Deere R72 float bowl and gearbox questions

I overhauled the carb, but the float bowl's valve isn't sealing. Does anyone have any advice on how to clean the seat, or replace it? I'm no stranger to rebuilding carbs, but it was a little surprising to get a perfectly functioning carb after the rebuild, except that the float bowl overflows. Grrr....

Also, when I bought the mower I didn't test all the gears, and when I got it home I found that 4th and 5th didn't work. Duh. No biggie, since I mowed in 2nd and 3rd, which both worked fine. I think a key sheared between a gear cog and its shaft, but I don't have a manual to repair it. I've heard that this transmission is common to several JD lawn tractors from the Seventies and Eighties, but I don't know which ones. Anyone know where I can get a manual for this tranny? Sage advice is appreciated.

Thanks for your help,
Scott

I split the gearbox, it's held together with small bolts, and packed with grease inside.

Mine has a small motorcycle type chain inside it that connects the two shafts inside. My chain was broken. A complete new chain from JD was $13-

Just take it apart- what do you have to loose? Very simple gearbox, has "Manufactured by Techumseh gear division" cast into it.

My R72 was a dump bound refugee, left outside in the rain with no air cleaner for years, I found why it was parked- sheared $1.10 flywheel key on the 8hp Briggs. My deck looks great. The worst part of the mower is the battery tray is rusted off due to the battery leaking. Some 1/8 X 1" angle from Home depot will fix that.

I should have about $200 in it by the time I'm done, I have no intentions of making it pretty, just want something to mow my big flat area with and make it easier to move my small boat on it's trailer around.

My deck isn"t so great. It"s center rusted out before I bought it, so a welder welded in new sheet metal. It"s not the steadiest repair, and I may have to work on it too.

My battery box is half rusted out. It"s still quite usable, so it is much lower on my priority list than the tranny.

The rest of my mower is actually in good enough condition to be considered pretty. I also got a nifty little wheel barrow sized trailer with it that we use all the time with our bigger Craftsman lawn tractor. I just need to put JD green paint on the trailer, and yellow paint on the mower deck. Both are at Walmart.

Thanks for the encouragement. Good luck with yours.

Scott

I didn't try it with my beer, though. I didn't want to spill any if I hit one of the many holes my dog digs hunting voles.

Scott

Or, failing that, anyone know of one of these transmissions for sale used? I suppose I should pop this into the Classifieds, but asking here first may get me closer to my goal faster....

Scott