Subject: 1997 Craftsman garden tractor. 18 horse Kohler engine.
Model 917.251492

This beast needs a brake job and it looks to be a real bitch to get to
the transaxle housing mounted rotor and pads.
It appears that the best way might me to remove the bolts holding the
housing from the frame and drop the whole rear end, but maybe not. I
would appreciate hearing from anyone who has tackled this job. Thanks

On Jul 15, 8:55*am, texas slacker wrote:
Subject: *1997 Craftsman garden tractor. *18 horse Kohler engine.
Model 917.251492

This beast needs a brake job and it looks to be a real bitch to get to
the transaxle housing mounted rotor and pads.
It appears that the best way might me to remove the bolts holding the
housing from the frame and drop the whole rear end, but maybe not. *I
would appreciate hearing from anyone who has tackled this job. *Thanks

Not sure which setup you have, but most of them the caliper drops out
the bottom with little effort and the friction material is then free.
Generally it is in a terrible place to work though, lifting the rear
of the tractor helps a lot. It isn't all that heavy, but still block &
jackstand it properly, it would still hurt. If you really want to
disassemble something, removing the fender pan would give good access
from the fop.

texas slacker wrote:

Subject: 1997 Craftsman garden tractor. 18 horse Kohler engine.
Model 917.251492

This beast needs a brake job and it looks to be a real bitch to get to
the transaxle housing mounted rotor and pads.
It appears that the best way might me to remove the bolts holding the
housing from the frame and drop the whole rear end, but maybe not. I
would appreciate hearing from anyone who has tackled this job. Thanks

DId you try adjusting them? I have never see lawn tractor brakes wearing
out. You hardly never need them and when you lock them on it's usually
not moving and wearing.



--
LSMFT

I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months.
I don't like to interrupt her.

DId you try adjusting them? I have never see lawn tractor brakes
wearing out. You hardly never need them and when you lock them on it's
usually not moving and wearing.




I have a John Deere 285 that has a small drum brake .. .. it not only
has worn out .. .. JD wants almost $100 for the BRAKE SHOES !! !! !!

There is still plenty of friction material there, but it won't expand
enough to grab the drum .. .. SOOOOO .. .. we welded up the cam a bit
and ground it smooth, yielding more travel, hence more shoe expansion.
Worked like a charm.

"__ Bøb __" wrote:


DId you try adjusting them? I have never see lawn tractor brakes
wearing out. You hardly never need them and when you lock them on it's
usually not moving and wearing.




I have a John Deere 285 that has a small drum brake .. .. it not only
has worn out .. .. JD wants almost $100 for the BRAKE SHOES !! !! !!

There is still plenty of friction material there, but it won't expand
enough to grab the drum .. .. SOOOOO .. .. we welded up the cam a bit
and ground it smooth, yielding more travel, hence more shoe expansion.
Worked like a charm.

I don't understand why you need to use the brakes so much. Do you push
the clutch too hard? If you have hydro why do you need brakes?

--
LSMFT

I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months.
I don't like to interrupt her.

On Jul 15, 5:40*pm, LSMFT wrote:
"__ Bøb __" wrote:

DId you try adjusting them? I have never see lawn tractor brakes
wearing out. You hardly never need them and when you lock them on it's
usually not moving and wearing.

I have a John Deere 285 that has a small drum brake .. .. it not only
has worn out .. .. JD wants almost $100 for the BRAKE SHOES !! !! !!

There is still plenty of friction material there, but it won't expand
enough to grab the drum .. .. SOOOOO .. .. we welded up the cam a bit
and ground it smooth, yielding more travel, hence more shoe expansion.
Worked like a charm.

I don't understand why you need to use the brakes so much. Do you push
the clutch too hard? If you have hydro why do you need brakes?

--
LSMFT

I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months.
I don't like to interrupt her.

I need brakes because sometimes I park on a steep incline and need to
lock the brakes. I need new pads because all the adjustment is used
up and the tractor still rolls downhill with the brake lock on.

On Jul 15, 6:03*pm, texas slacker wrote:
On Jul 15, 5:40*pm, LSMFT wrote:



"__ Bøb __" wrote:

DId you try adjusting them? I have never see lawn tractor brakes
wearing out. You hardly never need them and when you lock them on it's
usually not moving and wearing.

I have a John Deere 285 that has a small drum brake .. .. it not only
has worn out .. .. JD wants almost $100 for the BRAKE SHOES !! !! !!

There is still plenty of friction material there, but it won't expand
enough to grab the drum .. .. SOOOOO .. .. we welded up the cam a bit
and ground it smooth, yielding more travel, hence more shoe expansion..
Worked like a charm.

I don't understand why you need to use the brakes so much. Do you push
the clutch too hard? If you have hydro why do you need brakes?

--
LSMFT

I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months.
I don't like to interrupt her.

I need brakes because sometimes I park on a steep incline and need to
lock the brakes. *I need new pads because all the adjustment is used
up and the tractor still rolls downhill with the brake lock on.

Here is the parts page for what it is worth:
http://www.searspartsdirect.com/part...41977&blt= 06

On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:03:55 -0700 (PDT), texas slacker
wrote:

I need brakes because sometimes I park on a steep incline and need to
lock the brakes. I need new pads because all the adjustment is used
up and the tractor still rolls downhill with the brake lock on.

Park perpendicular to the "steep incline"?

It might have to roll over to get downhill.

LSMFT wrote:
texas slacker wrote:

Subject: 1997 Craftsman garden tractor. 18 horse Kohler engine.
Model 917.251492

This beast needs a brake job and it looks to be a real bitch to get to
the transaxle housing mounted rotor and pads.
It appears that the best way might me to remove the bolts holding the
housing from the frame and drop the whole rear end, but maybe not. I
would appreciate hearing from anyone who has tackled this job. Thanks

DId you try adjusting them? I have never see lawn tractor brakes wearing
out. You hardly never need them and when you lock them on it's usually
not moving and wearing.


Mine wore out, but it is 40 years old so that's not too bad.

On Jul 15, 9:55*am, texas slacker wrote:
Subject: *1997 Craftsman garden tractor. *18 horse Kohler engine.
Model 917.251492

This beast needs a brake job and it looks to be a real bitch to get to
the transaxle housing mounted rotor and pads.
It appears that the best way might me to remove the bolts holding the
housing from the frame and drop the whole rear end, but maybe not. *I
would appreciate hearing from anyone who has tackled this job. *Thanks

I had to replace one about ten years ago on a similar model and it was
a very frustrating job. We use ours around the farm for hauling so it
gets more wear than the typical lawn-mowing machine. The break liner
had separated from the metal.

Very tight quarters to work in. I remember that jacking it up helped.
Removing the old one was bad enough but getting the replacement in was
worse. My hands were too big to get in to get the initial bolt into
the threads; it took my wife and I both working together, reaching in
from opposite sides of the tractor, to get it assembled.