Lawn motor Hyd Transmission repair

Anyone with a rider with the auto trans axle. Mine had started to get pretty weak and would hardly pull in my deep ditches and hills around shop and house. Did a bunch of reading and figured replace axle @ 800.00 on a 1500.00 mower or 3500. For new mower. Neither option appealed to me. Went to YouTube and found video on changing oil in it. Supposedly this could fix a lot of them. As usual they make it as hard as possible to accomplish this. Very few have a drain plug. Guy showed how to do this with a hand vacume pump which I happened to have and was lucky that fill plug was accasable by removing battery. Sucked out all the old oil I could get. Filled back with 5W50 pure synthetic, purged like manual said and now works like brand new. By the way these come with 20/50 motor oil so unlike hydraulic oil it will break down over time from the heat they operate under. Oil that came out was dark as if it had been running in a diesel. The syn will take a lot more heat. My unit has about 250 hr's on it. Take this for what it is worth to you and your mileage may vary.

I hope I can remember this if it happens to my JD.

me too

That's the reason I posted this. Even though it's long winded someone is going to need it at some point. One guy had a real JD and they wanted 2500.00 to replace transmission. He went ahead and bought a upgrade tranny with new wheels and tires to fit it for 1200.00 and changed it out himself. I have found that when I read something like this it will jog my memory when something happens. Hopefully you guys will never have a problem. But I can see from reading some of the factory literature that a once a season oil change would sure make them last a lot longer and perform better. Some of the higher end units even have reservoirs and drain plugs where it's easy to do and I bet 90% of the owners have never done it.

I bet 90% of the owners have never done it.

I bet you're right on that. We live in a disposable society today.

Cool idea Cray, if your at that point a man doesn't have much to loose.

Clay; Thanks for this good information. I will check and see if and when my JD needs changing.

Great info Charlie as usual!

My John Deere has a Tuff Torq K46 transmission. It takes 30 seconds to walk to the tractor shed and 15 minutes to ride the tractor back up the hill. I watched a few you tubes before starting. Took about 2 hours to pull the transmission. Drained the oil, removed the bottom plate. Cleaned the 2 magnets, washed the inside out with gas in a spray bottle. Washed the filter with gas in a plastic jar and blew it out from inside and outside. Reassembled, filled with 10/40W hydraulic oil. It's what I had on hand without buying new. An hour to reinstall. Runs like new.
Tuff Torq says to use 5W50 synthetic oil. John Deere uses 5/30 motor oil.
The K46 has 2 compartments, one for the gears and one for the pump and motor.

Having the same problem with my Troy Built. I will try this and bet it will fix my problem also. Thanks for the info.

On the axle part of the transmission, on both sides there will be a little white sticker. Mine has Tuff Torq 7A646024390, a serial number and JDPP P/N AM131580. On the bottom of the transmission is raised letters, mine are K46 R14. You'll need these number if you need parts.

Roger, here is one that should be close to yours if you don't have a reuse our tank and filter. This is how I accessed mine but my fill plug was to the right and was a Allen head plug.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NHKP0GpS9mA

Also here is part of Manuel on my cub cadet/ MTD. Should be close to the troybuilt. Page 80/81/82 give procedure for purging air from system after changing oil which is the same for all hydro gear tranny's.

Charlie, that is the vent cap, you're only changing oil in the gear section. How much oil did you change?
The oil drain/add plug is under the fan and pulley on the left front. They have to be removed to get to it.
This guy has 4 videos and tells about other producers too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDjhAo6aZ7s

my old John Deere tranny just took a dump as well this past month,,,, Unforuately it's Not a hydro transmission and now I have to find a transmission now to replace the old one, 5 speed,, Mines a John Deere 180, probably built in the 80's.... ITs been a great mower over the years so I think after replacing all the old stuff over the years, I just may replace that old transmission as soon as one becomes available on eBay...Until then, my new John Deere is probably gonna get e synthetic oil change before it gets bad like everyone else's has,,, Thanks for the heads up Cray... great way to do little preventative maintenance.

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Originally Posted by canebreaker

Charlie, that is the vent cap, you're only changing oil in the gear section. How much oil did you change?
The oil drain/add plug is under the fan and pulley on the left front. They have to be removed to get to it.
This guy has 4 videos and tells about other producers too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDjhAo6aZ7s

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Jimmy, I appreciate what your trying to tell me but I used the Manuel for my mower that I posted and I watched all kinds of videos. I know wher the vent is and where the fill plug is. Promise you I did it right.