Toro 20332 Recycler - rear drive issue

[slomo]

The recycler and super recycler are made now, to a price point. 20 years ago they were made to last. Get a commercial if you want a good Toro pusher. Course they don't have the personal pace and have a ton of levers to hold onto. I dislike holding onto levers while mowing.

The SR mulches great. Love the aluminum deck too. Love the personal pace drive system. Not as robust and reliable as the Snapper driven disk but what else is? LOL

Would love to have a Toro Super Recycler with the Kawasaki FJ180V engine and the Snapper drive system. That would be a mulching machine.

slomo

 

[deminin]

I had similar troubles with my Toro 20332 last year...grinding noises, etc. The wheels and gears all seemed ok, but when I checked the transmission, it was shot...the main bearing was bad, and the pinion gear was worn. I wound up replacing the entire transmission and it has worked great since.

 

[slomo]

I had similar troubles with my Toro 20332 last year...grinding noises, etc. The wheels and gears all seemed ok, but when I checked the transmission, it was shot...the main bearing was bad, and the pinion gear was worn. I wound up replacing the entire transmission and it has worked great since.

I figured the trans was bad in mine too. Only like 65 bucks now. I need to pull the head on mine. Has no compression. Might be a loose valve seat possibly.

Think the issue with these transmissions is the use of heavy #2 wheel bearing grease. It dries up to a mud consistency. Youtube has a guy that opens several up. Looked like grease failure to me. I would of preferred a lighter grease like Snapper's 00 grade grease. It's a pudding like consistency that flows well, thick enough to not leak out.

slomo

 

[rice4me]

Took the rear wheels off. Rear pinion gears look ok. This model the pinion gears just slide onto the rear drive shaft. Little C clip secures the gear on. This is not the ratcheting pinion gears as on other models.

Issue is it's hard to pull backwards and makes a lot of grinding/complaining noises while pushing forward, all this engine OFF.

With rear wheels removed, both pinion gears turn freely both directions with no binding. You can turn one side one way and the other side the other way to both the same direction, no issues.

My guess is the pinion gears are done. Maybe the wheels too. Guessing the mesh is off due to wear??

Pulls okay with engine on. Something is not right. Tried PP cable adjustments. Mower was made in 2012. What do you guys think?
View attachment 57089

Took the rear wheels off. Rear pinion gears look ok. This model the pinion gears just slide onto the rear drive shaft. Little C clip secures the gear on. This is not the ratcheting pinion gears as on other models.

Issue is it's hard to pull backwards and makes a lot of grinding/complaining noises while pushing forward, all this engine OFF.

With rear wheels removed, both pinion gears turn freely both directions with no binding. You can turn one side one way and the other side the other way to both the same direction, no issues.

My guess is the pinion gears are done. Maybe the wheels too. Guessing the mesh is off due to wear??

Pulls okay with engine on. Something is not right. Tried PP cable adjustments. Mower was made in 2012. What do you guys think?
View attachment 57089

Check to see if there is any wear in the wheel gears. I have a lawn boy that is about 15 years old. About 10 years ago I heard a grinding noise coming from the wheel gear area. I removed the dust cover and re-installed the wheel. When turning the wheel by hand I observed that only the outside tip of the wheel gear was making contact with the pinion. I determined that the wheel mounting plate was toed-in due to pressure applied by the height adjustment lever. To correct this I installed a nut spacer directly behind the end of the wheel mounting bolt and the mower body. Here is a link to the video showing my fix. Hope this helps.