Service & Maintenance Question
I have a LTH18538 lawn tractor which was purchased in 2011....
Service & Maintenance Question posted May 10, 2016 by Dale
76 Views, 9 Comments
Question:
I have a LTH18538 lawn tractor which was purchased in 2011. Today after cutting grass I noticed hydraulic fluid dripping from the transxle. Upon closer inspection I found a hole in the side of the bottom pan of the transaxle. Inside there looks to be a big gear. I'm assuming the gear is loose and made the hole since I did not run anything over. Is this transaxle serviceable? In other words can my dealer install replacement parts or do I need to buy a whole new transaxle?
Thanks for your assistance.
Thanks for your assistance.
Answer
It could be that a spider gear broke and punch a hole in the housing. Depending on the dealer as if they are into repairing these transaxles. Some are, some are not. It the overall cost of repairing vs replacement that to be considered. Also depend if the manufacture of transaxle making the parts available to service these. Some are listed as non-serviceable units; therefore, only replacement is possible.
Check with your local mower service for their advice on your mower as can better determine what going on as they probably would need to do a personal inspection of your problem to see what needs repairing.
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Thanks for the information. I will give the dealer a call this morning and find out what can be done.
Have you heard of this happening before? In checking my lawn and following the hydraulic fluid trail I realized that this break occurred when I was going back and forth over an area to vacuum up debris. During the maneuver it's possible that I wasn't completely stopped before changing direction. Would that have contributed to the problem? The tractor only has a 177 hours on it.
Thanks again !
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Yes if it was already weaken from use.
I had one customer using a Peerless six speed manual that this happen to when he was just loading up his mower. It actually took out both case halves, the spider gears and the ring gear. We opted to install a good used Dana in his Craftsman as was less than parts to fix his old one. We were lucky as this conversion was done before at the factory on later models and the needed linkages were available.
Even now that Dana is no longer available either and I just acquired a good used one for resale to one my customers that has worn his out. It a donor from a customer that didn't have his engine fix before it threw a rod. What a waste of good engine. It would have cost less than $75 to replace a bad head gasket but he just keep using until the engine ran without oil.
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I see your last posting was removed.
, but thanks for replying.
Just an update... I contacted a local lawn service center and they are able to get parts except the parts will be back ordered. The service man is currently checking to see how long of a wait or if the back order is indefinite. Apparently parts are rare. Not encouraging for a 5 year old tractor.
Any input from Husqvarna about parts availability ????????
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My last reply is still there it just under the replies tab.
I am not with Husqvarna but do know that they refer all engines and transaxles parts and service to the their respective manufacture so they do not handle any to do these parts. They even refer all warranted item repairs to them. Dealers usually go through those manufactures to get reimburse for warranty repairs.
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Thanks for the forum instructions. My apologies. I got an email notification and was surprised to see the message not shown.
And thank-you for the insight on Husqvarna parts. Seems a strange way to do it, but I guess it cuts down on idle inventory. Great for the company, but not so great for the owner of the product. With my two previous Ariens riders I was still able to get parts after 10 years. This whole experience is quite sad. I was looking at their gas trimmers, but not anymore.
My service guy figures that the sleeve bearings on the shaft had worn thus allowing the gear to move and damage the case. Is there anything inside that you are aware that could have also been damaged ? Not to question my service guy, but I hate to spend money getting the bottom case only to find inside damage that has parts no longer available. Just double checking for peace of mind.
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Dale,
This where your trust in the tech in my opinion is built over the years. Some are very good, some are good, and some are not worth the salt that goes in their bread. I have found that small shops are usually better at repairs as they truly depends on repeat business as where a shop like JD may just hire a person just to be there. Now the guy down the street that is not licensed that does the work out his home is usually not a good idea to use; unless, he is highly recommended by your neighbors as I have found most are just not that good.
I just straighten out one machine that the local JD shop couldn't fix a simple electrical problem on. The tech even told the customer that he didn't have oil pump in his engine when the IPLs for the engine clearly showed one. I can understand why that customer no longer trusts his JD dealer.
This probably where I differ from a lot of techs as I prefer to actual know what caused the problem. I prefer actually disassemble to see what the damages are prior to making my determination as to what parts I need and how much damage was done. Now I do a few rough estimates basis on previous repairs and a test drive but they are very few and far in between, just too many things that could go wrong and hydrostatics are especially sensitive to damage.
It is why I charge to do estimates as actually take things apart for my determinations. I do get those users that say "But Joe down to street gives free estimates". I just explain why I charge and let them decide which way they want to go.
If it was a manual transmission I would think the same thing about the bushing wear but Hydros are different beast to me as I have less experience with them failing. With hydros as I said they are sensitive to damage and should be fully inspected before ordering parts as even a groove in the pump mating surfaces that catches your finger nail can cause problems.
As for newer Ariens parts availability will be more like the rest of the Husqvarna line since they are now part of Husqvarna group if I remember correctly. I had parts on back several times on the parts that Husqvarna does sell. It not as bad as when they first consolidated their distribution centers into just two in the US. Last year I had a crankcase for a chainsaw on back order for 2 months.
These kinda of things are not just Husqvarna related either as depending which supplier I use parts can be on back order a long time. When turn around time is a priority I will pay to a little extra for parts that I know a vendor has in stock to get the job done as quickly as possible. Just makes good business sense.
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Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, but I was looking into the situation further. First off, many thanks to you. Your information has been most useful. I have worked on several manual gear boxes, but never a automatic transaxle so your advice is a valued education for me.
After several days my local service guy failed to get back to me on my question of "how long" with the back order so I decided to contact Tuff Torq myself. After visiting their website and printing off the diagram and parts list for the my transaxle I called their Customer Service. The agent I talked to informed me that the case part is currently available. Where my local guy got the back ordered information I do not know and I wonder why.
I took your advice I decided to pull the transaxle and examine it on the workbench myself to find the cause. Upon removing the case cover I immediately found the problem. One of the beveled differential gears had a tooth missing. From the scraps inside the case cover I am guessing that the broken tooth had laid in the sump area of the final gear until my back and forth manuvering stirred up the sediment and gear tooth. The scraping and cracks in the case cover indicates the gear tooth was snagged by the final gear and was dragged along until final gear forced it through the case wall of the bottom cover. No other visible damage that I can see. It appears the case cover took the damage and relieved the stress of the wedge gear tooth. The sleeve bushings don't even appear worn.
Thinking back to last Fall I remember doing yard clean up with the deck set low. In the middle of a turn the deck caught the edge of the driveway and I was jotted to a dead stop. Again, my guess, this is when the beveled gear got damaged.
Since I am this far into it I decided to just order the parts and do the repair myself. Tuff Torq's website showed no indication of a back order status when placing the order. Since the order was placed at the end of their business day I'll find out on Monday if my order was completed and shipped. As for my local service guy, I still haven't heard back from him.
Thanks again & Kudos to you !!
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Thanks for the update and for confirming what I suspected was the source of the damage.
Good luck with the repairs.
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