How Tough Are Countax Lawn Mower / Tractors?

[Renovation]

I bought a Countax 400 with hydrostatic gearbox with my house.

I haven't had a ride on mower before.

I used it to tow a load of conifer branches to the fire area (300m) but it occurred to me that it probably wasn't designed to do such things.

A google reveals the gearboxes are the weak link but how weak are they ?

To give an idea of the load, I could physically pull the branches myself - but I couldn't repeatedly do so.

Am I likely to be ok to carry on ?

Edited by Renovation on Sunday 6th April 22:20

[davidd]

Renovation said:

I bought a Countax 400 with hydrostatic gearbox with my house.

I haven't had a ride on mower before.

I used it to tow a load of conifer branches to the fire area (300m) but it occurred to me that it probably wasn't designed to do such things.

A google reveals the gearboxes are the weak link but how weak are they ?

To give an idea of the load, I could physically pull the branches myself - but I couldn't repeatedly do so.

Am I likely to be ok to carry on ?

Edited by Renovation on Sunday 6th April 22:20

I'd say if it is not slipping you should be ok. I was using mine to try and tension a zipline at the weekend. It pulled a little way then stopped so I gave up and was probably having the same thought as you. I have used it to tow a lot of trailer loads of logs about which it does not seem to have an issue with.

[Murph7355]

I think you'll notice if it starts to slip so just pack in when it does for the first time and I suspect you'll be OK

I have a C600 and it takes a lot of abuse (it regularly carries 18st of human on it as well as a couple of hundred litres of wet grass etc etc).

[TVR keith]

I have no idea what model it was but I saw an old Westwood at a caravan dealer with a 50mm ball front and rear (and a couple of 25 litre water bottles on the front for ballast) for moving caravans about their display area.
Don't think you intend to move anything that heavy

[S1_RS]

I have a C400 with the gearbox renowned for failure, TuffTorque T55. Symptoms are that as the oil in the box warms up you gradually lose drive, hills become a struggle and eventually lose all drive. I've just paid £375 for a recon box which seems to work ok but it will always be a weak link. Advice is to replace the oil using a quality fuly synth.

No doubt the recon box won't last as long as the box did from new so the old one will be refurbed in preparation.

As for using the law mower as a tractor, I looked into buying trailers etc for it, ended up buying a knackered Land Rover for garden duties, we have just under 2 acres.

Edited by S1_RS on Tuesday 8th April 09:01

[blueST]

There is a guy on eBay selling Tuff Torque upgrade kits from America. You get a T66. Colonel Roger or something. Anyway, they are over a grand so I lost interest but might be worth a look for the OP.

[S1_RS]

blueST said:

There is a guy on eBay selling Tuff Torque upgrade kits from America. You get a T66. Colonel Roger or something. Anyway, they are over a grand so I lost interest but might be worth a look for the OP.

I priced up the upgrade from a UK place, came out to just over £800 with the vat. Speaking to other people they said the conversion wasn't straight forward and extra bits like different pulleys may need to be sourced to get it to work properly.

All the parts are available to rebuild the T55, just no new complete units available. I will be stripping my spare box down soon so I can order exactly what's needed.

[RedLeicester]

It's a small lawn mower, and will tow a small trailer and that isn't going to kill it.

[Renovation]

S1_RS said:

Symptoms are that as the oil in the box warms up you gradually lose drive

Advice is to replace the oil using a quality fuly synth.

ended up buying a knackered Land Rover for garden duties, we have just under 2 acres.

Thanks - I had no slip that I'm aware of.

Presumably ATF ?

The problem with using a car is the weight - currently my cars are leaving deep ruts in the lawn - the mower doesn't leave a mark

[Bill]

You could try dropping the tyre pressures in the car, assuming they're not run flats or very low profile, but my C400 tows all sorts on my fairly hilly garden.

[S1_RS]

Renovation said:

Thanks - I had no slip that I'm aware of.

Presumably ATF ?

The problem with using a car is the weight - currently my cars are leaving deep ruts in the lawn - the mower doesn't leave a mark

It's not ATF, it's engine oil, can't remember the exact spec but a quick google will bring it up. There are various C400 models so if your gearbox appears ok then maybe you don't have the problematic T55. Take some photos of your gearbox and then google T55 and compare them. If it is a T55 then I'd be careful how much strain you put it under, maybe give it an oil change before putting it under excess stress. How old is your mower?

[andy43]

8 year old C600 with a tufftorque here - it is the weak point.
I have a trailer for it, and it's moved a good 1/4 tonne or more of concrete blocks, 1/4 of a bulk bag of sand, logs, all sorts. All well outside any design specs it would have been built for.
As already said caravan parks do use them to shift the stock around, but I suspect they're disposable near-end-of-life machines they've got for next to nothing.
Mine seems fine so far, but I did have the 'box oil changed last year (it's first proper dealer service in 8 years) as I was getting a little bit of slip after 45 mins of hot weather mowing last summer. If it stops raining and gets hot this year I'll find out if the new oil has helped.

[bcgoodall]

My garden is quite flat and I have towed some large loads behind my Countax 600 (bonnet says 400). Today I was able to gingerly tow a 750KG chipper. The grass was wet so there was wheel spin which may have protected the cluch and gearbox. whilst opperating the chipper i detached the tow to reduce any additonal load. Another gold star for the countax mower.. which also mows pretty well.
Ben

[Snow and Rocks]

We had an old single cylinder C300 when I was growing up that I subjected to ridiculous levels of abuse - imagine a 12 year old rallying it around up and down slopes that I now struggle to walk up, towing endless overloaded trailers that were far too big, offroading including a crossing a stream and attempting to tow out stumps. Somehow the hydrostatic box survived and it lasted to be at least 20 years old.

Around the time I left home it was replaced with a new one complete with twin cylinder Honda engine that was much better - smooth, more powerful and much more economical. Sadly it was fitted with the tuff torque box and barely lasted 5 years with my parents now mowing much more carefully.

They've replaced it with a big Ariens Zenith zero turn that absolutely flies around and seems built like a tank - probably a good thing that I didn't have access to it back then!