Hydrostatic transaxle service

[Ausfahrt]

I recently obtained a Deere garden tractor with a non-operative transmission from a neighbor for free. Just what I needed.... another project.

I dove in and it turned out that it just needed a new filter and fresh oil! Right now it is all back together and after a few anxious moments where the tractor did nothing, I believe the air bled out of the system and forward and reverse travel slowly returned to normal. I mowed for about half an hour and it seems to work great.

Cost for parts from tuff-torq and synthetic oil came to about $50. I must give a

to Brian's mobile series of videos on youtube, I don't think that I would have attempted this without viewing them first. Here is a link to his first video.



And my pics, I thought I had a couple of when the hydro was apart but I can't find them.

 

[JTK]

Sweet!

A little Tufftorq K46?

If you catch them before they're too far gone, new oil can revive them for sure. That fan looks a little buggered. I'd probably swap that out and make sure to keep the underside blown off with a leaf blower.

 

[Ausfahrt]

Thanks, JTK. Yup it's a K46 and the fan is buggered.

I meant to replace it but I didn't. The tuff-torq website apparently automatically logs you out after about 15 minutes so I had to log back in and re-order the parts and forgot to add the fan back in.

I plan to take this tractor up to the cabin in Vermont this summer and will probably do this again in a few years....with a brand new fan!

 

[JTK]

That fan looks like it will still move air. Maybe stop and feel the transaxle case every so often when you use it at your property. It may cool just fine for your usage. Pretty common for the fans to get beat up by sticks, etc. Why it's important to check and blow the transaxle off after each mowing session.

 

[Colt45ws]

I have a tufftorq I need to pull and change the oil on. I meant to for a long time but just havent done it.

 

[Win]

Sort of related question (s):

When my S-10 was stolen, my JD Tractor with a Tuff Torg was blocking it in. The criminals used the truck to push the JD as a battering ram through the overhead door. I probably had the brake set on the JD.

The JD now has no forward or reverse drive.


question 1) it is possible it has just tossed the belt to the transmission?

questions 2) will I have to drop the transmission to replace the belt, if that is all it is?

question 3) if it's not the belt, what other bits would be suspect?

Assume my knowledge of these devices is zilch.

 

[Sayjac]

Nice work! Now you want to come change the oil (20w50) in the "lifetime" fluid Hydro-gear hydrostatic trans on my Ariens(AYP/Husq) ride on?

Just don't feel ambitious enough to tackle that one. But what a scam imo not to have a reasonable fluid change option on all hydrostatic trans units.

Planned obsolescence.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

They say on the hydro's, you should run the engine at high rpm, so the fan can keep the hydro cool.

Also is there a filter on this Hydrostat? My Cub Cadet(older model made by MTD) has a filter.

...and used Rotella 15w40 as the hydro fluid.

 

[Ausfahrt]

Originally Posted By: Win
Sort of related question (s):



question 1) it is possible it has just tossed the belt to the transmission?

questions 2) will I have to drop the transmission to replace the belt, if that is all it is?

question 3) if it's not the belt, what other bits would be suspect?

Assume my knowledge of these devices is zilch.


Not sure if this is directed at me since it was my first time working on one but I'll give it a shot.
1) That is certainly a possibility, especially if you had the brake set since that relaxes tension on the drive belt.
2) You do NOT need to drop the transaxle to replace the belt. Just lower the deck all the way and crawl under there with a flashlight, you should be able to see whats going on with the belt.
3) Don't know. Take a look at the videos that I linked in the first post and decide if you want to tackle this yourself.

 

[Ausfahrt]

Originally Posted By: Sayjac
Nice work! Now you want to come change the oil (20w50) in the "lifetime" fluid Hydro-gear hydrostatic trans on my Ariens(AYP/Husq) ride on?

Just don't feel ambitious enough to tackle that one. But what a scam imo not to have a reasonable fluid change option on all hydrostatic trans units.

Planned obsolescence.


Thanks.

Tuff-torq specs a 5w-50 full synthetic oil in their hydros but they ship them dry to the tractor mfrs and they are then often filled with generic conventional oil. The filter on mine was completely clogged and I had a lot of non-ferrous "mud" in the casing that I tried to clean out as best I could but I couldn't have gotten it all out.

I put in Mobil 1 15w-50 because I had it on hand in my stash.

 

[JTK]

Win, you probably should start your own thread for it, but your issue could be as simple as the bypass being set on your hydrostat. A linkage could be jammed, forcing it in bypass mode. Does the machine roll freely?

 

[clinebarger]

I have a 2008 LA125 with 65 hours on it that I bought new, How often do you change the Hydro Oil? I'm pretty sure it wasn't mentioned in the manual.

 

[NH73]

Originally Posted By: Sayjac
Nice work! Now you want to come change the oil (20w50) in the "lifetime" fluid Hydro-gear hydrostatic trans on my Ariens(AYP/Husq) ride on?

Just don't feel ambitious enough to tackle that one. But what a scam imo not to have a reasonable fluid change option on all hydrostatic trans units.

Planned obsolescence.


if you do get the ambition to change the fluid. I would use a full synthetic fluid. 15w50 would be like the synthetic equivalent of 20w50. But you could use 5w50 or even 5w40. I changed mine out with 15w50, as not to venture too far from the 20w50.

 

[mlatour]

I drained / re-filled my Cub Cadet K46 with Mobil 1 0W-40
after it's first mowing season (about 30 hours)

The tractor was also used to plow snow in freezing weather this winter,
despite the cold it made the K46 run even smoother than it did in summer temps.

 

[Sayjac]

Originally Posted By: NH73
Originally Posted By: Sayjac
Nice work! Now you want to come change the oil (20w50) in the "lifetime" fluid Hydro-gear hydrostatic trans on my Ariens(AYP/Husq) ride on?

Just don't feel ambitious enough to tackle that one. But what a scam imo not to have a reasonable fluid change option on all hydrostatic trans units.

Planned obsolescence.

if you do get the ambition to change the fluid. I would use a full synthetic fluid. 15w50 would be like the synthetic equivalent of 20w50. But you could use 5w50 or even 5w40. I changed mine out with 15w50, as not to venture too far from the 20w50.

Thanks for the suggestions. If I did, I was thinking I'd use a 20w50 synthetic like I used in my Road King when I owned it. But, 15w50 also sounds like a good option. As said though, not likely to happen. Perhaps with some help I 'might' consider it, but too much to tackle on my own.

 

[lexus114]

thinking about changing out my k46 oil with German Castrol 0W30. only because i have a stash of it left that i bought when i had my 2001 RX 300. im sure it will work well in there...

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: clinebarger
I have a 2008 LA125 with 65 hours on it that I bought new, How often do you change the Hydro Oil? I'm pretty sure it wasn't mentioned in the manual.

If your lawn is all sloped then now would be good. I read of some of these failing at not much over 100hrs. If its all flat then you can probably wait abit, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to get some good oil in there now.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: lexus114
thinking about changing out my k46 oil with German Castrol 0W30. only because i have a stash of it left that i bought when i had my 2001 RX 300. im sure it will work well in there...


Changed out my K46 when it had about 50 hours or so on it. Used Mobil 1 15w-50.

Made it MUCH quieter, seems perfect at 125 hours now...

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
I have a 2008 LA125 with 65 hours on it that I bought new, How often do you change the Hydro Oil? I'm pretty sure it wasn't mentioned in the manual.

If your lawn is all sloped then now would be good. I read of some of these failing at not much over 100hrs. If its all flat then you can probably wait abit, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to get some good oil in there now.


Agreed. 65hrs over 8yrs is crazy low usage, but if it's all on hills, pulling things, the operator is heavy, or the trans is covered with debris, these things will wear the unit and degrade the oil.

For normal use with one of these 'sealed' units, ~100hrs would be a good change point for the trans oil.

 

[Eddie]

I have a JD L111 with a hydr drive. Mower has 125 easy hours and I would like to change the fluid. At 78 years old, I can't do the trans removal and find it a very poor design that the fluid change can't be preformed without removing the unit. Ed