Toro ZT-2100 Oil Service

[shurguywutt]

I sucked and drained about 3/4 qt of oil from each transaxle. They have a little less than 100 hrs on them. There is no drain plug and you can only suck out half the oil without taking them off. I replaced what I took out with some Valvoline 20w50 Synthetic (probably superior to the factory fill).

Overall it wasn't a terrible maintenance... Cracking the fill plugs was a bit awkward and the oil was cold so it was harder to get out, next time I do it will be after I mow and they are hot.

 

[fantastic]

Does this zero turn have the gear oil in a plastic reservoir? I've never owned one but thought I'd seen them like that. Great to see a full synthetic 20w-50 oil available. Was this from Wal-mart?

 

[shurguywutt]

Does this zero turn have the gear oil in a plastic reservoir? I've never owned one but thought I'd seen them like that. Great to see a full synthetic 20w-50 oil available. Was this from Wal-mart?

Nope, the oil sits in the case and should be between 0.75" to 1.5" below the top of the fill port. The 2100 takes about 1-1/2 QTS (I was only able to get about 3/4 QT out by suctioning it). It does have a plastic expansion tank with breather tube in the upper rear that allows the oil to expand... The Valvoline was procured at Napa for around $6.50/QT... They had to go in the back for it.

 

[fantastic]

Very good information. Thanks

 

[jeepman3071]

I did the same service on a neighbor's machine and used the same oil and it has been working well.

 

[shurguywutt]

I did the same service on a neighbor's machine and used the same oil and it has been working well.

Good to hear... I am hoping to get some extended life out of them.

 

[JimmyChainsaw]

If you want to drain it fully,you need to remove the filter.For refilling,to speed it up there is usually a plug on the inside face of the tranny which can be removed to allow air in.

 

[shurguywutt]

If you want to drain it fully,you need to remove the filter.For refilling,to speed it up there is usually a plug on the inside face of the tranny which can be removed to allow air in.

ZT-2100 Doesn't have a drain or an external filter, it is internal... I am not going to crack the case to get to it, especially at just 100 hrs.

 

[jeepman3071]

ZT-2100 Doesn't have a drain or an external filter, it is internal... I am not going to crack the case to get to it, especially at just 100 hrs.

Yeah it isn't worth going through all that work to get to the internal filter and possibly introduce dirt into the system. I think what you are doing every 100 hours should be perfect and help extend the life of the hydros. I have a few customers with these machines that don't want the hydro service done, just come to me every year for blades and engine service, and they have 500+ hours now and the hydros still work fine. They whine a bit, but work fine.

 

[JTK]

Nice work!

You probably doubled the life of these drives with just that first drain/fill.

I had ZT-2800's on a cub ztr years ago. Those had the little spin-on filters. They drained when you spun the filters off.

 

[Gillsy]

Nice work!

You probably doubled the life of these drives with just that first drain/fill.

I had ZT-2800's on a cub ztr years ago. Those had the little spin-on filters. They drained when you spun the filters off.

I had ZT-3100's on my prev owned Gravely. Same thing!

 

[Hall]

and you can only suck out

What did you use ? My understanding is that the internals of these are rather complex with basically lots of nooks and crannies and no actual sump area where the oil pools in.