Craftsman transaxle question

JoeNoble

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Ok cool thanks but is there anything common that I can put in there? Like gear oil or some Lucas oil stabilizer? What are some common causes of a sticking shifter?
 

SONOFADOCKER

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My green craftsman is not here for me to compare to. Gear oil is fine . Conditioner oil treatment would be great . I assume your hear box is low on lube just from normal use and heat , the lube treatment should loosen things up fine .
 

JoeNoble

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Awesome! Thanks! I've got I huge jug of the Lucas so I'll give that a try
 

reynoldston

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There has to be just thousands of the Dana transaxles out there. Do they all shift hard? You will find that most of them have the original lubrication in them and shift just fine. It sounds like you must have a something that is frozen up with something like rust or something dried out? Maybe shift linkage or where the gears slide on the main shaft? could water of gotten in the transmission? Sure not going to hurt anything trying the Lucas and I hope it works for you. Another question I would have is what do you mean by shifting hard? The shift lever moves hard or does it go into gear hard?
 

JoeNoble

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It's very reluctant to move from one gear to another, sometimes I REALLY have to muscle it around. So much so that I've brant the lever and the gear I'm in doesn't match up to the gear the little sticker says I should be.
 

reynoldston

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It's very reluctant to move from one gear to another, sometimes I REALLY have to muscle it around. So much so that I've brant the lever and the gear I'm in doesn't match up to the gear the little sticker says I should be.

I say try the Lucas because you have nothing to lose or a lot of penetrating oil on the shift linkage. It looks to me like it will have to come apart and repaired. If you aren't into taking it apart maybe a used transaxle, (salvage yard, E-Bay).
 

JoeNoble

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I'll def give the Lucas a try and I've tried both wd-40 and white lithium on the linkage. I'm fairly inclined mechanically just never worked on a mower before so if I can get the parts (gaskets, seals, etc) then I can probably rebuild it.
 

JoeNoble

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I'm happy to report that after drenching the linkage in white lithium yesterday morning, today she shifts quite easily. Now I just have to adjust the linkage so I have all my gears again. Thanks a ton for the help and info guys!
 

JoeNoble

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Ok so I thought I had it fixed but it keeps sticking again. If I spray it all down with lithium it'll shift fine for a little while then start sticking again. Also I looked but I can't find a fill or drain plug for the transmission.
 

ILENGINE

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Because there is about a 95% chance that it doesn't have a fill or drain plug. Most of the trannies that I work on the grease/oil has to be put in before sealing the two halves of the transmission.
 
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