Tranny parts needed!

[Teddo 6]

Greetings Everyone.  

 

I find myself unfortunately in a position many of you have been in: dealing with the dreaded hi-lo shift fork, so I just joined this forum so I could pass on my frustration.  I have a 78 C-121 which has a 103916 8 speed tranny.  I used the low range multiple times last summer pulling my boat in and out of the garage.  Never an issue. Last December we had a 2' snowstorm when the Horse quit.  Thought it was a head gasket but it turned out to be a stuck exhaust valve.  I parked it in the barn and went to Florida til May1st.  I just finished the total rebuild of the Kohler and it now runs great.  As I was doing the break-in run, I tried to put it in LO and was unsuccessful.  I tried several times after rocking it back and forth with no success so I hung it up, cussed a few times at the Horse and put it away.  I don't know what caused it but rather than damaging it anymore, I figured I was going to have to split the case.  So I'm looking for parts and this is where I get frustrated.

 

First, I thank everyone for all the knowledge they've shared on this site.  I've spent hours reading and watching repair vids whether or not they pertain to me.  I just love the "mechanics" of it all.  Thanks, @stevasaurus for all your work recording transmission teardowns.  Excellent work.  Looks like I’ll be watching those again.  My frustrations as I look for parts for the tranny teardown are availability of parts.  I've read many posts that say to just buy new parts but they were posted around 2018.  I’ve found a seal kit at Wheelhorse containing 4 seals: 2 for the axles, one for the input and one for the brake shaft.  Cost of 50 bucks.  Is this for real?  I tried finding each one separately and found the cost to be nearly the same.  Any ideas or responses?  Is this what seals cost these days? 

 

I also need the hi/lo shift fork which I cannot find anywhere, except used on ebay.  I see no sense in replacing broken parts with used ones if given the choice.  Are there no aftermarket manufacturers making these shift forks or am I just not seeing the sites online? I see no support of any kind from Toro.  No offering of parts for older machines or a suggestion of where to find them.    Can anyone direct me to somewhere I can purchase a new shift fork?

[Terry M-(Moderator) 2,211]

https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/forum/155-classifieds/
 

I’m sure others will chime in…but we have a classifieds section for selling and wanted..

good place to start.😎

[Pullstart 65,632]

, nice ride Michigander!

[8ntruck 7,602]

. Repeating what Kevin wrote, from another Michigander.

 

Toro does still have some Wheel Horse parts.  Unfortunately, they recently took down the parts web site for Wheel Horse parts.  You might have some luck in visiting your local Toro dealer and asking them to look up the part.  They will need the model and serial numbers for your tractor to help look the part up.  Toro is pretty proud price wise for OEM parts. 

[953 nut 59,111]

Today it seem that nobody has parts support for older equipment, just a throwaway society. We do have a vendor that sells good used Wheel Horse parts and may be able to help, give Lincoln a call, https://www.a-ztractor.com/

As for the seals you can get the seals from Lowell https://wheelhorsepartsandmore.com/product/oil-seal-kit-1/ for about half the price and he also has the gasket and other supplies like bearings and a shift lever boot you may need.

Edited yesterday at 11:03 AM by 953 nut

[stevasaurus 23,213]

Check out this post from one of my transmissioon threads.  This thread may help you also.

 

[Teddo 6]

Well, here's the progress I made:  I managed to find seals at several locations but could only find used shifting forks.  Then I thought about what 8ntruck said about Toro dealers may having something laying around.  It reminded me of another vintage project I did where a dealership had a part I needed stashed in the warehouse so I called a local deal and he gave me a list of dealers around the country that may have a fork somewhere.  The first one was only an hour to the south.  I called and low and behold, he had one.  So I shot down there today and picked it up.  He also had the axle seals, brake shaft seal, input shaft seal and case gasket.  So it was a productive day and I spent under a hundred bucks for everything.  Thanks for the quick response, everyone.

 

I think I'm going to get some other projects out of the way before I attack the beast.  Between the Kohler rebuild and the research on the tranny, I've eaten up a bit of time.  Thanks, stevasaurus, for the information. You have helped many Horse owners.   I have studied your tranny rebuild videos several times already just to see if I wanted to tackle the job.  IThey are in my email files so I can get to them easily.   Being  quite mechanically apt I think I can get the job done.  I study those "who have gone before me" to avoid pitfalls that can be avoided.  Thank you all.  Since I know everyone likes pics, I'll try and document the job!

  

[Ed Kennell 41,270]

On 6/11/2025 at 8:40 PM, Teddo said:

I tried to put it in LO and was unsuccessful.  I tried several times after rocking it back and forth with no success so I hung it up,

I had one 8 speed where I had to put a washer under the shift lever to keep the shaft raised a bit to engage properly.