[Carl_NH]

Have an 1811 S/N 770-769 a late 1988 vintage I think (Mfg Date K2117G) I traded up from my 1250 in Sept 1989. In any event, my 1250 had a tiller that was adapted to the 1811 and the dealer used the same rear plate attached to the transaxle to mount the bits and pieces.

I used this tiller in the early 90's to rototill in our rocky area and the bolts came loose damaging the threads in the bottom of the transaxle. (I no longer use the tiller as I have other tools now) I have replaced the rear gasket 2-3 times using some longer bolts and lots of gasket cement but over time towing attachments these come loose and it starts to seep Hyd fluid.

It appears the bottom outer rear cover bolt holes could be drilled and tapped completely through providing more material to secure the cover - has anyone done this?

My hitch plate (from the 1250) also attaches to the rear transaxle which ultimately is the cause of the leakage today due to towing a Trac Vac so if there are options to adapt a better more rigid hitch setup that would be preferred - I dont know if there is a alternate hitch that bolts to the frame or to the side mounting holes which would alleviate this problem?

The Trac Vac Model 580 tongue weight when loaded is at least 100Lbs so I rigged a chain from the trac vac tongue to the rear hyd lift (also taken from the 1250) to float the hitch which takes the vertical stress off the hitch.

Any ideas and suggestions for mounting the hitch and drilling/tapping the two outer most transmission case holes are appreciated.

Carl