Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
ralphxyz

Snapper Rear Engine Drive Disc Replacement?

ralphxyz
12 years ago

I have been using my Snapper with the "bulldozer" blade and now the drive is slippiing.

I ordered replacement disc and received third party replacement parts not Snapper?

The parts I received have a "Drive Disc Lining".

It is a semi rigid strip 1" wide x 16" long about 3/8" longer than the outside diameter of the Driven Cup and Hub.

It has green paper on both sides.

1st question:

Do I remove the paper? It does not peel off easily!

2nd question:

Since the ID of the new Friction Ring (drive disc) is larger than the original will I have to adjust the motor disc or anything?

3rd question:

How do you replace the drive disc assemble?

A step by step would be appreciated.

4th question:

since the length of the drive disc liner is longer than the circumference how do I cut the liner.

I wish the parts house had said that they were only selling third party replacement parts I might have tried to get original Snapper parts.

Thank you for the help.

Ralph

Comments (15)

  • rustyj14
    12 years ago

    I have a Snapper riding mower made around 1982-3. I bought the whole driven wheel with the lining already glued on it. It had the inner brake lining on it, too, but i had to remove it to make it work. The strip you mentioned is probably the outer liner that contacts the driven disc on the bottom of the crank-shaft. You shouldn't have to remove the aluminum driven disc from the bottom end of the crank-shaft. That disc screws onto an adapter that in turn is held onto the bottom of the crankshaft, with 2 allen screws. If you do remove it, before doing so---carefully measure from the underside of the area where the engine sits, down to the bottom of the aluminum disc. This is very important, and you shouldn't have to remove the aluminum drive disc to replace the driven/drive wheel! Remember the measurement, and adjust the spacing accordingly. Some other learned soul will be able to tell you the exact measurement, i seem to have forgotten what it is.
    Also, if you ever have to remove the engine, that drive disc will come out with the engine.
    I would say, if the new disc doesn't have the lining strip around the outside of it, that strip you mentioned should have a peel-off covering that will have to be removed, so the sticky side of the strip will adhere to the disc. The edge should be cleaned well, with laquer thinner, or alcohol, allowed to dry, and then the composition strip can be glued on it. Be careful when gluing it, to get it straight. I would cut it to the correct length before removing the covering, if it needs to be cut. I would think the drive strip could be cut with a razor blade or exacto knife. Or maybe, Granny's prize scissors! ;0)

  • walt2002
    12 years ago

    Hmm, never saw a liner that required gluing into the drive wheel of a Snapper RER. Liners fit tight and the one you have should go in but you have to have it just right all the way around then work it in. IF it had a sticky side, you never would get it in. On the other hand, never say a liner with paper on either side.

    Walt Conner

  • rustyj14
    12 years ago

    Walt: My driven disc has the lining glued on the outside of the disc, not the inside. This disc is driven by the aluminum disc that is on the crankshaft lower end. RJ

  • walt2002
    12 years ago

    "My driven disc has the lining glued on the outside of the disc, not the inside. This disc is driven by the aluminum disc that is on the crankshaft lower end"

    I have never heard of such a thing and do not believe that is as it should be but will certainly check.

    Walt Conner

  • mownie
    12 years ago

    Rusty, what you are calling the liner IS NOT the actual liner in this thread.
    The rubber you are thinking of is what I (and some others) call the "driven disc tire".
    The actual "liner" goes INSIDE the driven disc HUB.

  • rustyj14
    12 years ago

    Gee, fellers--i hate to argue wwith ya, but my really, really old Snapper RER has a friction tire glued on the OUTSIDE of the steel, driven disc! When i bought the new DRIVEN steel disc, it had the "tire" already glued on the OUTSIDE of the disc/wheel! The tire contacts the aluminum "drive disc" that screws onto the adapter on the bottom end of the crank-shaft, which in turn, is held onto the crank-shaft with two allen screws. In case the need arises that the adapter needs to be adjusted, a really long allen wrench can be stuck thru the big holes in the back plate of the chassis, to loosen/ tighten that adapter!
    My newer type driven wheel disc came with a brake shoe that was to go inside the wheel, but my older machine had a different type of brake, so i couldn't use it!
    A friendly note to Walt, and others: When working on those older Snappers, and probably the newer ones too, the words and things we say about other, more convential machines--do not necessarily apply to the Snapper RER's! Those machines live in a world of their own! Although, i have seen examples of that disc drive in snow-blowers, and others, Snappers hold the high range of odd-ball methods of propulsion. I have been given Snapper RERS by folks who just couldn't grasp the whole thing, especially the disc drive, etc. They have also been scared off by the tendency to "REAR UP" when starting up a steep incline, with a full bag on the back! I'll admit--it is rather startling when they do that, but it has never rolled over in any direction for me. The only thing that keeps a lawn tractor from doing that trick, is the weight of the engine in the front, and heavy wheels, axles, and frame! Get one sideways on a steep bank, and you'll be wearing it, on yer chest. And you will have Craftsman imprinted on yer fore-head! Cheers: Rusty Jones
    A side note to Walt: If the guy glues the friction strip inside that disc, he'll just have to sit there and watch the grass grow!

  • walt2002
    12 years ago

    "A friendly note to Walt, and others: When working on those older Snappers, and probably the newer ones too, the words and things we say about other, more convential machines--do not necessarily apply to the Snapper RER's! Those machines live in a world of their own!"

    Rusty, I have the greatest respect for your age and what you do BUT, I specialize in buying, repairing and reselling Snapper RERs for a number of years when it was profitable. What you describe MAY be one of the really, really old, 50 year old or so Snappers with the weird drive deal which I never had, BUT it does not describe the Snapper RERs made in the last 40 years.

    "A side note to Walt: If the guy glues the friction strip inside that disc, he'll just have to sit there and watch the grass grow!"

    Well in the first place I said I never heard of gluing the liner anywhere and secondly, Rusty, you are mistaken, the liner better be on the inside of the disc IF it is a "Soft Start" clutch or it will not work otherwise if it does not have the "Soft Start" clutch, it doesn't need a liner at all.

    Walt Conner

  • rustyj14
    12 years ago

    Well---Rusty Jones bows to those who are smarter than him!
    You fellers can glue the liner/tire/disc, wherever ya want to glue it
    anywhere at all will do! I have tried to help, but i quess my aging brain is getting fuzzy!
    So, as soon as the grass dries up, i'll climb on my old Snapper Hi-vac Rider, with the rubber strip glued on the outer rim of the driven disc, and mow away!
    Hopefully cooler heads will prevail. I think the various descriptions of the various discs, and glued on strips, has somehow gotten all kerbolixed, so i quit! No, not forever--just the arguments about Snapper RER's!

  • walt2002
    12 years ago

    "Rusty, what you are calling the liner IS NOT the actual liner in this thread.
    The rubber you are thinking of is what I (and some others) call the "driven disc tire".
    The actual "liner" goes INSIDE the driven disc HUB."

    Mownie tried to explain to you that you were thinking of the rubber tire on the outside of the driven wheel while we are talking about the fiber, brake fiber type, liner that goes inside the rim of the driven wheel of "Soft Start" Snapper RERs. You obviously have a standard drive clutch, not "Soft start". All this being illustrated by your last post which said,

    " i'll climb on my old Snapper Hi-vac Rider, with the rubber strip glued on the outer rim of the driven disc, and mow away!"

    And who ever hear of buying the rubber tire separate and gluing it on a rim? Where the heck do you get a rubber tire? My guess is you make your own. Good for you.

    Walt Conner

  • rustyj14
    12 years ago

    When i bought the replacement disc, with the rubber on the outside of the flange, that was how they were supplied. And, that was 10 or so years ago. There was also an inner liner, that the shop said was the brake strip. They also said i might have to remove it, which i shortly found that i had to do. My machine has a small brake shoe inside the tin disc, which rubs against the inner edge of that flange.
    Evidently, i have been misinformed as to which "sticky" everybody is referring to. So now, i apologize to Walt and anybody else with whom i have hollered about it. I admit i was wrong, but only because i was talking about something that had evidently been dis-continued long after my antique machine was built!
    Sorry about the trouble, and i shall be more circumspect in any future correspondence!
    Yours: Rusty Jones

  • walt2002
    12 years ago

    Rusty, nothing to apologize for. As I said before, I have the utmost respect for you, just a misunderstanding of what was being discussed. The driven wheel with the rubber tire on the outside AND a fiber "brake band" sort of thing on the inside is more prevalent now then ever with most Snapper RERs being equipped with them. They are NOT a brake band as you were told, they are the "slip/friction" component of the newer "Soft Start" clutch.

    Walt Conner

  • rustyj14
    12 years ago

    Thanks, Walt: I stand corrected!
    Rusty Jones

  • ralphxyz
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Well six years later I am doing it again!! The drive wheel is about a inch and a half wide wide. I just looked quickly so I'll get some pictures of it before I replace the wheel, possible I will have to replace the bolts. I sure have gotten a lot of work done with this mower. There was a electrical problem two years ago that almost had me ready to replace it. It took a Snapper dealer's mechanic three months to fix the electrical problem. It worked for a year and now it does not shut off when I turn the key I have to choke it to kill the motor.

    Hopefully the nuts just came loose.

    Ralph

  • ralphxyz
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Well it looks like I have a bigger problem.

    I changed the driven wheel, since I had one on hand but that does not help, I still have no forward or reverse.

    Possible I will have to lower the drive wheel, the one on the motor.

    So anyone have step by step on how to lower the drive wheel?

    I have seen it said there were two allen head screws, all I can feel is one.

    How do you move the drive wheel down. How do you measure how far you might have moved it?

    Sure need some help with this.

    Thanks,

    Ralph

  • ralphxyz
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Certainly had a bigger problem.

    I found this on the ground a couple of weeks ago:

    I wondered where it came from, it definitely was snapper Red so I figured it came off the mower.

    Now I know where it came from and why I have no forward or reverse.

    I ground it down and put a 5/16th bolt in it that I had on hand.

    I will order new ones.

    Ralph

Sponsored
Nehemiah Construction LLC
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars66 Reviews
Your DMV Visionary Design-Build Studio