Hydrostatic Transmission Failure? .... Maybe Not!!

TiIngot

TiIngot

Active Member
This happened on a Craftsman T240 with the hydrostatic transmission used on many brands and now only has 198 hours on it. I am assuming other brands built by MTD have the same tractor frame. Over time transmission power drops to the point the tractor will not go up even a very small grade in reverse. My past research all pointed to failure of internal transmission parts or air in the hydraulic system.

However, I have "fixed" this tractor twice with no parts or repairs, just a cleaning. Grass builds up limiting the function of the reverse/forward foot controls causes the linkage to not travel far enough to fully engage, especially in reverse. Under the floor panel in front of the seat (floor panel with safety instructions printed on it) is a second sub-frame panel. The control linkage for the transmission passes on the left side between these two panels and over time grass gets trapped in this gap. The gap cannot be fully reached by a leaf blower or by hand with the deck on. I jack up the front wheels and use an air nozzle and water hose to clean all hidden grass, especially from the back of this area. Once cleaned the tractor easily backs up the steepest grade on my lot. I wonder how many transmissions have been removed unnecessarily for repairs when a good cleaning is all that was required!
 
TiIngot said:
This happened on a Craftsman T240 with the hydrostatic transmission used on many brands and now only has 198 hours on it. I am assuming other brands built by MTD have the same tractor frame. Over time transmission power drops to the point the tractor will not go up even a very small grade in reverse. My past research all pointed to failure of internal transmission parts or air in the hydraulic system.

However, I have "fixed" this tractor twice with no parts or repairs, just a cleaning. Grass builds up limiting the function of the reverse/forward foot controls causes the linkage to not travel far enough to fully engage, especially in reverse. Under the floor panel in front of the seat (floor panel with safety instructions printed on it) is a second sub-frame panel. The control linkage for the transmission passes on the left side between these two panels and over time grass gets trapped in this gap. The gap cannot be fully reached by a leaf blower or by hand with the deck on. I jack up the front wheels and use an air nozzle and water hose to clean all hidden grass, especially from the back of this area. Once cleaned the tractor easily backs up the steepest grade on my lot. I wonder how many transmissions have been removed unnecessarily for repairs when a good cleaning is all that was required!
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A friend of mine in the outdoor power equipment business told me about this issue. Checking for grass buildup. Have only seen it one time on all the riding mowers I have worked on over the years. He says he sees it a few times a year.
 
I see this exact issue from time to time. When it acts up it appears sudden even though when you clean off that flat plate under the main frame you get about 3 gallon of grass.
 
ILENGINE said:
Won't fit in a 2 gallon bucket.
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Definitely won't unless its packed.

I regularly get up to five gallon bucket full grass trimmings out some mowers. I even just got nearly 1.5 gallon out a Swisher walk behind string trimmer and that is a god thing as I got weld up the frame around the welded in spindle and add some additional bracing. But getting the plastic deflector off will probably be a pain with all the rust involved.
 
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