How is the condition of the rubber tired drive wheel? Is the distance from the drive face of the metal drive disc to the top of the mower frame (not the bottom of the engine) in the range of 3-7/8" to 4"? How about the condition of the clutch yoke.

You need to stand the mower on its' rear standards taking proper precautions by removing the battery if it has one, closing gas tank vent if behind the seat tank. Side tank will be OK. Look at what goes on when moving the shifter lever and working the clutch pedal then get back to us.

Walt Conner

Should I remove the oil from engine also? Thanks for input I will get back after I get this checked out.

I have done some searching of this fourm and there is alot of info about the drive disk, I have looked at some of the online manuals at Snapper.com I assume that all the Snapper models are basicly the same through the years! I cant find my model listed though.

First of all,your model number is probably 28087BE this would be a 28 inch deck with 8 hp Briggs with electric start.Google "Snapper service manual" there are some manuals you can download,I found one and it comes very close to your series 7.Your problem,in order of probability,rubber disc ,slack somewhere in the clutch mechanism,clutch yoke etc.or drive disc location.

"I assume that all the Snapper models are basicly the same through the years!"

Yes.

"Should I remove the oil from engine also?"

No.

Walt Conner

Im not sure of this but I may need a new rubber disk , I measured the distance from the frame to edge of disk and it was 3 7/8 " ! The yoke bearings had no slop! I did move the return spring up 1 hole but it made no difference.

I found the manual and printed it all out.

http://yfrog.com/5tdrivediskandrubbertirej

http://mypicturehost.com/out.php/t49186_drivediskandrubbertire.jpg

Yep, you need a new tire! Tire comes off by removing the four "flanged nuts". DO NOT mess with the red center nut. You also should clean off all the "rubber tracks" from the metal disc (drive disc on crankshaft). Use a rag or cloth "wet" with carburetor cleaner or "brake cleaner" to scrub the rubber deposits off. Do the cleaning after you take the old tire off, but before you install the new tire. Don't get any cleaner on the new tire.

It cleaned up fairly well, I used a razor blade scraper then followed up with the carb cleaner, steel wool helped some to!

I found a new rubber drive wheel on the web for about 20 bucks shipped , does that sound about right?

http://www.mypicturehost.com/show.php/49213_crankdiskcleanup.jpg.html

***"I found a new rubber drive wheel on the web for about 20 bucks shipped , does that sound about right?"***
Ehhhh, $20 shipping and all isn't too bad! I can remember when you could get them for for about $10. But, I had to drive a few miles to get one. Clean up looks good. Jump up on the fence post and crow. :^)

I got the new disk installed and it works just fine, I have a few steep hills. This was the first time I actually got to cut the lawn with it, the only thing that concerned me was the way it discharges. Looks like I need to rake the yard under a few trees , too many small sticks getting sucked up and thrown out in the street.

Thanks for the help

Denny

Almost a year has passed sence I started this post but I thought I wanted to add to it.

I have had more ploblems, the mower at first was working well in all speeds. The second time I used the mower I was on a slight grade and began rolling backwards and couldent stop and turned the mower over slaming me to the ground. OUCH! I have been using my neibors mower doing his lawn and mine.

Im trying to get my snapper up and going again, it runs just fine! 4th and 5th speed and reverce is all I have and no brakes at all. I only cut the front yards at this time because the yards are level.

Where do I start at getting the snapper back on line. I dont see what make this machine stop when braking.

Refer to my post of May 31, one year ago.

Walt Conner

How is the condition of the rubber tired drive wheel? Is the distance from the drive face of the metal drive disc to the top of the mower frame (not the bottom of the engine) in the range of 3-7/8" to 4"? How about the condition of the clutch yoke.

The rubber tired wheel is new as of 1 year ago, less than 2 hours on it!

I re-measured the distance from the snapper frame to the working face of the driving disk that is connected to the crankshaft and it is still 3 7/8 ".

The lift yoke Part# 4-7887 (manual no. 06083) is bent or slightly distorted.

(Other noticed things)
When depressing the brake pedal I can not lock into park position.

With the snapper up on its rear bumper and watching the rubber wheel move across the drive disk, it seems to run out of space at speeds above 4th.

On your old disc there was likely a brake liner on the
inside rim, and your new one did not have it. You need to put your old one in it or get a new one.

There are also adjustments you can do to adjust the travel
of the disc across the plate.

I took it apart tonight, it looks like its all their!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18130316@N07/4686286079/

A picture (I think)

trying again
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Rubber tire is worn down but should still work OK. The liner looks shot, never saw one look like that really. Inside of rubber tire rim looks funny also.

Should not be a big deal. Since the tire is worn that much, might as well replace it AND liner. After that it merely a matter of getting proper pressure on the tire to drive disc. Some have a stop that limits travel, look for that on the front to back slide ahead of the axle.

The shifter bracket on the side of the mower is adjustable as Fish said. Place the shifter in the neutral position, loosen the bracket on the side and move forward or backward until the rubber tire is in the center recess of the drive disc on the crankshaft.

Add a stronger spring if you need to OR two, use you ingenuity.

Walt Conner

OK, in that assembly in the picture, the liner goes inside the metal rim of the rubber tired driven wheel. The ass'y attaches to a hub or drum actually. This drum has a flat area about the width of the liner that the liner runs on. IF that were the case, it would not have left the pattern we are seeing in the picture. Looks to me like someone has "jury rigged" part of a "soft start" clutch onto the wrong hub. The width of the wear pattern is about the thickness of the old rigid clutch hub. Not possible without drilling new holes in the old hub but that is what it looks like.

Walt Conner

OK, in that assembly in the picture, the liner goes inside the metal rim of the rubber tired driven wheel. The ass'y attaches to a hub or drum actually. This drum has a flat area about the width of the liner that the liner runs on. IF that were the case, it would not have left the pattern we are seeing in the picture. Looks to me like someone has "jury rigged" part of a "soft start" clutch onto the wrong hub. The width of the wear pattern is about the thickness of the old rigid clutch hub. Not possible without drilling new holes in the old hub but that is what it looks like.

Walt Conner

OK, in that assembly in the picture, the liner goes inside the metal rim of the rubber tired driven wheel. The ass'y attaches to a hub or drum actually. This drum has a flat area about the width of the liner that the liner runs on. IF that were the case, it would not have left the pattern we are seeing in the picture. Looks to me like someone has "jury rigged" part of a "soft start" clutch onto the wrong hub. The width of the wear pattern is about the thickness of the old rigid clutch hub. Not possible without drilling new holes in the old hub but that is what it looks like.

Walt Conner

Well sorry about the multiple posts, darned thing kept saying there was an error and not submitting because I was following my own previous post.

Walt Conner

What am I looking for to see if the RER has been jury rigged?

Keep in mind that the new wheel only has about 2 hours on it!
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{{gwi:327137}}

Something is mighty strange here. In the first set of pictures there appears to be a wear pattern in the center of the disc liner that is about 1/4" wide. Also, the inside of the rim of the rubber tired driven wheel shows the same pattern as though both have been run without the drum that the liner is supposed to run on. I can't really tell just what you are showing me in the second set of pictures. I thought it was the drum but the bolt hole pattern and size looks like you are showing me two rubber tired drive wheels, one worn completely down.

Anyway, you have to have a drum with a flat surface inside the rim of the rubber tired driven wheel.

When all of this is as it should be, and still not driving in 1st & 2nd indicated the drive yoke or the roller that runs in the drive yoke, is worn out.

Walt Conner

I'm trying to figure out what you are calling a yoke, is it the entire clutch assembly?

Those lines you see in the pictures is some kind of black grit or carbon. I can feel no actual wear like you would feel on a brake rotor of a car.

Thanks for your help

When you push the clutch, the cable connects to an arm on a yoke which is pivoted at each end and the arm from the center gear case with a roller on it rides back and forth in a slot. In time, the smooth sided slot gets recesses worn in it where roller sits most often as when you are starting off in 1st. As the recesses wear deeper, less spring pressure is exerted on the roller/arm thus the rubber driven wheel to the metal drive wheel.

You did not say what is in the last picture you sent, two rubber tired drive wheels or a drive wheel and a drum. Does not look like any drum I remember.

Walt Conner

The picture was of 2 rubber tire wheels, one was on the mower when I got it, the other I got a year ago and put about 2 hours work time on it.

I think I found the parts you are telling me about, the roller is on a arm that is bent. Good chance this is whats going on!
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another pic
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Item 27 above is the shifter yoke, yeah, yours is messed up.
Number 2 is the hub/drum ass'y I have been talking about. It has been many years since I have worked on these and couldn't remember if the hub and drum were made together or separate with the drum slipping over the hub bolts.

When you put that clutch ass'y back together, I would put another #4 in there, one on each side of #3, actually, I would replace the one you have also.

Don't know if you can straighten yoke or not, can't see enough, plainly enough to know. I think you MIGHT be able to remove it and straighten it to look like in the illustration.

Walt Conner

I think I might have the same problem as you rooster. I replaced my drive disc, which was worn badly and when purchased the part, the man assisting me said I should check the bearings on the yolk lift. I didn't quite understand all he said, but got the jist that if the bearings were worn, replacing a bad disc will not be a fix for long as the bad/worn bearings would wear down the drive disc. I can't see how the bearings react to the disc through the diagram above or how he explained it to me. He said it was something that the disc directly touched, but all I can see touchihng the drive disc is the metal drive plate? I'm just a little lost as to how these parts work together, and how to go about replacing the yolk bearings if that's my true problem. Does anyone have advice/specs/pics to guide me in the right direction??

My Snapper RER was bought in 1983, and is still in use today. When the rubber tired disc wore out, the guy at the store sold me a new wheel, and it had that inner, flat, round thing in it. I asked what it was, and he said it might not work on my older machine. He was correct--it made a horrible racket and jammed up, so i removed the inner ring, and it has been ok ever since.
In fact, i used it today to chop up oak leaves in the yard.
To the original first poster: If you try starting out up-hill, the rider will jump up in front, but mine has never gone completely over backwards. Skeery, but still a great machine.

In Rooster 101's parts diagram the yoke is 27,as Walt says.#32 is the bracket that bolts to the rear of the main case,the nylon "bearings" that hold the yoke to the bracket might be worn,The chain case is the box that holds the "tire" and moves across the drive disc to change gears,it also pivots around the rear axles to make the clutch work,and has a rod protruding at the rear of the chain case, through the yoke,as shown in the photo,above the diagram,a metal bushing is on the protrusion, retained with a snap ring,as shown in the photo,and can wear also.The clutch cable attaches to the top of the "arm" on the yoke. There are a lot of parts that work together but it works pretty well.