when shifting these,------- be SUPER gentle with them!!! They are VERY easily broken cause they are poorly made!!!!!
dont have time right now to mess with taking anything apart.
I ordered a new fork from Hamilton Bob's should be here in a day or two.
When I got the top off and started to look at things the first thing I noticed was the bolt that the fork is held in place with was loose. Then when I started to feel around the part I found that the fork was broken on the (from the back of the tractor was my vantage point) right side of the band just past my line of site on the 4 o'clock position. It was broke clear across. Is this a common location for the failure?
My first thought, maybe I could weld it and then machine it back to it's proper shape. But I desided not to. One of the two ears that makes the nook for the shifter handle ball had the slightest of a bend in it, so I placed a screw in it and tweaked it back about 1/8" when I did that I heard the sound of metal making that micro cracking noise. It was at that point I said "nope". I believe that this little 154 has been gone through befor and a lot of work money and possibly love went into it at some point in its past life. There are a lot of new old stock parts and new parts that I have found signs of.
This shift fork may have been one of them. The metal in the fork I think wasn't tempered correctly. For that ear to make that sound says it'd extremely hard. I have looked at pictures of the original forks and they have been heat treated you can see. These original parts had spot treatment areas you could see that the metal was a slightly different color. The one that is broken is all one color throughout the entire peice. So unlike the old original forks that had targeted specific points to guard against wear and tear. The new manufacturing process tempers the entire piece the same. Or at least that is my assumption from studying things over. For a part to be durable it would have to be made so certain areas would be harder than others for good wear capability and longevity. And the opposite would be true you would need softer areas where things would have to flex and move without breaking when tightening. So my opinion is this clutch fork was replaced in the not so distant past and the part wasn't up to standard.
There was a gentleman here who said that it may be possible to slide the shift fork pins back into the housing. I did as he suggested and got a shop manual and have been studying it. In the section that shows the 154 number series it dosn't show the entire exploded view like the earlier model further on in the manual. The 154 dosn't show the left side end of the shift fork pin like the earlier depiction dose. In the earlier depiction if shows that the pin can slide into the differential housing. My question is did they chang the transmission all that much from then to the number 154 series? Or is it prity much the same gearbox with the bolt on parts being modified?
Thank you to all that have been contributing to the thread. I appreciate it.
On a different note. Have any of you guys ever hered of "Almost Heaven Lawnmower Grave Yard" in Bluffton Indiana? I just want to say that I have had a bad experience with them here lately. I guess the business has changed ownership from one generation to the next and it isn't a good change. Along time ago I went there and I will admit it was different but ok. You could ask a simple question like " Do you have this model of tractor?" Let's say a Craftsman 1000. And you got a yes or no and that was it. Understandable answer. They are a "pic a part" yard.
Now if you ask that same question you get nothing but an attitude and mean behavior leading up to brash, insulting and abusive verbal treatment. He will go as far as to say to you "I will continue to rest you".
Just thought I would share with you my experience. I used to tell everyone I talked to that would ask me if I had a part or if I knew where they could find a used what ever about this place. NEVER again. There is no reason for this behavior.
I hope this helps others avoid a bad interaction and save them some time. I will say if it's a last ditch attempt to fix your machine then I will be honest and say you would have a good chance at finding a part there they have Acers of parts. But I would make it my last choice. Ther is no excuse for this kind of behavior and treatment of there costumers.
Thanks again everyone.
Cliff.
