I'm getting a lot of different results trying to look this up. Some say regular 10w-30. some say 5w-50. I called john deere and they said what they use was HyGard "low viscosity." But it didn't have numbers on it.
Well there may not be any need for any juice at the moment. I topped it off (maybe 2 or 3 oz) with Mobil1 15w 50. Wanting to test drive it just to see if the tranny worked at all.
It chattered and struggled for the first 4 or 5 ft. But that cleared up and it was moving along fine.
But after about 100ft, there was a few seconds of chatter and vibration, and it just stopped moving.
I checked the belt and the neutral lever. And they were fine.
So I guess those few ounces of mobil 1 was the wrong thing to do.
According to the guy who gave it to me, it's been sitting for a few years.
I'm not sure how it could've gotten air into it. Because the transmission itself was full. I noticed that when I pulled the reservoir out to fix the gas tank. It was only about 1" shy of the reservoir. Actually still a little above the transmission itself, because there's a piece of tubing (about 2" long) that connects the two. It was only about 1/2 down that tubing.
#6
PTmowerMech
Update. I went went back out and check the level again, and it was way down. So if filled it up with the mobil1 and jacked it up and tied the foot pedal down. A few minutes later I checked the level again, and it was down again. I repeated this for about 1qt of oil. lol
Somewhere along the line, the wheels started turning. Faster and faster. But they'd stop if you laid your hand on it.
A funny thing about that neutral lever, every time I engaged the tranny pedal, it would pop out just a little bit. No more than 1/4". While keeping an eye on the oil level, I'd push and pulled it in and out. (killing time). Well, one time I pulled it out and pushed it in, suddenly both tires kicked in and started turning. I put my hand on one to see if it I could stop it. And it was in gear and not even slowing down. Mowed the rest of the front yard.
So tomorrow, I'll go to the JD place and pick up their brand of hydrostat oil and change out the whole thing.
While I was cutting today, (after the tranny started working) the engine just died, like the key was turned off. So I checked he safety switches. All good. Put some water in it. (It wasn't low in the radiator, but the reservoir was empty. Still nothing.
Turn the key to start, no clicking, no nothing. Battery was still charged.
So about an hour later I come back to it, and it fires right up. I'm starting to think someone died on (or under) this mower and the ghost still haunts it.
I would go with the John deere brand. I service my engine oil & filter the beginning of every summer and the fluid & filter on the hydrostat differential every other yr. I found that the JD brand is about the same amount as other major brands of oil.
I'm getting a lot of different results trying to look this up. Some say regular 10w-30. some say 5w-50. I called john deere and they said what they use was HyGard "low viscosity." But it didn't have numbers on it.
The transmission makers recommend 20W50 for their transmissions
John Deer gets them to put in 10W40 because a lot of their customers also push snow
Hydros run hot so what is "best" will depend upon where you are and what you do
The guts of a hydro box have no pressure seals and rely on the viscious friction in the oil to work
Lots of animations on the web to explain just how hydros work and they all work essentially the same regardless of weather they are pistons on a face cam or balls on a cam ring .
Once you understand how they work you will see that your worries are irrevelant
