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Hi,

To be honest, never thought I would have to join a forum to get help on fixing my x300... supposed to be a life long tractor... oh well.

The tractor sounds like my old bus driver grinding away the gears on the bus going to school.

The top pully on the tranny is wobbly... is it that or something deep inside? How can I tell? I am almost ready to pull the hydro off and see whats in the oil, refill, but not confident that all it needs is some new fluid...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

vr

If your lucky it can just be a loose pulley. The way your describing the grinding sound like the input shaft or bearing is shot.

How many hours on the machine? If I'm correct it has the Tuff Torq K46 hydro and those are known to have a short lifespan, expensive to replace too. A loose pulley and fan would be a stroke of luck though.

Could also be a twig or similar rubbing on the fan.

bertsmobile1 said:

Could also be a twig or similar rubbing on the fan.

Click to expand...

I work at a Deere dealership. The pulley is made of a softer metal than the transmission shaft. Deere has done this on many models all way back into the 90's. As part of our annual inspection program, we check these pulleys. The reason the pulley is made this way is so that you dont have to replace the transmission shaft as that would be very costly. I would put money on it that your issue is just the pulley. And the best part is that Deere designed the tractor so you dont have to drop the tranny to replace the pulley. The belt tension spring is connected at the right rear of the tractor frame. Everything is accessible from the rear of the tractor. You may have to remove 2 bolts to get the little sheetmetal shield out of the way if your tractor has it. Wrap a piece of pull rope around the spring and pull it off it's mount to release belt tension. Then you can roll the belt off the pulley and replace the pulley. Good luck!

Thanks Guys!

Checked the pully on top and it is very loose and wobbly - I have my fingers crossed that that's all it may be!!

vr

vrajcula said:

Hi,

... supposed to be a life long tractor ...

Click to expand...

Haha ... no. You've glanced at the subject lines within this subforum, right?

Riding mowers are exponentially more complicated and costly compared to push mowers. The nicer ones, such as what you and I have, tend to delay the expense and effort due to their toughness, but when it's necessary, repairs should be greater than the el cheapo models. I'm currently envious of folks with crappy hardware store riding mowers who can cheerily buy $35 complete deck spindle assemblies every few years. Wanna know why? No, you don't.

The world is waiting for a multi-blade, rideable design that doesn't have these sorts of basic, but curiously common issue. Currently there's a whole lot of "not invented here" going on.

Hopefully, Will's explanation holds true, despite the lack of reasoning as to why either trans shaft or pulley really "needs" to be made sacrificial.

(and sorry for the rant)

deckeda said:

Haha ... no. You've glanced at the subject lines within this subforum, right?

Riding mowers are exponentially more complicated and costly compared to push mowers. The nicer ones, such as what you and I have, tend to delay the expense and effort due to their toughness, but when it's necessary, repairs should be greater than the el cheapo models. I'm currently envious of folks with crappy hardware store riding mowers who can cheerily buy $35 complete deck spindle assemblies every few years. Wanna know why? No, you don't.

The world is waiting for a multi-blade, rideable design that doesn't have these sorts of basic, but curiously common issue. Currently there's a whole lot of "not invented here" going on.

Hopefully, Will's explanation holds true, despite the lack of reasoning as to why either trans shaft or pulley really "needs" to be made sacrificial.

(and sorry for the rant)

Click to expand...

Deckeda, I couldn't agree with you more. I have been working at the Deere dealership since 1998, and I have always wondered why the transmission pulley wasn't designed to last the life of the mower. The drive pulley on the crankshaft of the engine lasts the lifetime of the machine, how hard would it be to do the same with the transmission pulley? I'm not an engineer, but I suppose they have their reasons. Maybe someone on this forum can lend more insight.

YOu always design in a weak link.
If done properly it is the easiest part to replace.
If the item is only ever going to be operated by suitably trained people you can design the weak link out.

But alas there are a lot of brain dead blobs sitting in the driving seat of a mower so you need them in there.

In many of the posts, the first time a lot of people do any thing resembling maintenance is when the neglected part fails.

bertsmobile1 said:

YOu always design in a weak link.
If done properly it is the easiest part to replace.
If the item is only ever going to be operated by suitably trained people you can design the weak link out.

But alas there are a lot of brain dead blobs sitting in the driving seat of a mower so you need them in there.

In many of the posts, the first time a lot of people do any thing resembling maintenance is when the neglected part fails.

Click to expand...

Thanks, bertsmobile1. I knew someone here could put it in the right words!