I recently acquired a yellow deck stx38 with the Peerless 920-017. There was a whining noise from the transmission whenever the clutch was engaged. I found that the pulley for the input shaft transaxle was loose. I pulled the transaxle and found the pulley was trashed and there is up and down play in the shaft no side to side play. The thrust washer was worn and it looks like the bottom clip has worn away and the bearings feel gritty though there is no play. How bad of a job is it to change that bearing and is that up and own play bad? I'm very new to the lawn tractor world
Yellow deck STX38 transaxle input bearing
- Thread starter drabe1
- Start date
Richard001
Veteran Member
Drabe,
Welcome to TBN.
Here is a transmission from sears, not quit the same part number, but it may work for you.
PEERLESS TRANSAXLE Parts | Model 92 44 | Sears PartsDirect
You say the pulley is bad, is it the pulley of the input shaft that is bad?
Richard
Welcome to TBN.
Here is a transmission from sears, not quit the same part number, but it may work for you.
PEERLESS TRANSAXLE Parts | Model 92 44 | Sears PartsDirect
You say the pulley is bad, is it the pulley of the input shaft that is bad?
Richard
The pulley for the input shaft had gotten loose and egged out the hole. I can move the shaft up and down but there is no play side to side. The bearing feels tight but I think the seal failed, because when turning the input shaft it feels and sounds gritty
crazyal
Super Member
I think you are going to have to pull the transmission apart. The bearing is most likely a needle bearing and will need to be pressed out and in. That will require the transmission to be torn down. You will also need to make sure you use the special peerless (bentonite) grease. If the shaft was moving up and down you will probably find that there's damage to some of the gears inside. You should be able to find used parts on ebay or a used transaxle for it. It really comes down to what you want to spend.
Putting in perspective what is really happening here, you may just install a new pulley and hardware and see what you have. The pulleys wear well before the shaft. These don't have much for input shaft bearings and probably have bentonite grease. If you want this perfect, it is many hours of clean up and put real lube back in the case.
I'm a first time homebuyer who needed a mower for my 2.5acres and I know it's small but I got it cheap. I just need it to last at least a couple seasons. I already have the transaxle out. The labor fixing it isn't an issue as I work a mechanic now. It's just the money is the problem
When I have these apart, and it has been awhile due to the cost of labor- strip it, clean it, reassemble with an 00 grease and it will work smooth. Bentonite just plain sucks and when you have it apart, you'll see why. Benny grease is clay based.