Old MTD 18/46 14 Speed Transmatic ~1993 year

[dougand3]

I saw 14 speed and thought "Wow - is this some super Peerless?" The more I looked, appears it's a Hi-Lo Selector - Stacked Pulley Drive. Sounds like a pain to get adjusted correctly. Can't see the need for 14 sp - maybe it's a marketing ploy. Anybody worked on one?

 

[ILENGINE]

Been around since the 60's worked on a few from the 70's Was used on their MTD garden tractors up into around the 2000's The low range was for ground engaging and tiller work. High range for mowing just like the current 6-7 speed setups.

 

[dougand3]

Thanks, ILENGINE. Did the stacked pulley work ok in ground engaging?

 

[ILENGINE]

the stacked pulley concept is actually very reliable. Maybe created more belt wear if you were using a moldboard plow, but with tillers and stuff like that it was fine. Even the old JD 110 and 112's used a stacked pulley system. So they used a 3 or 4 speed gear transmission with a vario drive to vary the speed within gears.