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Hey everybody,
I was at my local FFA auction and I was looking for an inexpensive lawn mower that I could get for my grandma and fell in love with this Snapper guy. Based on the serial on the Briggs it is a a 92, pretty old but the engine had compression so I went ahead and bought it. The day I got it I figured out that the carburetor was clogged, etc so I decided to throw it back into the barn until I had some free time. That time came, so I invited a friend and together we cleaned the carb, really easy job, changed the spark plug and got the mower running. Trouble is though the transmission is finicky. Most of the time I have to fight it to go from neutral to a gear, also when you strain the engine it also has gearing trouble. It's grinding actually. Not good at all I imagine. Is this a clutch issue? or something else in the transmission department? Sorry for my lack of experiance here but I usually use a hydro-static Kubota diesel.

Thanks to all in advance!
Ivan

If it's a rear engine Snapper, will the shifter move like it's going into gear? If the bottom oil seal on the engine is leaking, that could prevent the drive disc from driving the mower, If the shifter seems to be changing gears and it makes a grinding noise in all the gears with the engine running, you could have a worn drive disc or the worst case, some worn gears on the axels in the differential?

It is a rear engine Snapper. The turning radius is interesting but awesome. Anyway, Yes goes into gear like you said, you can go to any gear it just grinds. I'm going to give fixing it a dabble today and see what I get from there. How much do drive discs go for on these mowers?

Thank you very much!
Ivan

1vannn said:

It is a rear engine Snapper. The turning radius is interesting but awesome. Anyway, Yes goes into gear like you said, you can go to any gear it just grinds. I'm going to give fixing it a dabble today and see what I get from there. How much do drive discs go for on these mowers?

Thank you very much!
Ivan

Click to expand...

Welcome aboard. ;o)

I would take a close look at whats grinding. The motor has a drive disk/plate that constantly spins. The trans has a clutch drive disk that has a fiber friction disk. The clutch disk is about $25 and then you would have to do an adjustment on the motor drive disk and then the clutch cable.

I just went through a rebuild where I hard mounted my clutch drive disk to the plate. No more fiber friction disk, just 5/16" bolts and nuts. Your choice.

Also take a look at your yoke in the back. These wear and can cause gear changes to be hard. Google the parts diagrams for the schematics. They sure do help. Ask more questions and let us know your progress.

Matt

mattm55 said:

Welcome aboard. ;o)

I would take a close look at whats grinding. The motor has a drive disk/plate that constantly spins. The trans has a clutch drive disk that has a fiber friction disk. The clutch disk is about $25 and then you would have to do an adjustment on the motor drive disk and then the clutch cable.

I just went through a rebuild where I hard mounted my clutch drive disk to the plate. No more fiber friction disk, just 5/16" bolts and nuts. Your choice.

Also take a look at your yoke in the back. These wear and can cause gear changes to be hard. Google the parts diagrams for the schematics. They sure do help. Ask more questions and let us know your progress.

Matt

Click to expand...

I will definitely look through everything and update accordingly. I also need to fabricate a battery mount. I was mowing yesterday and took a corner too tight and the battery flew off cables snapped and landed on the grass. I'm thinking a plate held on with some wing nuts. Anyway I'll definitely update everyone here with the progress.

Thank you very much buddy for your help,
Ivan

So I just got under it. I had a look and the disc looks pretty new..

So since I couldn't find anything obvious that led me to replacing the disc (and the lack of a vice grip..) I went ahead and pulled the hub off, hoping to find something obvious that signified a problem. Unfortunately nothing was found. The axle is still alright, I was able to spin one tire and the other goes the opposite direction, but when I spin both tires it spins for a few rotations but then locks up and I have to jiggle it around to be able to move the wheels again. (In neutral, clutch in/out does not make a difference). This also does this when it is in gear and moving. So I'm at a loss here, it's definitely something in the axle setup but I can't figure it out for the life of me. Any tips would be greatly appreciated

Edit: and the model is SRM140

Probably the biggest wear item in those transmissions was the gears attached to the long and short axel shafts. Excessive end play on the axels would cause wear on them. You used to could buy a long and short axel kit from Snapper that had both the axels. And you could also buy the whole differential assembly. That was always a common repair on them. From your description, sounds like what your looking at?

cashman said:

Probably the biggest wear item in those transmissions was the gears attached to the long and short axel shafts. Excessive end play on the axels would cause wear on them. You used to could buy a long and short axel kit from Snapper that had both the axels. And you could also buy the whole differential assembly. That was always a common repair on them. From your description, sounds like what your looking at?

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Yep! Exactly what I'm talking about. ABout how much are those aprox? Thank you for the speedy reply. !

I don't have the foggiest idea how much those go for now or if they are still available from Snapper. Get your model number off the frame from the sticker under the seat and check with some of these on-line guys to see if they are still available.

Yeah, I just rebuilt mine completely as all the parts were available. I watched videos for help. Im not sure if kits or complete trans is available. A google search would tell. Not cheap though.

Matt

So after tearing into the gear box today I discovered a worn gear, the bigger one, and I have reason to suspect that this is causing my problem. Problem is that it's $70, and for one part I don't want to pay that. So I am now looking for a parts mower with a good axle setup. If anyone knows of any somewhere near Hamilton, OH for cheap (less than $75) let me know.

Thank you to all that have helped me through this and hopefully I'll be updating you guys soon with a conclusion to fixing this thing

Good news - Found a parts Snapper for $80 on Craigslist. Hoping to do a partial trade for maybe a push mower for $45 to $50.. Head gasket is blown but I'm considering an engine swap rather than a rear end swap.... Stay tuned.

Great to hear.

I had an old 62 tooth gear that was in pretty decent shape I replaced but had just threw it out. There is usually more wrong than the big gear as you investigate. The bearings (bushings actually) as well as the hubs and other transmission stuff. It can get quite expensive as you replace. A donor machine is a great option. Make 1 good one out of 2.

Keep us informed.
Matt

mattm55 said:

Great to hear.

I had an old 62 tooth gear that was in pretty decent shape I replaced but had just threw it out. There is usually more wrong than the big gear as you investigate. The bearings (bushings actually) as well as the hubs and other transmission stuff. It can get quite expensive as you replace. A donor machine is a great option. Make 1 good one out of 2.

Keep us informed.
Matt

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So I bought the mower, rolls well, I'm going to replace the blades. But that is a separate issue. Anyway, I used the engine off my SRM140 which is a Briggs 286707 and it replaced the Briggs (I think) 28T707. trouble is that during this changeover process, I figured out the wiring is a smidge bit different. It seems to be it's not getting any spark due to some wiring issue. I'm half tempted to just use all the wiring from my SRM140 to the new mower, but I'm sure there is a simple way of fixing this. The mower I bought is a SR1028.. Thanks to all in advise.!

1vannn said:

So I bought the mower, rolls well, I'm going to replace the blades. But that is a separate issue. Anyway, I used the engine off my SRM140 which is a Briggs 286707 and it replaced the Briggs (I think) 28T707. trouble is that during this changeover process, I figured out the wiring is a smidge bit different. It seems to be it's not getting any spark due to some wiring issue. I'm half tempted to just use all the wiring from my SRM140 to the new mower, but I'm sure there is a simple way of fixing this. The mower I bought is a SR1028.. Thanks to all in advise.!

Click to expand...

Yes, so without looking at model numbers, just think about what the circuit is. A Briggs should get spark if no wires are connected and the magneto ground wire is not touching anything. So the magneto wire is the "kill switch". Grounding that will stop the engine.

If you have a simple continuity tester (HF cheapy would work) and test any, all the switches to make sure they still work. Can you also provide a simple basic drawn on paper diagram of wiring and colors perhaps. Here is a link to mine which adds complexity in the key switch start mode but you get the general idea even though its a Honda. Same principle idea

http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachments/snapper-forum/31689d1492775292-snapper-rer-28085s-restore-electricaldiagramsimple1-jpg

Electrical Diagram: https://www.partstree.com/parts/snapper/mowers-rear-engine-riding-lawn-mower/281016be-snapper-28-rear-engine-rider-10-hp-series-16/electrical-systems-for-8-10-12-13-hp-briggs/

mattm55 said:

Yes, so without looking at model numbers, just think about what the circuit is. A Briggs should get spark if no wires are connected and the magneto ground wire is not touching anything. So the magneto wire is the "kill switch". Grounding that will stop the engine.

If you have a simple continuity tester (HF cheapy would work) and test any, all the switches to make sure they still work. Can you also provide a simple basic drawn on paper diagram of wiring and colors perhaps. Here is a link to mine which adds complexity in the key switch start mode but you get the general idea even though its a Honda. Same principle idea

http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachments/snapper-forum/31689d1492775292-snapper-rer-28085s-restore-electricaldiagramsimple1-jpg

Click to expand...

I'll take a look after class and I'll get back to you guys. Thanks for your drawing, I didn't even think about doing that. ?

Thanks for the neat wiring diagram! That needs to be put on a sticky somewhere on this site as there has been several members in the past requesting that info.

cashman said:

Thanks for the neat wiring diagram! That needs to be put on a sticky somewhere on this site as there has been several members in the past requesting that info.

Click to expand...

Yes, I had a hard time finding any clear references to wiring even for the Briggs and especially not the Honda. Probably why I didn't realize the Honda already had a solenoid that I had to omit as I already had a generic one.

I did take liberties to not include any of the "switches" (i.e. blade, gear) and also omitted my 10 A inline fuse from Solenoid B <=> to starter switch B terminals. I could redraw to include those but it might get messy. Maybe just a redraw with references to them. I'll see what I can do on the drawing.

Updated Drawing for Electrical:

http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=31938&d=1493824701


Matt