Harvest 1998 page

Updated 7/9/2000

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This is my newly acquired Ford LT110 lawn tractor. The LT110 was made between 8-1-78 and 12-31-81. When I purchased it, the front axle pivot and both front spindles were VERY worn. Cutting a straight line was tough!

Here's a side view showing the rear hitch point, PTO engage lever, and various other details.

This photo shows the front axle removed, and the tore up seat. The clutch/brake pedal rubber pad is a poor design, in my opinion. It's very easy to get it spun around which is disconcerting when your trying to stop quickly.

Here's a picture of the dashboard and gear pattern. The detents in the transmission are getting a little sloppy, but it doesn't jump out of gear. The lever on the right is for the mower deck height, and the pedal on the left is a combined clutch/brake setup. You can barely see it, but just above the pedal is the PTO engage lever for the mower deck.

The plate reads model 09JC3156, and the serial number is T16746. I've been told by one of the members of the Ford/Jacobsen mailing group I belong to that the model number can also be 53156, thus causing some confusion.

Here's a shot of the right side. The engine is a Briggs and Stratton model 252707, and is rated at 11HP. It has a "Synchro-balancer" and runs smooth for a single cylinder.

You can see the front end propped up on bricks when I was rebuilding the front end. The gas tank is in the front, just above the carburettor. The gas cap juts up through the hood.

Here's the first major thing I found wore out on the tractor. The steering is incredibly sloppy, so I pulled a wheel off and found this. Both spindles are worn, but the other isn't this bad. Unless I can find a new set soon, I'll be welding these up and getting them turned back to size along with a pair of new wheels.

The mower deck on this tractor has a really nice mount. With the flip of a little lever and some grunting, the deck slides right out. The red primer is where I welded the rear mounts as they were cracking around the deck. You can see the two front gauge wheel mounts, and the three rear guage wheels. The rears are adjustable, the front ones aren't.

Here's an upsidedown shot of the deck. It was caked with dirt and seems to still be in decent shape. I'll definitely keep it clean to keep it from dying soon. The three blade spindles have grease zerks reachable by flipping the deck over. It's good to grease them when sharpening the blades. You can see the two wide front rollers and three small rear rollers.

Here's a picture showing the bronze bushings that I had made and installed in the front axle pivot. I plan to drill a hole and put a grease zerk that feeds to the small area between the bushings. Easier maintenance that way.

The new front axle pivot pin was made out of "Stressproof" steel which is designed to be tough without being brittle. It'll handle the shock loads of hitting bumps without breaking.

When I tried to knock out the roll pins that attach the steering arms to the spindles, I had to resort to using an air hammer with this modified bit to remove them. A sledge and a big punch wouldn't budge 'em.

Update 7/4/2000: Back in late May, the tractor suddenly wouldn't shift out of gear. After tearing down the transaxle, I found this nice gear (notice the missing bits) and found out that neither of the ball detents for the shift forks had any springs.

After getting new parts I had to make my own gaskets because they were no longer available through Ford. The local NAPA store had the exact thickness gasket material in a roll and it worked perfectly. It took about three hours to put it all back together and into the tractor. I made sure to fill the tranny with 90w oil, as it appears that it had been run dry by one of the previous owners. Note the prerequisite Mt. Dew before starting the project.

Here's my wife cuttin' the grass with the LT110 the day the transaxle was fixed. Next up, new blades and replace all the blade spindle bearings.

Update 8/11/2000: All the origional tie rod ends were pretty much wore out and I discovered that the local NAPA dealer had part# 732-1133 which is a nice, heavy duty tie rod end that replaces the stock units nicely and has the correct threads. After replacing all four, and getting one new tire, the steering is much improved.

Update 8/20/2000: S'pose it's time for new mower blades? I bought a new set of blades and boy does the mower deck cut better now. It really vacuums the grass and cuts a lot cleaner.