This is not simply a video about repairing a transaxle that your dealership will deem 'unservicable'...it's about a guy who's brave enough to attempt what most people wouldn't think of doing. It's the courage of guys like DW2 that makes "DIY" a great concept. Your father, grandfather, etc...would be proud.
Excellent video. Clear explanations and good visual. As a retired automotive tech, I have gone to many schools with a less than perfect presentation. You have done well my friend. Keep up the good work.
I’m so impressed, I watched all 3 of these videos. Your presentation is great,visually and vocally. I’m not a mechanic really, but after watching videos , I thought let’s get it done ! I understand why you are a teacher.
You have no idea how helpful your video for rebuilding a Tuff Torq John Deere Transmission. Thank You so much for the effort you put into this video. Thanks again.
I know this is an old video series and apologize for commenting on it. I enjoy your work and wanted to say that you did a good job with the repair. In my "pre-retirement" years I repaired industrial drives much like the Hydro you worked on. Much larger but same principle! So many RU-vid creators have said that the hydros are not serviceable, but now I know better. I had always wondered what type system they were and now I know that the pump and motor are what is known as "swash-plate" as opposed to a positive displacement gear pump. They allow for a little flow-by so there's not need to add expensive regulators etc. It is odd that JD would opt for 10w30 when Tuff Torque recommends 5w50 full synthetic. Maybe its a cost thing to keep themselves at a competitive price point. It is odd to me. Anyway, thanks for sharing it. All the best
Thank you so much for sharing your videos I have a K46BA and the cost of replacing it is outrageous. I will definitely take it apart with confidence and rebuild it. It's is awesome to have a well spoken person with clear and detail instructions share their knowledge with others so that we do not get ripped off buy costly replacements or shop repairs. Thanks Again GOOD BROTHER!
Great video. JD replaced the transaxle on my brand new X304 at 14 hours which totally destroyed my confidence in that machine. However, it's been 7 years now and never another problem. If it happened again I feel that I could do a repair based on your video. Thanks and keep up the great work.
Excellent job. I had an L110 with snowblower. That thing could take anything I could feed the blower and as fast as I could. I really made that transmission work by hauling 4,000 lbs of landscape rock around my house with a home made carrier bucket. One tough transmission. Last I seen it, it was still running excellent. People run down the cheap JD, but not true. Good machine. If your front spindles ever get loose. The bushings are hardened steel and the spindles are what wears out. The bushings are like $40 each, but the whole spindle assembly was only $15 each at the time.
Im have small has engine shop, i watched your video. i think you were very thorough and clear. i found your video to be very informative and helpful, you speak slowly and clear. keep up the good work! You are my new "go to guy"! Very helpful and step by step. good job!
you are a brave dude. great video. I watch most of your videos thanks. I do small engine repair here in The Napa Valley ca. The sun is shining now and the machines are coming. I'm 75 and getting to old for the riders now. I stick to smaller lawn mowers chain saw 2 and 4 cycle.
First of your video set I have seen and may I say I am extremely impressed with your work, instruction, and videography!! I'll definitely be subscribing and watching more of both what you have already produced and upcoming videos of yours!
Hate to say it, but there a lot of lash between the axle gears to the spider gears, and could be most of of the problem of why the the diff ate the axle gears to begin with. Truth be told, I would load some thin wave washers between the back sides of the C clips to the face of the end locks, to mesh the axle gears to the spider gears tighter to take out a great deal of that lash between them as they are free running, plus the thin washer will shim the gears together better even when fully compressed. Hence looking at the mesh of the gears now with everything back together, you can see that is just the tips of the axle gears to spiders tips gears that are meshing (way too much lash), and under torque, going to be worse with the axle gears driving away from the spider gears even more without shimming as well.
Yes sir I also thought so. Plus 10/30 is too thin, needs to be a 5/40 or 5/50 (latter is Tuff Torques Proprietary suggested fluid). Add up the excess lash (too much clearance, not enough contact), thin lube & probably towing loads = trashed diff gears...
As someone who worked in the gear production industry this problem appears to be a (hardening ) hardness problem. A hardened gear running against another that was heat treated improperly.
Thanks for the video. I have the exact same tractor and problem. I haven't opened it up yet, but the symptoms are the same and the guy I bought it from said he opened it and found it was the spider gears too. He had ordered the part from ebay and they were the wrong size. Mine only has 174 hrs on it. I have another one with the smaller engine (L110) with over 500 hrs with the same K46V and it's blown snow, pulled trampolines, moved trailers and you name it and is perfect. I think the oil selection and engine size makes the difference.
You are very patient with attention to detail. You explain clear and this will help many. I think D Baker is on to a possible (why) with the seeming slop at axle gears.
My first view as well. Very informative an definitely a confidence booster. I'm willing to give it a try should I encounter this problem. Thanks for the great video and I agree with Howard, it's even better without the swear words that seem so prevalent these days
I am impressed. You clearly have great mechanical ability. I'm assuming there are seals on the axles as they exit the case. Would it have made sense to replace those? I'm surprised you could get those gears, from the manufacturer, so cheaply. Good for them. Is there any company that rebuilds these? It would be great to send in an old one and get a rebuilt one back for 1/2 or so of what a new one costs. Again, great job and thanks for taking the time to film, narrate, edit and post the video.
Thanks for the videos. What I find amazing is the number of people doing the same thing to this transmission from what is supposed to be a quality brand and JD does nothing to help. Some have a lot of hours on them but some I have read about have less than 200 hours. I have a La130 with a 48" deck and a rear bagger. If the transmission won't supply the power needed, probably a 42" deck should be all that you can get for it and a rear bagger shouldn't even be an option.
I noticed that axle gears to pinion gears seem to have more play then needed. Wouldn't it be wise to use shims to each side to get play to accurate pressure angle play per Machinist Hand Book guide? I machined &applied many typical type of gearing assy.s ** MOST EXCELLENT VIDEO SET **
Thank you for these videos I found them educational and I feel like I can open it and clean it out. I recently received a mower with a K51a which I could get to go into neutral to push it now I understand the trans a little better I know it may not go into neutral because the fluids were not pumping. So I know if I rebuild the motor the transmission may be ok. But after watching this I may need to open it and clean it out.
Very nice demo! I might add, when you split the case, on the bottom pan, there should be two deep “dimples”; one under the transmission area and one under the differential area. You can drill out those dimples, tap them, and install a drain plug for the diff and the transmission to make changing the fluid easier. The Tuff Torques are one of the better hydro and were not really engineered to be as “unserviceable” and “disposable” as the tractor maker would have you to believe!
There is no external filter. According to the transaxle manufacturer you have to run the tractor on low idle with the hydro pump disengaged and the rear wheels lifted from the ground. Continue engaging and disengaging until the tires start to rotate. Once the tires rotate you can slowly drive the tractor and gradually raise the throttle until you reach full speed.
I have a Tecumseh hydro, the final drive was full of metal (Had no oil in it from the factory) and it was full of metal. Poured engine oil in it, pushed it around and drained it 2-3X and filled it with synthetic gear lube, still working but I believe it has a similar problem as this video... Thanks for the rebuild video... I also put synthetic 5w30 hydraulic oil in the pump.
Not sure about adding shims, but when I do my K46 tuff torq transmission from my JD L118, I'll have to find out tolerance. My guess is 800+ hours of operation did the damage. My L118 is over 1300 hrs. Its still pulling but on its last leg. My point being shims were not designed into this originally.
They should rename these transaxels "FluffTorque" My JD L130 has gone through four of them. The one thats in it now started having the same problem, wear in the pump and motor, causing it to slow down and not pull up a hill. I considered rebuilding/replaceing it too but decided to dry using a heavier oil. I drained and replaced the oil with Amsoil 60w Dominator oil. It did the trick. It came back to life and is still working a year later. I plow snow in the winter and mow acres of grass, some on hills. Leakage past the pump and motor pistons is significantly reduced with the heavier oil.
+wayne jardine Hi Wayne, I'm in the same boat with my trans fix, Tuff Torq recommends 5w50 but I believe my motor and pump need replaced so I was wondering what viscosity Amsoil did you use? Was it straight 60w or like a 5w60? Thanks, Ken
+snowking55 Whatever the dominator is. I don't remember but I think it was straight 60w, could be mistaken. Its still working and its been three years since I changed it. When it stops, I think i'll put in a K60 and use this k46 for a boat anchor.
+wayne jardine Ok, thanks. I found it on the Amsoil web site and it's a straight weight 60. I'm going to give it a try, thanks for the response and the recommendation.
K46 @ 60w Amsoil update ? Its been some more years how's the heavier Amsoil holding in your Hydro tranny? Is it slow to go in cold weather ? Thx I'm considering my 1st Hydro tractor !
You should replace all your seals if you go this far also. Last thing you want is a axle seal leak or a leak were the pulley shaft comes out and any other seals.
I would have replace the oil seals if I went this far. Also before I would seal it up I would test fit the case together making sure it fits tight together with the bolts and turn the whole system so it turns nice and easy. Then take the cover back off and then seal it. Nothing worse than finding out somethings not right and have to mess with that silicone again. Just saying
Great Videos! Very good camera work and thorough explaining. Did you by chance see how the input shaft (the one that goes from the pulley to the pump) comes out? Mine is stripped and it seems like its not wanting to budge out the top.
But calling them that makes $$$ sense to John Deere dealers, right ? Heck many of my neighbors are so lazy they won't even lift their hood to check their own fluids In that type of climate, no wonder the various Dealers (Auto, Truck, Tractor, etc) assume the inability of the average 'consumer' to fix anything ! But, Praise God, there's a resurgence of those who are honest laborers working with their heads AND hands. This informative video series is proof of that ! PS: I teach my kids how to fix & maintain all their things...
Thanks for taking the time to make this video, Im curious as to why those gears failed, did you notice the seal condition on the axels, was there any play on the axels while inside the axel housing, Tuff Torq tranny 's usually out last the mower, Thanks again your videos are very helpful.
Great video. A buddy just gave me the same mower. Tore it down and it has the same issue. Hopefully the pumps are ok, your filter was still white and this ones black....
I commend you for tackling this project, it's also something I would have tackled, but not to many people I know would have, so how many hours total do you think you have in it ? and how long would a second one take !! Thanks for you time on the Video !!
tuff torq has the process of bleeding air out on their website. basically up on jackstands, pump the coast switch a few times, the go forward and backwards on the pedals up in the air until air bled.
Great videos. If you were gonna drill and tap a drain plug for future maintenance, where would you put one? Or do you think that is a little overkill? My first transmission lasted 12 years on my L110. Thanks again for a great video series.
Unless between the time you made this video and now. TuffTorq and most owners manuals describe how to purge the transmission after working on it so any air is worked out of the system.
I did this. Great video. I have a problem though, now when I press to go forward, I go in reverse and when I press the foot peg to go in reverse, I go forward, What did I do wrong?????
i guess the gears are designed to wear out so that you are not torqued around when stop and go mowing would enplaine the magnates. Anyway i have to do my JD-118 too i hope its the gears too.
Have you done any videos of removing stuck/rusted/frozen lawn tractor wheels from axils? Got a free Craftsman LT 1000 which I rebuilt the engine on and now must pull the wheels to replace rear cracked tires (with good tread) but leaking air through side cracks. Unfortunately I don't have a wheel puller and they are not budging.
Is the whine the transmission makes in the video pretty normal for these transaxles. I just bought a used mower with this trans and it sounds just like that. Concerns me, but I got it cheap enough that I can repair trans if necessary. Being winter time I cant really put it too much of a test to see how its functioning. Thanks
Bunás noches una pregunta desarme una caja de las mismas y la arme cuando la monte me dió la marcha invertida aselere y salió en reversa cuál sería el motivo. De antemano muchas gracias por su atención
I know this was 6 years ago but looks like you did a good job. Thank for posing it it may need a shim on the differential But after 6 years is it still going
DW6, can you just change the oil in these without removing entire axle? perhaps yearly as part of maintenance. no drain plug at bottom of tranny i suppose, thanks for all great videos!!
There are other ways to drain the oil without removing the transmission from the tractor. I did a lot of work on my 20 year old Craftsman lawn tractor three years ago that included removing the body metalwork. There were only 4 bolts in easily accessible locations so it takes maybe 10 minutes. I then changed the oil in the Hydro-gear hydro transmission by popping out the vent hose and sucking out the old oil using a syringe and some vinyl tubing. I replaced it with Lucan Magnum 15W40 synthetic diesel engine oil which seems to have worked well. I have probably about 1000 hours on this tractor and the transmission has given me no problems at all even though I work the thing pretty hard. I would expect the same method of oil removal to work on the Tuff Torq transmissions.
You Must have a bad dealer in your area John Deere for my tractor they will fix it and they should be able to do a rebuild on your model of tractor. Find with a good parts department. They have some that will try to rip you off. I checked john Deere sells the parts so if the dear say they cant get the parts go else where.
excellent videos. i have two jd la145 w/ t40 / t46. one works super. i rebuilt the 2nd & instatalled. bleed air. works ok but does not engage as fast as other one. on right hand pedal for for / rev there is no adj. on left for stopping is adjust. i tightened up similiar to other. still is sluggish. primary drive belt deflection is 1.5 inches. any ideas how to improve . thanks
Looking at the top of the unit , fill plug . Right across from it is another black cap . Do you know what that is ? An where did you get a parts list for the trans axle . Thanks ! I have a husqvarna that the axle shaft broke . $80 bucks for new shafts from ebay .
Can you tell me the torgue settings for the bolts that seal up the housing? I just pit the gasket sealer on and have tightened them down, but i was not sure the settings? Thanks for any help.
Doublewide6, What is the whining noise coming from the mower it almost sounds like a bad power steering pump? My Craftsman with the K46 sounds exactly the same way.
