I bought a used JD 155 and have put 1 hour of mowing time on it twice, so about 2 hrs total. I noticed that after 20 to 30 minutes of mowing that the hydrostatic drive would become slightly more noisy. Last night I found the cooling fan blades worn down to the hub. No problem I picked one up for less than $5 at the local JD store. While I have the wheels off I decided to pull the fill plug and see where the level is and color of the fluid. I can't find any!! I used a siphon hose to see if I could suck some up. Yes, I got a dribble in the hose, but that was it. Clean with a few sparkles of metal in the teaspoon that I was able to get. And yes, I know that free floating metal is bad in hydraulics.
The total capacity of the drive is 2 1/4 qts and I put in a whole quart before it was full!
My question is how badly have I damaged this drive? Am I looking at a rebuild in less than a year from now, or could it possibly be okay with just a slightly more pronounced sound from the pump. It sounded like a power steering pump squeal prior to messing with it. I thought it was fairly common sounding and only started looking around when it got hot and would hesitate to back up.
It seems to have good response now and only groans when I push the fwd pedal down fast. If I take off at what would be considered a "normal" speed it only whines slightly - again, normal sounding, but quieter than before. Backing up is only slightly more noisy. The pedals are at least twice as firm as they were before and I have bleed the system by having the rear jacked up and going back and forth between fwd and reverse.
If it makes a difference the hydrostat drive is a K51b made by Tuff Torq. I will probably give Tuff Torq a call tomorrow as well. I know the repair parts can easily exceed the $300 mark, but I paid $800 for the tractor and 42" Freedom deck.
Sorry for being so long winded, but it's hard to describe sound with only a few works.
Thanks in advance.
The total capacity of the drive is 2 1/4 qts and I put in a whole quart before it was full!
My question is how badly have I damaged this drive? Am I looking at a rebuild in less than a year from now, or could it possibly be okay with just a slightly more pronounced sound from the pump. It sounded like a power steering pump squeal prior to messing with it. I thought it was fairly common sounding and only started looking around when it got hot and would hesitate to back up.
It seems to have good response now and only groans when I push the fwd pedal down fast. If I take off at what would be considered a "normal" speed it only whines slightly - again, normal sounding, but quieter than before. Backing up is only slightly more noisy. The pedals are at least twice as firm as they were before and I have bleed the system by having the rear jacked up and going back and forth between fwd and reverse.
If it makes a difference the hydrostat drive is a K51b made by Tuff Torq. I will probably give Tuff Torq a call tomorrow as well. I know the repair parts can easily exceed the $300 mark, but I paid $800 for the tractor and 42" Freedom deck.
Sorry for being so long winded, but it's hard to describe sound with only a few works.
Thanks in advance.