Hydrostatic transmissions

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My next door neighbor is a single mom who struggles to get by. I fix leaky faucets, hang ceiling fans, and install garage door openers for her. She is also my wife's best friend and a second wife to me sans benefits.
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She has a John Deere L110 lawn tractor with a hydrostatic trans that will not move. It makes a faint whining noise when the gas pedal is mashed but that is all. There does not appear to be a user accessible way to check the oil level in the rear trans unit and I know absolutely nothing about it.

Her tractor is in my garage and I would really like to give her an answer that does not include "take it to the shop".

Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
Have you checked the metal rod that you pull so you can push the mower and the brake cable??

The push lever was stuck in the push only position on my craftsman last year and did similar things to that one.
 
Originally Posted By: Brenden
Have you checked the metal rod that you pull so you can push the mower and the brake cable??

The push lever was stuck in the push only position on my craftsman last year and did similar things to that one.


+1 Similar problem. I gave myself a dope slap after an hour of investigating the mower. Eliminate the obvious before you go about looking at the transmission
 
Try a search for TuffTorq K46. More than likely that's what it's got.

Like said above, check the bypass rod first to make sure it's not pulled out. You should be able to roll the tractor freely if the hydro bypass is engaged.

You can remove the seat pan to gain access to the top vent cap to add oil, but there's no real way to check oil level aside from tip it over and dump out what's in there.

How old is it? Lots of hours? Lots of use on inclines?

Often they die an early death because of broken cooling fans and/or plugged cooling fins.

Have you verified it's not a linkage issue? Have someone work the pedal while you watch it actuate at the drive.

Joel
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: JTK
Try a search for TuffTorq K46. More than likely that's what it's got.

Like said above, check the bypass rod first to make sure it's not pulled out. You should be able to roll the tractor freely if the hydro bypass is engaged.

You can remove the seat pan to gain access to the top vent cap to add oil, but there's no real way to check oil level aside from tip it over and dump out what's in there.

How old is it? Lots of hours? Lots of use on inclines?

Often they die an early death because of broken cooling fans and/or plugged cooling fins.

Have you verified it's not a linkage issue? Have someone work the pedal while you watch it actuate at the drive.

Joel


Good info.

The bypass rod is not the issue although I wish that it was!

The tractor is is about 6-8 years old and has 202 hours. We are in Florida and there are no inclines within 500 miles that I know of.
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I will remove the seat pan and try to check out the oil level from there..thanks guys.
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Did the problem just happen overnight? Did you check the drive belt?

On mine there is an allen head plug higher than the axle you take out and fill the oil through the breather hose till it runs out that plug just like changing the oil in a differential.

I was reading up on my HydroGear in my Craftsman last week and read that there is a gear where the hydrostat handle goes into the tranny that the teeth wear out in my model. I don't know if yours is the same but might be worth looking at.

I would get the transaxle model and google it, there are several lawn mower forums online.
 
Forgot to add, mine has an adjustment where the handle goes into the tranny. You should google it and get a manual to tell you how to do adjustments.

I would also change the oil and filter if it has one if you get it moving.
 
I guess that I should have looked it over a little better when she first brought it over.
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I think that I found the problem, it looks like several of the fan blades got bent up into the belt and that was enough to leverage the belt off of the pulley.

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I bent the fan blades back down, put the belt back on and it seems to be fine! Thanks for the responses, I won't be so quick to bother you guys next time.
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Can you tell that this lawn tractor belongs to a chick?

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Sounds like you're done with this project, but are you sure that damaged fan is still pushing air over the hydrostat?

If it's not pushing as much air as possible, that K46 will not be long for this world. I'd verify it's blowing a good amount of air. It's a marginal pain in the bawlz to replace the fan, but it really should be replaced once buggered up.

Joel
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
Sounds like you're done with this project, but are you sure that damaged fan is still pushing air over the hydrostat?

If it's not pushing as much air as possible, that K46 will not be long for this world. I'd verify it's blowing a good amount of air. It's a marginal pain in the bawlz to replace the fan, but it really should be replaced once buggered up.

Joel
With the tranny out it is very simple to change. And getting the tranny out really isn't that big of a deal either.
 
Originally Posted By: NavyDood
...And getting the tranny out reyally isn't that big of a deal either.


Yep, if you're in to that kind of thing.
 
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