hmm so it's that simple I guess, if using oil like this trans does, just fill it one half to three quarters of the way up and leave a couple inches of air, that's how it is now, and I doubt when I measure what comes out it will be just 8oz, I think it'll be more and that the manual might have been incorrect but I could be wrong maybe only 8oz is in there. I don't think previous owner changed gear oil and the level it's at is what he made it (it's quite a PITA to take the battery platform off to get to gearbox and I don't think he even put 80 hours on it for break-in.
THANKS!
As for WL being a shjt company I have to disagree. They used to be a somewhat well-known brand before WL BTW, I forget the name, not toro or exmark or anything but somewhat well-known in the mower world.
Besides this stupid typo from whoever made the manual (8oz or 16oz and 'hyperbolic oil'), (other than this, the manuals are fine), I had zero problems with this mower and have put it through the ringer. I did have to wait like 6 weeks for a backorder part (something I broke from being a noob with commercial mowers) but this was an 11 year old model at the time so I had to wait for the part from china (a lot of mowers are made in china BTW, nothing wrong with made in china per say). And I have googled and confirmed it's not totally uncommon to wait 6 weeks backorder for some parts from major brands like toro/emark/scag.
It's the strongest mower 30" or under. 344cc and zero turn pistol grip. I had a 30" toro timemaster and it is THE WORST mower deck I've used it cakes up very easily. I haven't much experience with other mowers except a 1986 36" bobcat which is all good, plus basically every 21-22" 190cc and the 30" toro deck cakes up horribly. Really shallow bad design.
28" means it'll fit most small gates. 32" fits small gates and there's plenty of 32" commercial walk behinds and standers etc but they'll only save a stripe or two vs a 28", and the 28" is lighter to wheelie over roots and stuff, and these sell new for really cheap (but are made very well TBH) for only $1500 delivered, and I happen to really like briggs on the cheaper versions than the Honda worldlawns.
I made a thread on another lawn forum where I have a couple hundred posts. I made a thread just showing how the WL28" is a better choice than the 30" toro everyone talks about (I'd say about %60 of reviewers despise the toro/exmark 30") and I think others would agree the WL28 is better I just wanted to help people out because it's a sort of hidden gem of a mower that's all.
Anyway, that thread turned into a pissing competition basically, and so now whenever I bring up the WL28 on there, there's some anti- worldlawn guys who always pop in and derail my question into a drama thread and then the thread gets locked. That's what happened with this question there I tried asking but no one would answer the simple question of 'in general how high do you fill an oil gear box?".
so I joined here and thank you for the input.
I can link the thread(s) where I compare the WL28" to toro 30s and others if it's allowed but you can google it if actually even interested. And some youtuber got sent a free 32" Honda WL for review and talked bad about it but I dissected his review and proved him very wrong on basically every single point he tried to make (stupid stuff like 'there's no picture on how to put this together' but it says right there Figure.4 means the picture called Figure.4 on the same page lol)
Not only is the toro a really cloggy deck, it's only 190cc or 223 cc for newer version, for 30" and some of that power is lost via the belts and pulleys. It's just not a very powerful mower for thick wet grass or leaf mulching. I prefer a 22" 190cc to the 30" TBH.
I don't wanna go on and on about comparing the WL28 though but I already started typing I guess.
Overall though, yea 28" is not much more than a 21" in width. If the lawn is cut often enough and not wet or fertilized heavily especially with fast-acting synthetic, then the 190cc will do fine , even the toro 30" will do fine if it's on side discharge which I usually use now anyway but if grass is wet and need to mulch leaves or something, then it's cake city with the 30" toro.
But I do prefer the zero turn WL which the 21" or 30" toro doesn't have and I think others prefer the zero turn also, but a 21" burns less fuel, has less parts to maintain or adjust and is light enough to just toss in a truck or bring up steps etc.
BTW on the topic of transmissions, the consumer grade 21-22" plastic gear transmissions are a sin, I had to go through so many of them. the snapper though is bullet proof and a good price at around $650 for the commercial I bought the hi vac and the ninja mulcher great mowers. Other than the snappers there's metal gear box commercial 21" toros and Hondas etc but almost none of them offer side discharge which is strange because I think %80 of commercial mowers are using discharge from what I see if not bagging.
brings me to my last point, you say a grease trans would need to be filled to the top almost, and that's how the snapper 21" differentials are designed (filled almost all the way with grease) but confuses me because thick grease should stick better to gears and thus need less fl oz in there is the opposite of how things are actually done. And yes bentonite is pretty bad - over time it hardens and cakes up on the gearcase wall and fails to actually lube the gears and it can't just be drained, gotta take the whole thing apart and refurbish it clean and re-pack with new bentonite.
But it's true that the SAE30 or 10w30 oil in the actual engine is yes oil slinged around to lube everything and not filled all the way up.
If still reading this, should I use an oil additive to the full synthetic 75w-90 gear oil I'm putting in this trans or don't even bother with that?
thanks again.
ps, the 21" worldlawn they haven't made in a while and yea probably not much to offer there. The bearings I had to replace two on one axle but they are universal size I got a bunch for $2 ea shipped eBay and holding up good since then.
WL makes hydro mowers too, got good commercial reviews on their 36" hydro standers on youtube. the belt drive 28" is basically identical to a 32" shrunken down toro/exmark etc but half the price. They get a bad rep for being cheap but they're good. But there aren't many parts dealers so finding some older parts can be sort of a riddle as you've experienced - it's not like toro you can plug the part number in eBay and find competitive pricing and aftermarket parts for easier but I don't think I'll have to replace anything except spindles until the deck finally rusts out on this 28" which will take many years so I'm happy with it.