lever in Forward, the wheels still freely turn opposite each other.

Brake disc is on a splined shaft, not the keyway type, and disc is good on splines. Tightening brake lever at caliper does pinch the brake disc as caliper pins press against brake pad backing plate. It seems like, in gear and moving, stepping on brake slows tractor some, and it may come to a stop, but may still roll. Downhill not good at all. Also stomping brake on loose gravel won’t lock up the rear, axles still turn some. Pulling a small trailer, brake doesn’t even slow it down, yee-haw gets interesting!

Thanks for any suggestions!

"With back wheels all the way off ground, gear selector lever in Parking Brake position, and F-N-R lever in Forward, the wheels still freely turn opposite each other."

They will ALWAYS do that 'cuz of the action of the differential and the fact the brake is ahead of the wheel axles, at the end of a countershaft.

If brake disc in good condition(not worn thin/scored)check end play on shaft disc mounted on,you may have worn flange bushings for shaft or other internal wear problem,& shaft being pushed into trans when brake applied & caliper can't apply enough pressure on disc to stop tractor.

Thanks Bob, I know about the differential action on the tractor, same as a car/truck without limited slip axle: wheels turn in opposite direction. I was thinking that with parking brake on they shouldn't still turn freely?

Yes, Joe, I'm worried about an internal part in transaxle being broken. The disc is good on the splines on shaft, brake caliper has a pad on each side of disc. When brake's applied axle can't be forced deeper into t-axle, because of inner pad pressing on disc too.

Can't figure out what the heck could be broken because: Brake definitely slows down tractor, tractor forward/reverse works fine, axles are locked together by differential action as described, but nowhere near the braking it should have!???

Looking at the schematic the Brake Disc 717-0677 is mounted to 717-0758, Drive Shaft - Right Hand. Right Hand Drive Shaft then has 717-0336 bearing, then 717-0757 Bevel Gear, and 717-0667 Clutch Collar, then 717-0754 Shift Fork, then another 717-0757 Bevel Gear. The bevel Gears seems to be driven by 717-0663 Pinion [gear] on 717-0634 Input Shaft, to 717-1020 Miter Gears, and 717-1019 Miter Gear, these being the 'Spider Gears' I think.

So, being as tractor has forward & reverse [but a somewhat stubborm shifter lever], I can't see what parts could break that would then kill the brakes, without killing forward & reverse too?

It's been a long time since I worked on one of these transaxle's,I don't remember if brake disc is pressed on spline shaft or free to slide on splines,that being as it may,looking at assembly drawings online & in my manual for 700 series trans,my thought was that shoulder(s)worn on flange bushings on output/brake shaft,counter shaft or both,looking at parts drawings/manual,there is a thrust washer on each end of output/brake shaft that goes against shoulders on flange bushings,outside of sprocket gear & washers on output shaft & possibly the chain between output shaft/counter shaft there is nothing to limit side/side motion of output shaft,if shoulders worn on bushings this will allow a side/side motion on shaft,other possibility is flange bushings worn & shaft shifting in same and brake caliper not square with disk when brake applied.
As far as hard shifting this can be caused by a worn detent plate/detent ball or the more common cause shift keys for gears worn/damaged,you may have to open trans to get an idea of whats going on inside & maybe pickup a service manual for peerless trans on ebay.

These adjust by turning in a nut. Have you adjusted them in that manner? It is a single 1/2" I think that you turn in. This moves the piece that hits the cam.

Thanks again there, Joe! I think it can never be long enough since one last worked on one of these transaxles hah!

I went through tractor from one end to the other last year, rebuilt engine & replaced all wearing parts. Modified chassis/seat for lower center of gravity, added ATV tires for better traction, spent about 6 months and a lot of $$ to customize for extreme terrain mowing. Got about 8 hours use for my labors. Engine starved for oil on steep hills and scored cylinder first day of use!

Fixed that and now I still can't use it! Was trying to avoid it but I'll drop t-axle & pop it open, take a look see. I have a Kelsey Hayes disc brake caliper for a go-kart that I fabbed up a disc & hub for, to fit this tractor. While I'm working on original brake I plan to install this second brake on left side axle, to help braking when pulling trailer.

Thanks for the help!

Thanks for info, ryan!

Yeah, I spent lots of time adjusting brake & actuator rod, even added a shorter spring for brake pull rod. Replaced caliper brake pads too. Got caliper adjustment as tight as possible without binding, still no go. Well, go yes, stop no!

Looks like there's no easy way out on this thing. Uh, so what's new??

Thanks guys!

Another question here. Last time I removed the transaxle I had a devil of a time with a long heavy spring that's the main tensioner for the variable speed pulley. It took absolutely everything I had to get it in place.

I even attached a short link of chain to it, so I could run a pry bar through chain for more leverage to pull spring backward & hook in place. Last time I was barely able to install it, don't want to push my luck trying the same way again, and fail!

Is there any clever trick to deal with this spring when reinstalling the transaxle?

Thanks!

I found if i installed another backing plate behind the rectangular brake pad, that it would work much better. Might help. RJ

(quoted from post at 17:33:03 07/08/11) I found if i installed another backing plate behind the rectangular brake pad, that it would work much better. Might help. RJ

Click to expand...

Thanks, RJ!

Too long a story why, but actually I already have another thicker backing plate I could try to add. I did adjust everything so that caliper grabs disc & stops that motion, just won't stop the blasted tractor! I'll try it.

Wish there was a solution to handling that spring for the Vari-Drive pulley!

When i had to replace that spring, i made a figure 8 hook out of a coat hanger wire, I then put a heavy round Phillipps screw-driver thru one end, and the spring on the other end. Then, by finding a place to hook the end of the phillipps on the tranny, and frame pieces, i finally was able to pull the spring out far enough to hook the end into its proper place! I also ground the spring hook end to a 45 degree shape, to make it easier to slide the spring into place. I then took the tractor out for a test run, and the front belt smoked itself, big time. I was so disgusted, i removed the engine, and gave the remains to a friend of my son!
Reason? I would have had to remove that spring and belt and all, and i was done with it! Finished. I installed the good engine in another conventional drive machine, and made a good profit from that.
Any way--it was wintertime and the garage wasn't all that warm, at times!

Spent the last 2 days fabbing up a new mechanical disc brake & disc, with disc on right rear axle. There were a lot of problems getting it to fit & clear wheel etc. Finally got all the parts to play nice together after a lot of handwork. Mounting bracket needed longer bolts than stock transaxle bolts, so I scrounged some out of the nuts & bolts bin.

Got everything fitting nice so I began to remove it one last time to fab up the brake linkage. While LOOSENING one bolt it snapped in half, down inside transaxle aluminum casting. Chinese quality.

The tractor now needs one more thing: a cliff to be shoved over.

Here's a pic of my solution to the problem, without dropping & repairing transaxle! Never tried to post pics here, hope it works...

That's a vintage Kelsey Hayes Go Kart caliper, 220M 1505, modified for the tractor. The disc hub I made out of the clutch center hub from a VW clutch, cut the 6" disc out of mild steel. Lots more to the red mounting bracket than what's seen, hot formed to get the angle, plus a lot of busy work cutting & fitting & inletting to fit tightly to backside of caliper. Made the caliper puck out of a piece of a Suzuki disc brake puck. Had a bunch of trick stainless Allen head bolts laying around, used a few up. Drilled out the junk bolt that snapped, then drilled all the way through T/A housing so the bracket bolts could have a Nylock locknut on the ends.

It's linked up using an existing hole in chassis side-member, spring connected to caliper lever, then to an 1/8" steel rod passing through the frame hole, that rod connected to original brake actuator rod that I re-routed. Current original spring is too weak but I found another in the pile that I'll try tomorrow.

Using original linkage & spring it allows use of the 'Parking brake' feature of transaxle. Hey, and it was all free, good old junk recycled, applied labor & a little Yankee ingenuity!

By the way: it wouldn't stop well using original spring in linkage with new disc & caliper, so I replaced with a much heavier spring. Still wouldn't put enough clamping pressure on disc. Today I eliminated the spring from linkage and now have good braking. Surprised to find the spring isn't needed at all, as tractor still goes into 'Park/Lock' just fine without one.

Good lookin' job. Like you say, Yankee ingenuity and a little head scratchin' can get a lot done.