Thanks for sharing your story. With these no drain plug tranny's some say they are throw away units now. But some use a hose to drain and re-fill through the top hole. Yes the metal bits stay in the bottom, but in your case changing the fluid did the trick! Like you, I have read the many debates on to change or not to change.

It's nice to know that I haven't hurt my 1976 Volvo 245 tranny by never changing the fluid all these years :-)

I'm actually going to be doing this shortly to my LX176. It has a Tuff Torq K-61 transmission, which has drain plugs. It has a filter too, but it's inside the case and you'd need to crack it open. I won't go that far. Mobil 1 5W-30 is going in there, and it'll be good for at least 15 more years. :)

Oddly, neither the service manual or owners manual say anything about fluid changes. The owners manual says specifically not to change it. However, neither anticipated it being 15 years old.

My 2004 Craftsman GT5000 tractor has the Hydro-gear 331-3000 trani in it and they specifically say to never change the fluid. No maintenance, sealed for life. Well last year I noticed it was getting very slow in reverse, so I decided to check the fluid.

There's an allen head plug in the side to check level like on your cars differential. The fluid that came out looked like runny butterscotch pudding. Not a good sign because that looked like water contamination. Further examination showed that it would be possible for water to get in through the vent hose if water were sprayed in that area. A guy I had hired to mow was washing the tractor regularly, so I'm sure that's how water got in the trani.

Despite the lack of a drain plug, I did notice that there was a oval shaped block bolted to the bottom of the trani. Removing it revealed that it's a geroter pump and also allowed all the old nasty fluid to drain out. I refilled with regular 20w-50 motor oil and attempted to purge the trani. No luck as the tractor wouldn't move. Oh well, I had only planned on using the dino oil to flush the system before putting in the good Amsoil 20w50 synthetic oil. Another draining and now refill with the good stuff. After going through the purge procedure a couple times, the tractor runs great.

I would caution anyone doing this to make sure and recheck your fluid level after running the tractor around the yard a few times because my level had dropped noticeably and I had to add more fluid to top it off.

So much for "sealed for life" and "never ever change your fluid" as recommended by Sears.

I have been changing my hydro-gear tranny fluid every three years sense 93. Last year I switched to royal purple 20w50 synthetic oil, wow! what a difference it made, it literally came back to life, it took off like it was shot out of a cannon.

Dan

constantinotobio how did it go? I'm going to change the oil in a Lx176 w/Tuff Torq K-61 one day next week. BTW there is a pdf of the K-61 manual at

http://www.tufftorqservices.com/cgi-bin/tts.storefront

My Kubota has both a drain plug and a filter for the hydro and the owners manual says to change both the filter and the fluid every 300 hours

I already changed it once at 100 hours and will probably do it every 200 hours from now on

No fluid or lubricant lasts forever, though if I was in the business of selling parts (or new tractors) I might tell you to 'forget about it' - The dealer has nothing to lose after all

Don

I change the transmission fluid and filter every 300 hours just like it says in the book, using Kubota Super UDT hydraulic fluid.

How often do you guys with the 2500 and 3000 series Cub Cadets change the tranny fluid in them?

I changed my oil in a LX 176 John Deere with a TuffTorq K61 today. Used regular 10w 30 but will likely change to synthetic at the end of the season.
The John Deere manual I'm told doesn't mention changing
the oil but the TuffTorq service manual does.
My mower was starting to slip a little on hills after it got hot so I had been mowing a little at a time. Total about 2 acres.
After changing the oil I was able to mow it all with no problem.
I had recently pulled the body and gas tank and
found that the top of the transaxle, cooling fan
and cooling ribs were almost completely stopped up
which was probally part of the problem. I could tell
a difference before it warmed up so that was not the whole problem.

You better change it regularly, I have a LX 188 that would not go up inclines, I changed all the belts, but no fix, what happens metal filings/flakes get into the oil due to no external filter and they cause ware and scratches in the pump which causes oil to leak by, causing slippage. After you drain your oil, place the pan in the sunlight, you will see the metal glittering in the oil pan. You can get a pump rebuild kit for $600.00 and a new Tranaxle for $1000.00 but not from Tuff-Torq, if it`s a John Deere product they won`t sell you the parts, you have to go to a JD dealer.. Basically Tuff-Torq and John Deere have made there money, they consider lawn tractors as throw away mowers,you can buy a new JD rider from lowe`s or Home Depot for $1200-1500. If you want it to last buy a Garden Tractor, there more money but well worth it in the long run $$$

There's no question anything which uses oil or fluid as a lubricant, coolant or in a hydraulic manner will live longer with regular fluid changes . . . . period. Particulate wear, condensation, viscosity degradation all enter into the computation of how long the mechanicals are going to last and it will certainly be longer if it gets regular maintenance, regardless of what the owners manual says

The fact that some products don't advise you to do so just tells you that the manufacturer considers those parts as 'expendible' and they expect to sell you a new tranny, along with a fill of new fluid . . . . or better yet - A whole new machine when your old one no longer cuts the mustard

Yup, there are lots of folks who have driven their whole lives without ever changing gearbox or differential lubricant in their cars and have not experienced failures, probably because they traded vehicles before the 'expendible' period arrived - At any rate, I sure wouldn't brag that I've never done something as simple as a fluid change . . . . though it WOULD be nice of you were to tell ME that before I made the mistake of buying your used machine

Don

When I bought my GT225 with 100 or so hours, the first thing I did was go to the JD dealer to buy a tune-up kit. I also asked for a bottle of trans fluid and he looked at me as if I'd asked for a set of piston rings for this just broken in tractor.
"You don't need to change that," he said.
"Well, when do I need to change it?" I asked.
"Not for a while."
"What's a while, like 300-500 hours."
"Sure."
So I haven't done it yet, but It's probably about time (I think she turned 4 this year).

You can buy parts directly from TuffTorq for the units in John Deere tractors. I needed a new input shaft for my K51a tranny and it was not available as a separate piece from John Deere parts. I had no problem looking it up and ordering it from TuffTorq on their web site along with a few other parts I needed. You can order just about every part in the transmission from them. When I replaced the shaft I also changed the oil and used the oil recommended by TuffTorq: synthetic 5w50 (I used Castrol Syntec which was easy to find in this weight)

Like you said, the part is no longer available from John Deere, I talked via phone with the Tuff Torq company about parts on my JD K-61 and they informed me I must go to JD they will not sell JD parts, at lest the pump, I`m sure this is a contract agreement with JD, many other brand mowers use Tuff Torq tranny`s,and the same model that are in a JD.. Plus my mowers get the utmost care and service being a ASE Mechanic, I am very maticulas I use compressed air after every use to clean everything including the tranny and tranny cooling fan....

I've got a question for you guys , I have a cub cadet 1050 with a hydro-gear transmission . It just quit pulling when it got hot . So I took it apart replaced everything but the pistons , goes good on flat ground now but weak on hills , I put 20-50 synthetic valvoline oil in it . My question is would a different brand or viscosity work better?

oil make/viscosity should be fine. Would chk condition/function of tranny cooling fan; remove any crud buildup from tranny case exterior acting as blanket (don't use pressure washer! - scrape off);operate engine at full rpm all times to maximize tranny cooling; lastly, purge tranny of any entrapped air, if not already done....

How many times would I have to purge it , mowed this morning seemed to have more power than before.

with rear wheels off ground, fr wheels chocked; engine @ mid rpm, engage tranny slowly to full forward and then back to full reverse, returning to neutral = 1 cycle.

Run 10 cycles to clear entrapped air - recheck oil level if possible.

Seems many people don't realize todays mower corps say not to change oil is only to sell more units, even making it harder to change trans oil on many units so we wont. Why they doing that?

Those who believe its not needed & dont change it really don't understand todays mowers or these manufactures being all about planned obsolescence today, Google it. Trans are not failing from abuse I've seen many hydro units that have never pulled a load or been abused in any way fail with less than 300hrs. Grass cleaned off too btw so fans never broke or clogged (causes it too).

These trans are designed to fail early unlike yesterdays mowers that outlasted these 10 to 1 easy.

Heck my two Wheel Horses still run & operate just like new, one is a 1976 my other a 1988. I see 40+ year old Wheel Horses all the time with 2000 hrs still doing everything just fine including hauling, tilling gardens and pushing snow you just name it and many only had maintenance, no majors to date in all their decades of use so they can build them if they choose too. I pull, till & haul all the time with my old WH tractors they both seen it all, I pulled my LX176 with my 414 WH today matter of fact because it didn't start again. We have a 2008 Husqvarna/Craftsman YT 4500 we inharated when father n law passed and all its ever mowed was a 1/2 acre flat lot, never pulled or abused. Always adult operated & maintained Husqvarna dealer. It's trans started slipping suddenly at only 230hrs once it heated up. I removed the plug on top & drained with a long small diameter hose attached to a drill pump. Very easy like that. Added 10w-40 and it stopped slipping now. It still slowed just a little after heating up so I chiseled the floor out near the pedal and linkage to allow more pressure helping oil flow through the trans when pedal pressed and its never slowed again. Much faster too. They never allowed enough pressure to them by limiting the pedal and it greatly shortens trans life as the trans oil must flow to help cool. Just like engine oil cant be restricted without failure?

I know people who used the Husqvarna/Craftsmans in landscaping/mowing business's and got over 800 hrs if they chiseled floor a little so pedal moved more. About 400 hrs tops if they didnt. I think it was built like that to limit their speed so they could sell you a faster mower for more money because I know the next few models up use the same trans/wheel size but are 2-3mph faster speed.

Change that fluid without a doubt but a hammer & chisel does wonders on some mowers too, check pedal clearance..