Just replaced the L/H pump on my Tiger Cub

[Mad Mackie]

What was supposed to be a fairly easy job turned into a nasty job!!!
No matter what I did to attempt to remove the pump drive pulley, I failed to remove the pulley and ended up cutting it off with a die grinder.
I have a pit in my garage which makes underside work on machines easier, but this job was nasty and after going thru 5 cut off discs, the pulley fell off!
My new 20 gallon air compressor wouldn't keep up with the demand for air of the die grinder, so I had to pause and let it pump up many times.
Anyway, the new L/H pump is installed along with a new pulley. I reconnected the hoses and cranked the pump by hand to make sure that the charge pump was moving oil.
I went thru the bleeding procedure and now the machine is back in service.
It took overnight for the air to leave the oil in the reservoir.
The old L/H pump had been giving me a fit now and then, the machine was due for its 400 hour drive belt replacement, so I decided to do the pump while I was at it. I removed the old hyd oil filter, cut it open and didn't find any foreign material in it and the hyd reservoir was clean.
So I'm back in business, behind with my mowing, $1,000 lighter in the pocketbook and it is supposed to go above 90 degrees today!!! Oh well!!!:laughing:

 

[John R]

How many hours were on that pump you changed out?

 

[Mad Mackie]

Hi John,
The pump has about 800 hours and was original 2007 equipment. Last fall the L/H side started getting jittery particularly reversing. Last March I bought a new L/H pump and just got around to replacing it. The new pump is the updated version that is installed on Tiger Cats. I noticed that the Tiger Cat IIs have the fan cooled pumps and I like that, but no room on Tiger Cubs or Tiger Cats for the fan cooled pumps. I have thought about an additional oil cooler, just haven't got around to doing it. Older Turf Tigers have a double oil cooler in one mount and I have been thinking along that line.
I'm going to take the old pump apart to try to determine what was ailing it.
I cut the old hyd oil filter open and didn't find any crud in it, so I feel confident that the system will work fine.
I just mowed for 1 hour and the hyd oil level dropped slightly, but no air bubbles in the oil. I'll top it off when the system is cool.
After about 5-10 hours of operation, I'll drain the reservoir and refill.

 

[clay45]

I wonder how reliable the fans are and what happens if they break?

Having used my Tiger Cat for a couple of years now I opted to change out the hydro oil and filter this spring before putting it to use. I was surprised to notice a difference in the smoothness and sound of operation after doing so. Not that anything was wrong before but it made me aware that for a few quarts of 20W-50 and a new filter each year might actually benefit the service life. And it was simple to do.