83 lawn chief 8/30 tranny help

bobski

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new guy here. my faithful red 83 lawn chief 8/30 sitdown rear engine ate its chain while backing. the torque snapped the tranny from its mounts! i was able to get it off and everything else believe it or not is just fine and still works (28 years old) except now for the snapped alloy mounting points on the bottom of the tranny. its marked techumsah(sp) its a 5 forward 1 reverse seperate tranny from the engine with a chain to wheel gear drive and stick shift on the right. this old horse deserves another chance but finding parts is impossible and welding that alloy...no one will touch it. all the gears work. the 8.5 b&s runs fine. its just a matter of mounting a new base on that tranny. ive tried all the retail dealers. no luck.
so i guess im asking:
1. know of any boneyards that would have it?
2. anyone here want to weld it? 2 of the 4 mounting hole studs are literally ripped off the base. you can see the grease and gears inside because of it! all the welders here say its pot aluminium and that its gotta be taken apart and be perfectly clean.
3. its a split case. all i really need is the base case....unless there is something i dont know about the inside that will take special tools when i get there.
4. anyone got one laying around?

all help is accepted. thanks in advance. help me save my pride and joy.:thumbsup:
 

benski

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new guy here. my faithful red 83 lawn chief 8/30 sitdown rear engine ate its chain while backing. the torque snapped the tranny from its mounts! i was able to get it off and everything else believe it or not is just fine and still works (28 years old) except now for the snapped alloy mounting points on the bottom of the tranny. its marked techumsah(sp) its a 5 forward 1 reverse seperate tranny from the engine with a chain to wheel gear drive and stick shift on the right. this old horse deserves another chance but finding parts is impossible and welding that alloy...no one will touch it. all the gears work. the 8.5 b&s runs fine. its just a matter of mounting a new base on that tranny. ive tried all the retail dealers. no luck.
so i guess im asking:
1. know of any boneyards that would have it?
2. anyone here want to weld it? 2 of the 4 mounting hole studs are literally ripped off the base. you can see the grease and gears inside because of it! all the welders here say its pot aluminium and that its gotta be taken apart and be perfectly clean.
3. its a split case. all i really need is the base case....unless there is something i dont know about the inside that will take special tools when i get there.
4. anyone got one laying around?

all help is accepted. thanks in advance. help me save my pride and joy.:thumbsup:

This is a pretty cajun fix,:ashamed: but would it be possible to take some square ubolts, and maybe some welded on plate on the frame like the lawnmower racers do, and bolt your tranny on that way?
Just a thought. You've certainly gotten you money's worth out of that machine.:smile:
 

bobski

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i would if i could, but the actual tranny housing ripped away from the belly of the tranny. its not like its just where the bolts go. you can actualy see the grease and gears inside the tranny from the outside where it tore away. its got to be closed back up.
 

benski

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i would if i could, but the actual tranny housing ripped away from the belly of the tranny. its not like its just where the bolts go. you can actualy see the grease and gears inside the tranny from the outside where it tore away. its got to be closed back up.
:eek: Ah, I see now. There are some lawnmower boneyards on the web that I've seen, but don't offhand remember the name of.:ashamed:With some more sleuthing you might be able to track down what you need from there. I don't think that pot metal is weldable, but there may be some gas rod out there that would work. Sorry I can't be much more help.
 

bobski

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spread the word to your buddies and find me some boneyards! post them here! thanks for the encouragement.:thumbsup:
 

flyerdan

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You want to try and find some Aladdin welding rod. They make an alloy that is designed for repairing the pot-metal type castings that are nearly impossible to otherwise. It was designed for O/A welding, but I'll bet it would tig nicely. If it was mine, I'd take it apart, clean it good with acetone and make a nice v-groove for the filler with a die grinder and give it a shot. It's not like you can hurt it anymore.
 

bobski

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agree. its at least an option. any little parts that will go flying when i take that tranny apart or is it mostly rock solid gears, grease, and true grit in there? i can see a chain, so i know a small chain drive is part of the guts.
 

flyerdan

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A bit of rather extensive cross referencing indicates that you should have a Peerless 700 series transmission, .pdf diagrams here. There are a lot of them listed, surely one of them will be the right one. Looks like the setup that Harley uses with the separate transmission. Shouldn't be anything too sophisticated in there, at least having a diagram helps getting things back in the proper place.
 

bobski

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i had a rep on the phone ask me at the dealer to i.d the tranny. but there are no model numbers on it. he told me to look for a plate near the shifter. it appears it was a medalian that was pressed pushed into a cavity. of course, its not there, so im sol and dont know what model it is. any advice on a process of elimination to find the right one? age? measurements? any hints?
or just start clicking all of them and hail mary it?
geeesh,. look at all those gears in there! im getting flashbacks to motorcycle repair in the 70's.

btw....KUDOS. that is the tranny. who would ever dream i'd find a forum that could find it! thanks. serious.

now what? geesh. time to just hope and pray i pick the right one.
 

flyerdan

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I think the basic design of the 700 series is the same, just different number of gears. Grab one at random and have a look, chances are that you can take the assembly cap screws out and turn it upside down and take the bottom case off without disturbing anything inside. Clean it up and prep/clamp it and weld it. Or you could pick up a used on off eBay. I see there is one setting at $10 right now, but the reserve isn't met. At least that's an option if repair efforts fail.
 
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