SCAG Tiger Cub will not engage transmission

[RogerWilkins]

I am a newbie to Zero turn mowers. I have both a very old Yazoo that continues to perform and a SCAG Tiger Cub at my home in Rural Arkansas. The SCAG is always the preferred mover. This last 4th of July weekend we were at our Arkansas home and moved about 4 acres with the SCAG which performed very well. My son who was moving went to mow a small ditch when the transmission stopped.
This is after mowing about 4 acres with no issues. When we got it back to the garage, the hydraulic fluid was extremely low which according to the manual should be about 3 inches from the top. It is at least 6 inches down, maybe more. There is a metal tube insert in the hydraulic tank that has a hole in in about half way up. The fluid in the tank is not up to the hole. Part of my family had to go back to Texas and I had to go back to Tennessee. BTW, the mower starts readily and the PTO works fine as well. The transmission will not engage. Is there a good chance that the mover is simply too low on hydraulic fluid (20W-50) according to the manual? When we fill up the resevoir is there something else we should do? If this does not do the trick, I need to transport it back to Texas to the dealer.
BTW - There was a little left to go on the yard when this happened. We aired up the tires in the Yazoo and it finished the remainder like a champ. Thanks for any answers or help!

 

[ILENGINE]

Check the drive belt for the hydro drive units. Could of came off due to stick or something else. Or the belt broke.

 

[RogerWilkins]

Thanks for the reply. All of the belts seem to be intact. I am hoping that it is the very low hydraulic fluid level.

 

[Mad Mackie]

The oil level should be up to the bottom of the aluminum tube, the small hole in the tube should face the high side of the hole. This hole is there to vent the tube so oil doesn't rise up the tube and blow out the vent in the filler cap.
A Tiger Cub has two separate pumps and wheel motors, each controlled by their respective travel levers. Where the hydraulic system becomes common is in the reservoir. The return oil from either the pumps and or wheel motors flows back into the reservoir. From the reservoir, the oil flows thru the oil filter,(the white filter behind the left rear wheel) and back to supply to pumps. Both pumps are driven by a single drive segmented V belt. If the machine will not respond to either travel lever, I would check the pump drive belt. Scag recommends that this belt be replaced every 400 hours and the pulleys be inspected and or replaced. This V belt is under tension by an idler arm with a pulley and a fixed pulley, both pulleys are under the engine deck, but the idler arm and tension spring are above the engine deck, under the seat area.
As a quick check of the hydraulic oil, remove the reservoir cap, stick a long magnet down into the oil in the reservoir and check it for ferrous metal contamination.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

 

[RogerWilkins]

MM - Thanks so much for the detailed info and operation of the Mover. This is very much appreciated. I will check this out as soon as I can and let everyone know the outcome.

 

[RogerWilkins]

Mad Mackie - Thanks again for your info. I am pretty sure we have found the issue but are not 100% positive. Just made a whirlwind trip to our Arkansas property over the Labor day weekend - 10 hour drive each way and I had to be back on Sunday morning. Filled up the hydraulic fluid as per your information and went again to look at the belts and pulleys as best I could. To my surprise the tension spring was disconnected. When reconnected it pulled the pulleys to their proper place.

The disappointing part was the battery was dead and we had to leave in a hour and put a maintenance charger on it so we can check the next time through. It does sound like an obvious solution.

Thanks!