Here's the process for replacing the electric transaxle on a Recharge Mower G2. Recently I had to replace the transaxle since the bearings gave out on one side. The symptoms that alerted me to this problem was after mowing for a while, I believe the transaxle would either overheat or get stuck which would cause the mower to slow down gradually as you have your foot on the accelerator until it stops completely. The mower would not move until I rocked it and then put it in reverse. Then it would only operate in reverse but not forward. The other symptom of note was a fairly audible squawking sound for every rotation of the tire.
I'm not sure what caused it but I'm theorizing it has to do with the thinner fasteners which rechargemower uses to hold the transaxle to the frame. I noticed that the rubber underneath one of the fasteners got mangled so it seems like that side was slipping and causing the transaxle to shift around while driving when it shouldn't. When rechargemower sent me a new transaxle which I assume came direct from the manufacturer of the electric transaxle in China, it came with wider but slightly shorter fasteners. I trust that the manufacturer of the electric transaxle felt it necessary to have fasteners that wide, so I decided to use theirs instead. As a result, I had to purchase some 8mm x 30mm bolts and use some washers I had laying around to install it with those fasteners instead. Everything seems to work fine with the new transaxle and wider fasteners. I guess only time will tell at this point.
1. Note bad bearing housing causing wobbling and squawking from the old transaxle.
2. Open the back and locate the electric drive motor wire to the motor controller.
3. Note where the wires are plugged in so you know where to later plug the new ones in and unplug those wires.
4. Put the mower on it's but as you normally do to service the deck and place some kind of weight on the seat (I used a box of motor oil) so the mower doesn't come crashing down on you when you remove that heavy transaxle.
5. The new transaxle from rechargemower comes with different wider fasteners for the transaxle. Since the manufacturer of the transaxle thinks a wider fastener is necessary but rechargemower used narrower ones, I decided to use the wider ones. In addition, I felt it would reduce slippage I had noticed since the rubber piece below the fastener got mangled on the old one. In order to use these different fasteners, you will need to buy 8mm x 30mm metric bolts so you can reuse the old lock nuts.
6. You will also need some washers to place underneath the wider fasteners since they are shorter than the rechargemower ones.
7. Install the new transaxle with the bolts, washers and wider fasteners.
8. After getting the tires back on and putting the mower back on the ground, careful with plugging in the wires from the drive motor since bending the fastener too much can cause it to break off (one on black wire broke off). If this happens to you, you can buy some new fasteners at home depot in the electrical section and attach a new one.
9. Reattach the wires to the motor controller and close the housing.
We have the following:
Recharge Mower G2 - Model: G2-RM12; S/N 1201-1000235 - Purchased: 3/17/2012
Would anyone happen to have a scrapped transaxle with a good driveshaft (the splined shaft connecting the motor to the transaxle) - see pic? We would love to keep it in service as the batteries are still good and we have managed to cobble up design problems.
