Warranty Question
Zero-Turn mower out of warranty - Possible design flaw....
Warranty Question posted July 13, 2016 by Robert Hodge
176 Views, 7 Comments
Question:
Zero-Turn mower out of warranty - Possible design flaw....
Details:
I have had my EZ5224 since 2010, just the other day the bracket holding the right hydraulic drive snapped (See attached picture). The hydraulic drive has four holes to mount a bracket but the bracket Husqvarna uses only has two mounting holes which will allow the hydraulic motor to 'flex' when on uneven/bumpy terrain. Has Husqvarna changed this design in current models?
Photo:
Answer
Appear to be a EZ5224BF. The EZ5224 used wheel motors. On your unit check that the anti-torque bracket is still in place and attached. If loose or a bolt missing from this bracket the EZT transaxle can twist under normal working load and this twisting will break the bracket at the axle mount.
I got a LGT 2554 in the shop right now that both mounts half broken because the anti-torque bracket bolt heads snapped off. From this transaxle has literally twisted the axle mounting brackets to 45 degrees off level. THe customer only stop using the mower when it had quit moving.
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i had the bolt in cross bar between trans come out causing tran bracket to fail and two front brackets fail mine is a 2010 ez5224 and husquvarna admits nothing surprise. my unit is at the welders to stiffen up frame and align wheels .you should have you dealer give you part no. 580906202 for both wheels to put wheels out from frame as long as your lugs are 4 in. on center jim
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I have had the cross bar bolt snap three or four times now. I am hoping the with the new brackets coming in that Husqvarna has made a design change and the bracket now allows all four holes in the drive motor to be mounted so not just using two bolts....
. Still waiting for the new brackets to come in, they are on back order.... Maybe a lot more busted out there! So my mower is still out in the field covered by a tarp.... DANG!
Bob
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Nope, it looks like the new bracket is exactly the same as the old one...
It will only mount the motor with just two of the holes. As you can see with the attached picture the other holes near the right side of the bracket don't even lineup with the holes in the motor. My guess is that is was too costly for the remanufacture of the brackets and Husqvarna said "oh, well they will last for a while, maybe we can get a motor sold as well if its housing cracks! That will be additional money for us!"
Well Husqvarna, this will be my last mower I buy from you! Oh John Deere! Do you accept crappy trade-ins?
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I also found out yesterday why the wheels were pitched in toward the frame like this: / \ I was constantly breaking the bolts on the tie rod at the base of the motor, the rod was 1/2” too long and would be very difficult to insert. This also added to the top of the wheels being pitched in towards the top. The other major thing I found yesterday after really looking at the hydraulic mounting brackets, you can only use two of the mounting holes on the bracket. The four holes on the bracket don’t line up with the four holes on the hydraulic motor. So on one side the inner two holes were used and on the left side the outer two holes were used! This was the cause of the tie rod being too long and the bolts constantly snapping off. I moved the mounting bolts to the inside mount holes on the Left bracket and installed the new bracket on the right side. The left wheel has moved out so that it is no longer close to the frame, it is now about an inch away! The bottom tie-rod will now fit and the wheels are square to the frame! Imagine that! So the issue was during assembly, the left motor bracket was installed on the wrong set of holes. This would all have been a non-issue if the four bracket holes matched up to the four holes on the hydraulic motor!
Robert Hodge
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Glad found your problem that was apparently caused by an assembly error. I think the problem with the brackets is that they were made universal as Husqvarna change over from Hydro Gear to Tuff Torq drive assemblies.
It can be confusing even for us experienced techs sometimes to straighten out things. On older equipment I have even to custom make brackets to repair a problem cause by poor engineering or to beef up a problem area.
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Eugene,
I think you are correct, they had a bunch of brakes left over from a previous model and decided to use them at our expense...! I will have to think long and hard before I buy another piece of Husqvarna equipment....
Bob
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