How to Grease a Lawn-Boy/Toro Three Speed Transmission

This is how to re-Grease the gears inside the Toro/Lawn-Boy Three speed transmission. This will work on all Toro awn mowers as well as a Lawn-Boy lawn mowers that have the three speed transmission. This will help pro-long the life of these wonderful transmission

[@danielrobert7181]

A few years back, faced with the same problem, I decided to entirely dissasemble the transmission and wheel gears. Totally useless and aggravating process. I can vouch by experience that the 2 essential transmission maintenance steps are indeed oiling up the control cable and replacing the grease in the transmission casing. Thanks for informing the LawnBoy /Toro community.

[@lawnboyR]

You are welcome Daniel!

[@mikemorgan5015]

Good job! For your next birthday or Christmas ask for, or just go purchase a parts cleaner with solvent pump and brush. You'll wonder how you lived without one.
You ran into the same issue I had years ago with one of these. Stiff shifting. Took the axle and transmission completely apart, washed all the grease out with solvent, cleaned everything lubed, reassembled and repacked with grease, no change. Argh! It was the shift cable. shot some WD40 down from the top and kept working it until clean and smooth. Now, I just add WD40 to the cables with my 25hr service list. I haven't had issues with any cables since. ATF/acetone are really good to, but I had mine in a glass jar and dropped it. WD works fine. I'm sure any lube or penetrating oil would work as well.
While it is a royal pain in the backside, I eventually get around to each of my transmissions about every 5 years. I'll do one or two a year. I pull the axle and clean and relube the axle where the wheels mount along with pulling the ratchet keys that drive the pinion gear that mesh with the gears on the wheels. I'm finally going to upgrade some, if not all, of my self propelled models with the steel commercial wheels this summer. They aren't cheap, so I hope they last. I like the old school slick tires better, even though the new ones have better traction. Anyone with links to the old slick wheels with the drive gear, please let me know with a reply.

[@lawnboyR]

Here is a link to the tires that would have come on the mower: www.ebay.com/itm/281881582187?hash=item41a1739a6b:g:FBMAAOSwvENcD9fS
Another option that I have heard people say is, getting Toro super recycler wheels because they have ruber on the outside instead of just smooth plastic.

[@masonbarto4003]

Great video man glad to see these lawn boy lawnmowers stilll getting worked on

[@lawnboyR]

Thank you very much!

[@ivantruckman1]

Nice very helpful

[@lawnboyR]

Thank you

[@DevonFerguson.]

Thanks for sharing, I’ll do this to my toro with a 2 cycle Suzuki engine. The selector is just sticks out the back of the trans, I think you just slide it with your foot.

[@lawnboyR]

Glad I could help!

[@mattfoley6082]

I have this model. Wheels stopped turning in all gears. After hours of diagnosis I finally traced the problem. The gearbox's left bushing for the driveshaft is worn and the bushing's hole is enlarged about 1/4", allowing the gearbox to move and therefore the gears to disengage. I don't know why the bushing has so much wear; possibly the shaft has rust where it enters the gearbox. Something to keep in mind during maintenance.

[@lawnboyR]

Very good point thank you!

[@mattfoley6082]

@@lawnboyR Just noticed something else looking at parts diagram: there's a felt washer and lock washer around the driveshaft on left wheel side, against the gearbox. (Right side at 3:40 of video, washers are not visible.). I believe this is to keep crud out of the gearbox. My felt washer was severely worn so this is probably what caused my bushing to wear out causing loss of gears.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I NEVER maintained or even looked at my transmission before I had problems.

[@mattfoley6082]

Update: upon disassembly I noticed one of the two key shifts was broken. The key shifts are moved by the yoke; they engage with each gear and they are what give the "click" feeling when you shift into each gear. Without them the gears can't turn the wheels.

[@mattfoley6082]

Update: I replaced the one gearbox bushing (left side) and the one key shift in the gearbox. Success! I now have all 3 gears again! Now my problem is my wheels are all wobbly because the center holes are worn. New 8" rear wheels part #92-1042 are over $60 each! I can't justify that expense. Any suggestions for repairing or cheaper replacements?

[@mattfoley6082]

Update: The wheels centers have bushings. I went to Lowes and bought steel spacers. 1/2" ID x 5/8" OD by 1.5" long. I cut them to length and filed. They fit perfectly inside the wheels and around the bolt. No more wheel wobble.

[@mikehrdlicka8635]

I have had more issue with the shift cable needing to be lubricated

[@johnlong9494]

Can someone explain the trick of using the air compressor to force oil down the cable jacket?

[@lawnboyR]

The oil will not usually work it’s way all the way down the cable especially if there is rust in it. The compressor forces the oil all the way down to the end. All you do is hold your blow nozzle to the and of the cable and make a seal with your fingers.

[@therandomman6647]

Mine is making a whining noise, is this normal?

[@lawnboyR]

I would add some geese to it. My grandparents mower makes a whining noise as well so I’m not sure what exactly causes it.

[@therandomman6647]

@lawn boy R8237 I figured it out, if you take the gears out, two washers should be back to back, remember to check diagrams!