# Peerless MST Transmission



## RKDOC (Jun 20, 2006)

This is on a Craftsman 917.270670 Riding mower. Peerless model is MST Spec 206-545C. Using the shift lever I can not get the transmission to shift. It is not moving the shift fork. I have undone the shift linkage, and the problem is in the transmission. If I put a big bar on the lever coming out of the transmission I can shift it. But the shift lever does not have enough umph. I took out the plug on the oil fill hole to check for oil. The service manual said to insert dipstick part # 35942 at a 45 degree angle, and should come out with 1/2" of oil on it. I did this same thing with a small screwdrive and it came out with 1/2 " of oil on it.

Does anyone know if this is enough oil or does the dipstick not go to the bottom, thus I would be low on oil? (I put the screwdriver all the way to the bottom) Any help on how much oil I need in this would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Hate to say it, but your going to have to split the case on the transmission. 
These transaxles tend to get moisture in them and then the shift fork will get some corrosion on it and bind in the case where it's supposed to rotate in. Whenever I run across one of these, I always have to remove the shift fork and polish it up, that usually takes care of the issue. 

It's not has hard as it looks, just jack it up and support it on blocks or jack stands, remove the rear wheels (keep track of the axle keys), remove the shift linkage, brake linkage, drive belt and mounting bolts, the transmission will drop right out. Take the pulley off the input shaft. Remove the 2 million case bolts and split the case and remove the shift fork. The binding most likely will be in the top half of the case.

Best of luck... :thumbsup:


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## RKDOC (Jun 20, 2006)

Thanks 30 year. You make getting this out sound easy. I will see what I can do. I do have the service manual. Thanks for the help


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

RKDOC said:


> Thanks 30 year. You make getting this out sound easy. I will see what I can do. I do have the service manual. Thanks for the help


It really isn't that hard to do, just looks like it will be a pain in the a**. Scope it out first and you will see everything that needs to be unbolted and most of it is pretty easy to get to. The belt will walk right off the pulley, and you can drop it with the tires still on if you want.

The hardest part will be getting the shift fork out of the top halve of the transaxle.


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## RKDOC (Jun 20, 2006)

Thanks 30 year. It wasn't too bad. The problem was that the mower had sat under the guys tree for a couple of years before he decided to get it fixed. The shift forks and shaft were just gummed up so bad they would not move. Cleaned them up and everything worked good. Thanks for all your help.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Glad to hear you got it going. It's a lot easier if they are just gummy from the grease. Sometimes when they have a lot of rust, the shift fork is almost impossible to get out of the case.


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