918-04431A transmisson

[PTmowerMech]

When you get one apart and see the damage done to the valve plate you will understand why they go bad.
The motor is almost identical except it has one less piston.
FWIW when I do one I degrease the tranny, then soda blast it then pressure wash it .
The rest of the work is done in the bathroom after the walls have been wetted down.
You do not need much dust to get inside to have a unit fail in a very short time .
As luck would have it there is a machine shop 1/2 hour away who specializes in rebuilding hydros.
He charges less for a rebuild than I can get the parts for wholesale so he does all of my trannies now .
I just charge the customer 2 hours labour to remove & replace the tranny + what he charges me for the rebuild & give them his receipt + $ 50 courier fees .
HE gives 6 months warranty & I would much rather they take any problems to him than me .
HE has done about 20 or so and to date no problems.
All he does is machine the valve chest and plate flat again then pack up the unit to make up for what was machined off .
Refills & seals the box then purges it.

I am amazed that in the USA some one is not offering this service .
Price is $ 400 ( Aust ) against $ 600 for a motor pump kit so it is a no brainer for me.
New trannies start at $ 1500 for the K46 and just go up from there.
The Chinese Husqvarna copy with the CHinese made Kohler 21Hp bucket engine sell for $ 1499 .

What do you mean "Pack up the unit to make up for what was machined off?"

 

[StarTech]

Most likely what he means is shimming.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

Marketing people LOVE warranties. Service people and more importantly accountants HATE warranties. Back in the old day job i was always the bad guy. Customer gets new machine then calls for any reason like it is a day that ends in Y. I go out and can't make them happy if i shit a gold brick and give it to them. They call again because the sun came up in the east. I go out under warranty again. Another gold brick doesn't make them happy. They call the dumbass salesman who promised them the world. In the end i am the guy who can't fix the machine, just as the sales rep. Keep playing that song over and over. Sooner or later mfgr warranties will be non existant.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Most likely what he means is shimming.

What was that quote ?
Two peoples separated by a common language.
IF you take .050" off the valve plate and 0.020" off the valve chest you have to make up that 0.070" or the two parts won't seal against each other.
Being over confident the first time I pulled one down I chucked up both parts machined them flat then tried to reinstal .
So then made some spacers to go in different places because the oil ways have to line up.
However it was a dismal failure because I made the two surfaces too smooth.
It sort of worked but you could hear it screaming three properties away , and the shop is on 1000 acres.
Gave up & bought a motor & pump exchange unit .
Teh new unit was not smooth you could feel the roughness with your finger.
I am guessing , and it is a pure guess that they ae honed to a specific coarseness so the two parts can wer in together much the same as the honing on a cylinder bore.

I am neither ambitious nor greedy so 2 to 3 hours + a delivery fee is enough for me to make on the job.
Let some one who knows what they are doing make a living as well .
I have athing about my suppliers , I like to see them making money because if they don't they won't be there & I need them .
SO I buy what I can from them and what I can't in many cases comes from their suppliers but I don't buy parts that my suppliers keep so they will keep on keeping them.
When it is all said & done , an extra $30 on parts is neither here nor there compared to the convienance of jumping on the bike & grabbing the part I forgot to order that day.

 

[tom3]

That surface finish might be for oil retention too, completely flat and smooth under high pressure and the oil squeezes out. I see crankshaft kits for auto engines have an odd looking surface finish too rather than a mirror look. Seems absurd to charge $1500 for a new hydro unit that was probably built out of the country.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Well & truly out of my pay grade Tom.
The bloke who dose them told me there was a very specific surface finish &i did not bother to ask what it was .
He gives me a small trade discount now days because I always deliver the units to clean & dry ready to be split.
Even if I did nkow the finish grade I would then need to buy the gear to measure it then relearn how to use it cause it is probably a little different to what they tried to teach me in engineering drawing back in 66