Following WWII, the Japanese focused on building good products and repeatedly improving upon the same design. Eventually they made high quality products. They picked internal combustion engines to improve upon, since they faced starvation following WWII and were in a race to clear land, plant crops and cultivate to survive. Power equipment literally became a life saver for them. I agree, plastic has a place - Tupperware. Plastic or any polybased material constantly outgasses and looses its integrity. Its why plastic automotive interior panels (as just one example) become brittle and disintigrate over time. UV radiation will accelerate this process with fading & chalkiness setting in first. Lawn mower engine shrouds, belt covers, wheels ..and yes honda decks.. will follow this same path. Plastic is and always was designed to be disposable. Not my idea of a "durable" product. No quantum leap in education necessary - history has already taught us repeatedly what products last and what products don't. I am not a believer in the disposable generation, but to each thier own.

Have you went thru this process? (Note: you will need to get both the FULL model number and serial number off your tractor's I.D. plate): Here is a link that might be useful: Toro manuals/parts

Here's the parts breakdown http://www.odref.com/peerless/915-SERIES/915-915-020.PDF If you chose to change lube, the bentonite would need to be eradicated I'd think.

it is a 12 32xl model number 71188 serial number is 7902436. it is jacked up. you can turn each axle and they spin free of each other. as in. when you spin one wheel the other wheel does nothing. nor does the pulley. you can do this in all gears. you can start the motor and let out clutch and the pulley just spins free. no wheel movement. i was wondering where that cable from the shifter went. the only place i can find is on the clutch. i wondered if it went somewhere on the rearend and was needed to engage the trans. the weird thing is. before i put the belt on and when the trans was in gear. the pulley would only turn about a 1/4 inch each way. but in nuetral it would spin free. i had to have it nuetral to spin the belt on cause it would not spin free when it was in gear. once i got on the unit after putting on the belt. i started it an let out clutch and nothing. so i look down and see the pulley is spinning and the unit is not moving. no matter what gear i select. sorry about the model number being wrong. don't know what i was thinking. and thanks alot for the help.