water in rear end

[Charrie 18]

Hi all.

I recently acquired a 1985 Wheel Horse 416-8 with the Kohler engine on it. PO said it had been parked under a cover for a few years. It shows some weather mild weather damage but can be cleaned up.

Haven't tired to start it yet. PO said he parked it at the end of the season and it wouldn’t start next spring. He did a little work and then acquired a new mower.

We drained the rear end and a lot of clear water came out at first, at least a qt. After the water came some black looking oil. After draining I put in 2 qts of store brand motor oil that was in shed and turned the wheels by hand. Also before the shiftier was a bit hard to change gears but now it seems to work great.

 

What should I do from here?

I read a post to flush with kerosene and another where someone disassembled the rear end and cleaned everything. The latter is probably the best way to go but I wanted to get some opinions.

I did replace a rear axle seal on my 520h and this 416-8 has a leaking seal.

 

Working on building a new storage building but at the moment I really don’t have a good place to disassemble the rear axle. When I was younger my dad taught me how to rebuild small engines but I have always been intimidated by transmissions.

 

Thanks 

Charrie