Weed Eater One (WE261) peice of junk!

I'm glad it all worked out! That snapper disc has a better rubber compound and makes the ride a lot better. Sorry to hear about the brake cable, it figures now that you got it to go, it wont stop!

bought "one" Rider in Spring of 2012... could not start thus returns and pic-ups through summer. Now as Fall roars in... it sits where I bought it with "one" use under my belt and the dealer is in no hurry to do anything...
:frown:

Porfavor said:

bought "one" Rider in Spring of 2012... could not start thus returns and pic-ups through summer. Now as Fall roars in... it sits where I bought it with "one" use under my belt and the dealer is in no hurry to do anything...
:frown:

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That is a common theme with a lot of dealers....they are in no rush to fix things! :frown:

haolewill said:

Buzzsaw,
the drive disc is actually a 2-piece disc, the outer is disc you are replacing with the worn out rubber band around it, the inner connects to the drive axle with bolts. The friction band rests between the 2 discs and forms a connection when the assembly is pressed against the engine drive wheel (when brake is released). You will notice that the snapper disc assembly you ordered may come with one of these bands but is considerably thicker, this will not work on your mower. The outer disc from the snapper assembly (the one with the rubber band on the outside) is all you're interested in. Hold your original outer disc against the snapper outer disc and trace out the piece you'll have to cut out of your new disc to make it line up like the old one did.

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Maybe some one can help me
I have modified the Snapper friction wheel. and after putting everything back together, I get slippage, especially on the faster speed settings.
seems something is not gripping right. Already checked pins on wheels, all ok. When I apply the brake pedal it seems to help a bit, but it wont run smooth or have enough power to cut.

I successfully repaired my weed eater one with the help of the comments on this thread. It was relatively easy, took me about 6 hours all in all, and about $20 for the snapper friction disk. The level of difficulty I would say, if you can change the oil from your car, you probably have enough knowledge to fix this. A little about the process I used. As mentioned, the snapper friction disk will have to be grinded wider. I used an angle grinder from harbor freight, with a metal grinding disk. Don't use a dremel, it will take you forever. Match the diameter with the original disk. To remove the friction disk, I worked from the left side of the mower, removing bolts until I was able to slip the friction disk assembly off. Once off, the assembly is composed of 3 pieces. The 3 bolts were a bi*ch to get off. I would not suggest removing the bearing assembly on the one side if you don't have to, the collar that holds it in place is also a bi*ch to remove and to put back on. Once you have the bolts off, replace the modified snapper wheel. One additional modification, as someone mentioned, the middle friction wheel should spin freely, but will not very easily with the snapper wheel. You have to use an additional paper gasket. I used a piece of cardboard that I measured and cut to match the paper gasket thats on the other side. So basically you are going to sandwich the snapper wheel with a paper gasket on each side, then put back the metal pieces and bolt back together. Then just put everything else back together. One other tip, to get the spring back on from the back side, I used a nylon string, looped it through the top part of mower that the spring hooks onto, hooked the string to the top part of the spring, and just pulled up hard and hooked the top of the spring where its supposed to go.

This mower was purchased for $100 on craigslist, only thing wrong with it was the friction disk when I bought it. For anybody considering getting a used one of these, I would not pay more than $100 if its broke, and $200 if its working. It really is an absolute piece of sh*t, and can't believe weed eater would put out a product like this with there name on it. If you weight more than 150 lbs, and have more than a 10 degree grade on any part of your lawn, the engine is not powered enough to carry you. The back side rattles, but I alleviated this by slightly pressing down on the brake.

Weedeater riding lawn mower issues

This is encouraging information. Thanks for taking the time to share it! Before I proceed however, could you describe the symptoms your transmission issue was causing? My Weedeater One was purchased on Memorial Day 2013, used it 8-10 times and it no longer runs in any forward gears. I tried to "adjust" but somehow did not get the right settings to insure that the neutral/reverse gears actually align with the shifter. My forward symptoms were grinding types of noise, also as if clutch was not pushed in -- and a "slipping" sound. All indications are that it is begging for some type of adjustment. Does this sound familiar? And if so, do you recommend the replacement of the wheel with the one mentioned? Or is any "adjustment" possible? I have contacted several repair shops locally but no one seems to interested in tackling this issue. When we called Weedeater we discovered it was not a warranty issue. Thanks in advance for any advice short of getting rid of it - which obviously won't solve the problem for me unless it is hopeless. Out of curiosity, what would anyone recommend to replace the Weedeater One? Specifically, the use is weekly lawn on a very small residential home w/ no hills. When I viewed the various types of riding mowers/tractors I became confused at the many different types of transmissions. Thanks again! There does not appear to be much out there for under 1,000 dollars.

haolewill said:

Well, my neighbor and I figured out how to fix the friction disc problem on the weed eater one! We used a standard wheel from a Snapper, cut out the middle to fit the assembly for the weed eater and put it back together, lubed everything from front to back and now it wants to pop wheelies!

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I am having some trouble with reassembling my unit the spring which holds the friction plate up is out of place and I can't figure out how to install it. I believe it is part no. 21 on pg 33 of the manual they call it a spring carrier.
I took mine apart to replace the friction wheel 2 years ago and I don't remember how to get it back together now. That's the only piece left in the puzzle for me to attempt to start it. If I saw a picture of what it looks like I would be good. I searched high and low and cant find a picture with it assembled. I know where one end (the top) of the spring goes but I have not clue where the next end goes. If its not too much work could you take a picture of yours and email it to me @ sobolious@gmail.com. I would really appreciate it. Thanks

haolewill said:

That part you've searched # 1603486 is the one I used. We had to trim a little out of the center with a die grinder to match the inner diameter of the stock wheel. When putting it back togetherbe sure to use the weed eater's original friction band as this is what provides the grab that gets you moving.

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Hello, I'm buying a used p.o.s. weed eater one that currently has a slipping clutch so I want to get the snapper part to fix it as you have. I'm trying to look up the part number you've provided but it's not a valid snapper part number. My question is, if I buy a snapper friction disck does this part number matter ??? do I need one with brake lining ?? I appreciate any info

Here is what I did. I bought friction disk Part Number "MTD 05080AP Drive Disc" from Amazon for $15.00. Center hole and mounting holes are off, but center hole needs to be 1 3/8 inches. Bought a step drill that goes up to 1 3/8 at Lowes for $20.00. Using the step drill preferably with a drill press drive it slowly all the way through and clean up any burrs from the hole. Then line the attach bracket in between the original holes and use a 5/16 drill bit to drill them. See before and after pics attached.

Hope this helps!!!

Why even think on buying a RER at Walmart, espically a Weed Eater RER? I think a newer Snapper RER has replaced the Weed Eater One at Walmart.