Axle driving unit for a lawn tractor

An axle driving apparatus comprising:

• a housing for supporting an axle;
• a hydrostatic transmission including a hydraulic pump, a hydraulic motor, and a center section, wherein the pump, the motor and the center section are separably mounted within the housing;
• the pump having a pump shaft and a pump cylinder block rotatably integrated with the pump shaft;
• the motor having a motor shaft and a motor cylinder block rotatably integrated with the motor shaft, wherein the motor shaft is drivingly connected to the axle;
• the center section including:
• a first portion supporting the pump shaft, the first portion having first and second opposite surfaces, the first surface serving as a pump mounting surface for mounting the pump cylinder block thereon, and the pump shaft supported by the first portion being passed through the pump mounting surface;
• and
• a second portion expanded from the first portion in the direction perpendicular to the pump shaft and the motor shaft so as to support the motor shaft, the second portion having a motor mounting surface for mounting the motor cylinder block thereon, and the motor shaft supported by the second portion being passed through the motor mounting surface, wherein the pump mounting surface and the motor mounting surface are substantially perpendicular to each other, wherein the second portion is narrower than the pump mounting surface of the first portion in the axial direction of the motor shaft, wherein the pump shaft and the motor shaft are disposed perpendicular to each other so that respective axial extension lines of the pump shaft and the motor shaft do not intersect each other, and wherein a rotational axis of the motor shaft supported by the second portion is disposed within the distance between the first and second surfaces of the first portion.