hustler Fastrack hydro gear transmission issue

My left side transmission on my mower has become problematic. Runs fine until it warms up and once hot the left side quits working. Anybody familiar with these hydro gear transmissions that might know the potential issue. It is an older model so a replacement is no longer available Model #782862 331-2400L

loosing drive when hot is the first sign of a worn out tranny.
Most can be rebuilt for about 1/2 the cost of replacement.
Sometimes you can squeeze a few more seasons by replacing the oil with some thicker oil , but it akin to shoving "Piston Seal" down a spark plug hole or Molly Slip in a worn out diff.

Mulligans have always been good to me for rebuild parts, better prices than direct from the makers even where I get a trade discount.
We have 2 stand alone tranny repair workshops down here & I can not for 1 second believe there is none in a massive market like the USA.

Parts for your hydro will run you around $380 plus labor you can find a dealer that will repair the unit. Unfortunately most shops won't repair them for some reason. If the mower shop repairs the unit you should get a 90 parts warranty, If you buy them to install yourself there is no warranty.

Bert, in the USA we have specially transmission shops for automotive trannys only. Lawnmower trannies are supposed to be done by the lawnmower repair shops. The problem is most won't even attempt to repair one.

That's interesting.
We never had any till a year or so ago then we ended up with 2.
One only works for dealers, the other takes jobs from the public.
One machines the worn valve chests & base plates the other fits rebuild kits.

Being that it really is a specialist type of job & most mower shops do not want to do hydros, seems strange there are no specialist rebuilders over there

yeah I looked on hydro gear's website for a dealer in this part of the state. It listed several. None of them have the expertise to rebuild the hydro gear transmissions. They will change oil and service them and replace the old with a new (if one is available). But as far as working on them...butkus.

Looking on line they don't seem that complicated after watching a few vids. But I need to know what to look for to correct the problem.

mikkydee said:

yeah I looked on hydro gear's website for a dealer in this part of the state. It listed several. None of them have the expertise to rebuild the hydro gear transmissions. They will change oil and service them and replace the old with a new (if one is available). But as far as working on them...butkus.

Looking on line they don't seem that complicated after watching a few vids. But I need to know what to look for to correct the problem.

Click to expand...

The problem is the whole process should be done in a dust free enviroment,
If you look at the parts break down you will see a round valve chest with the pistons ( or balls ) in it.
This rotates against a fixed plate with a lot of holes in it.
The holes control where the oil goes and match up with holes in the rotating valve chest.

Eventually you get errosion between the oil holes so the oil comes up the inlet hole then directly across the plate to the outlet hole thus totally bypassing the piston.

The pump & the motor are basically the same except the pump has at least 1 more piston than the motor.
To recondition them the workshop I use machines the working faces of the valve chest & the valve plate flat again then makes up the amount machined off with a thrust washer ( somewhere ).

While it sounds simple, it is a very high precision job dependent upon the two surfaces being dead flat to within .0001", dead true to the spinning axis to the same precission and having a specific surface roughness.
Too coarse & the oil bypasses the pistons, too smooth & the parts stick together.

My man says he can do it 2 or 3 times max after which the pump or motor ( or both ) will need to be replaced.
Both of the refurbishment technicians are booked solid as a cheap rebuild kit down here is $ 600 ( parts alone ) & the cheapest tranny is $ 2000.

When I used to do them myself it was pressure wash the outside, then degrease then soda blast then pressure wash again.
The whole lot then went into the shower in the workshop and after wetting down the walls the box gets split.
The rebuilds with replacement parts is quite strait forward, most parts just slot or clip into place.
If I have to leave it then it gets covered with a damp towel.
When finished it get filled with oil, purged, run for a couple of hours then drained & refilled.
On trannies with no drain hole that means removing the tranny a second time to change the oil.

Well that does sound considerably more intensive to what I was expecting. I would love to watch someone actually do the entire process you are explaining. Sounds fascinating

So would I but the deepest he would allow me into his workshop was the cleaning & prep room .
All I could see there was 4 parts washers that I could just about take a shower in.
A vapour blasting cabinet
and what looked like an old Trico degreasing bath but Trico has been banned just about world wide so no idea what was in it .

Lots of videos of clowns doing tranny rebuilds, in their workshops , double drive through doors wide open & debris all over the place.
All claim to have "fixed" their tranny but I doubt that any of them will still be running in a year or so time.

The rebuilds are not technically difficult, keeping the dust out is.
The only other trick is applying the silicon.
Best done from a caulking gun with a tiny hole in the end of the applicator.
A bead 1/64" is way more than enough as a glob that falls off inside really will gum up the works.