Cub cadet RZT 50 hydrostatic transmission

[Diamondpilot]

These mowers suck. My cousin bough one new at TSC 4 years ago. He has replace one tranny, the electric clutch, many of the switches and relays, 5 belts due to a misaligned deck that is now cracking, 1 spindle, and just last night broke the drive shaft on the other tranny. I took it apart and welded it all back up but now can not get it to take any oil through the vent.

How do you get the 60oz of oil back in the tranny?

Chris

 

[JTKub]

... but now can not get it to take any oil through the vent.

How do you get the 60oz of oil back in the tranny?

Chris

If it won't take oil from the top vent you need to use the fill port:

 

[Diamondpilot]

Well we got it. It did not have a fill port unless it was the 1/4" Allen Screw that we could not get off. I bet we put 100 ft lbs of force on the wrench and still could not budge it.

Anyway we adapted a hose to the fill vent hose then hooked it to a hand pump and put it in via pressure. When we went to take the hose off it sprayed out a little oil in a foamy mist but we only lost maybe 1 oz. It worked fine but took some effort. I had read on a few other sites where others reported having to do the same thing and put the oil in via pressure. One guy even used a basketball pump. Its off and running so all is good for now.

Chris

 

[JTKub]

Well we got it. It did not have a fill port unless it was the 1/4" Allen Screw that we could not get off. I bet we put 100 ft lbs of force on the wrench and still could not budge it.

That's the one. You need a strong Allen socket and breaker bar/cheater. At least you got it filled. I have heard of owners force feeding them that way. Worst case you'd blow the input or output shaft seal from the pressure. That top vent is your only vent.

Joel

 

[Jamesisit]

New member here. Sorry to say folks but all your Frustrations are being taken out on the wrong Company.
The Company you want is Hydro-Gear, who is the Manufacture of these JUNK Transaxials. They have Admitted several times, and their repair people have also stated that these Transaxials have a Manufacturing and inservice Problem. The fact has been stated that they used Single surface seals ( RTV ) on the Case halves, and that the input shafts will allow water into the units. Water is what starts the problems. Contaminated Oil, 20W-50, that has water in it will foam up inside, causing the units to begin to overheat. The Overheating causes the Oil to expand, and belch out of the overflow port, which you may or may not see, causing more air to become entraped in the system, causing more overheating and the slowing of operation, until the point where enough oil has come out that the pump is mostly just cavatating with no Oil and the unit stops.
If this has happened and you have completely Drained and refilled the unit as soon as the first occurance happens you May have saved your Transaxial. If not or this has happened several times you need to have the unit REPLACED. There has been internal Damage done!
As these units are on Numerious Makers and Models of Lawn Tractors and Zero Turn Mowers there NEEDS to be a Class Action Suit Brought against HYDRO-GEAR, as they have a KNOWN issue that mostly occurs J.U.S.T. after your warranty is up. If anyone out there has the connections to start this Suit I sure would love to get involved. A $500.00 part plus installation costs, is outragious for Consumers to have to pay, especially since this is a issue that EVERYONE that has worked on these Hydro-Gear Transaxials and the Manufacturer Knows about. Sorry about the Bad News Folks. But it's really not a Cub issue.

 

[DSELLERS]

Just got off the phone with service manager at Dixie Sales and Service in Summit, NC. Concerning the hydrogear EZT transaxles on my 2004 RZT 50.
He said, not the single surface seal still being used on the hydrogear models.
On the older models like mine , the vent tube sticks straight up allowing water to infiltrate into the tube causing the problem. A bent tube attachment is available to retrofit and solve the problem. On the newer models a vent cap is used, unfortunately it can be dislodged by spraying high pressure water around the vent. If you catch the problem early enough, remove the transaxle and change the fluid, and replace. if it is not caught soon enough the unit is scored and needs replacing. So check your vents and watch your water infiltration.

 

[DSELLERS]

Have solved the problem. Removal transazle, pretty easy, no water found in the oil. Pretty dark considering only 60 hours use. Drained and changed the fluid through the fill hole on the trans axle, no problem, used Amzoil 20/50, takes the heat much better. Did a long mow, no problems now.

 

[RICKYMARK]

Ok guys, my first post was back in April of 2008 when my left Transaxel when out. After months of battleing with Cub and an admission from Hrdro Gear about the condensation build up in the Trans. followed by a royal blessing out from the Head of service at Cub, they agreed to replaced it under warranty, which it was. That was at 60 hours. Got the tractor back from the shop roughly two months after it went belly up and - oh yeah, had threatend a class action and did actually file a complaint with Consumer Product Safety Commision because of the safety concerns with the thing going out with not warning, nearly killed a kid with it. Tonight it did it again. Exactly 116 hours. ZERO water has been in contact with that tractor I made durn sure of that after the discussion with the service dept. guy who called from Cub. Looks like it's a 60 hour failure problem and piece of junk. I'm ready to just trash it and pay somebody to cut my grass. The cost of a mower and repairs aint' worth it. I cut the same 3 1/2 acres witha little 42" craftsman that I still have for over 6 years - just takes hours and hours - go figure.

 

[RICKYMARK]

So here's my proposal, anyone who has had a failure of these transaxles, go to the following FORM and Fill it out. That's the Consumer Product Safety Commision Incident Report. If no injury, just indicate NA in the victim field. Describe in detail in the summary field what the Potential for injury is if if goes out while you are mowing, for instance in my case on one occasion when the left side went out it nearly took off my wife's feet and in another I almost rolled into a deep ravine. Then fill in the model numbers etc. and submit it. We might be able to get a recall if enough file complaints but it will have to be done by cub, not Hydro Gear, cub will have to go after Hydro Gear.

 

[GrassCatcher]

I am having the same problem with the left side tran on my 03 RZT50. Nearing 600 hrs on mine as I am a lawn pro. One thing you can do to get it back on the trailer is to run a hose over the tran for about a min to cool the exterior. That will get you going for about 30 minutes or so. I am going to tear mine apart this week, drain out the oil and replace it with new 20/50 synthetic. It is maddening to say the least. Thank God I found this forum!