Hi guys, Here is an update which may be of use for future reference to anyone who stumbles across this post. My youngest son turned up today and the first thing he said when he got out of the car was "where did you get the Toro mower" So after I pick my jaw up off the ground I ducked down the back shed where I remember having a Toro Recycler. (another freebee waiting for attention.) Flipped it over and the transmission and setup is pretty much identical. Looks like this thing is an unbranded version of the Toro frame and transmission, or at the very least a cheap copy of one.
The bearing in question is 12mm inside diam, 32mm outer and 14mm wide. Quick lookup on a bearing cross reference chart shows the number is 62201RS available anywhere for around 15 bucks.
Looking further and the whole transmission is available for under $100 from the usa. (includes delivery)
A transmission gear kit is available for about 40 bucks on ebay. 13 available/17 sold just on one seller gives an indication of its reliability or, giving it the benefit of the doubt, an indication of how common it is.
The bearing failure seems to be a common problem given it could not be in a worse environment. When I pulled the old bearing off the shaft it was caked with grit, grass and dirt between the rollers.
Will order a new bearing and put this transmission back together out of curiosity. (resisting the temptation to just swap it out with the Toro in the shed as it seems ok at a quick glance). Might try adding a rubber cap around the shaft, pushed down as close as possible to the case to add and extra layer of protection which should prevent at least some of the dust and grit from getting into bearing via the space between the shaft and case. (Also probably a good idea to rip the cover off these things once in a while and give the gears a clean and re-grease.)
Hopefully will find some time to put it back together soon and will then post the result and pics.
