TuffTorq K46 Repair Guide with Pictures

[GeneralEclectic]

Hiya folks. Here's an update on my (new) K46CR: We had the bizarre Northeast Halloween Snowstorm here last year. Electricity out for almost a week, trees destroyed everywhere, including some on my property. After things settled down and the tree guys were here to take down the (4) ruined trees, we gave the Husqvarna YTH24V42LS quite a workout. First by pulling a 500lb log splitter around the property, and then by carting thousands of pounds of split logs uphill/downhill to the spots where they were to be stacked. Needless to say, it was kind of abusive to the K46. We hauled a LOT of wood, 300-400lb at a time.

Anyway, now the trans has about 40 hours of hard run time on it, so I wanted to switch it over to synthetic oil. For this I chose Amsoil 15W-50 Racing Oil. Why? Because it has 100% fully synthetic base stock and a huge package of friction modifiers. The latter is why this isn't approved for street usage -- there's too high a probability of damage to cats. But for a hydro, this is exactly what you want -- high stability under extreme pressure. Look at the 4-ball wear test --just what you want for use in a hydro.

It was easy to drain the factory fill out the "vent" opening. Just over 2Q. came out. There was an visible "sparkle" to the oil, presumably from very tiny particles of aluminum since ferrous particles would have been captured by the magnets. While I have no quantitative data on oil condition, qualitatively, I was glad to get that stuff out of there.

I had little trouble purging the air. About 15 seconds of operation with the freewheel engaged, and then 15 seconds with it in normal position did the trick. The trans works great now. Subjectively (and yes, I realize that The Placebo Effect may be operative) it pulls just a bit stronger with slightly less whine. Objectively, it runs cooler. After a very tough mowing session, the trans was cool enough to hold your hand on it without any discomfort.

Based on what I saw in that 40-hour oil, I can't imagine following the "no replacement" advice. Their 50-250-450-.... recommendation is much closer to reality, whether it's for commercial or homeowner use.

 

[zr600]

How many hours do you guys have on these trannies when they die and what were your uses or abuses should i say? I looking at a x300 with 400 hours i think the tranny is really the only thing to worry about.

 

[GeneralEclectic]

I'm really beginning to think that someone (us) ought to see about filing a Class Action Lawsuit against these scam artists.

As some have noted here previously, people tend not to post "Gee, everything's working great with my K46!" kinds of topics. What one sees here is mostly discussion about problems thus it could easily appear that the situation is much worse than it actually is. For instance, I'd read all these K46 posts before I bought my new YTH24V42LS last year. The sales guy at my dealer (very reputable and in business for decades -- and the "sales" guys are actually the service guys too) looked at me quizzically when I asked about the "weak K46". They sell a ton of JD, Husq, CC, etc. that have K46s in them and he said "We've never had to repair or replace one." He's a no-BS kinda guy, so I took him at his word. And it's not like there's no hilly terrain around here in Eastern PA either. Given this, I'm not too sure that a class action suit would have legs, although it would be kind of interesting to hear what kinds of failure rates actually occur.

IMO, the DIY repair isn't an unreasonable answer, given the (alleged) unexceptional failure rate of these things. Unfortunately, last year's great deal on complete transaxles from Sears has evaporated because they've applied some price increases. However, they still occasionally offer the 10% off, so it's still possible to do okay on a new one.

I think the best approach is to bite the bullet and get your trans back into near-new condition and then religiously replace the oil with the best stuff you can put in there.

 

[IMO]

I was at about 300 hours on my L118 when it lost its power and I ended up getting it rebuilt. My half acre yard is partially sloped. I'd pulled a plug aerator and tine dethatcher on my lawn in addition to mowing. Plus I occasionally pull my 13 cubic foot trailer with wood up a slight incline from our back woods. I thought I had caused the damage to the tranny myself by running with the transmission release lever only partially engaged, but TuffTorq says that it is either fully engaged or disengaged - I'm not convinced, but who knows. Either way, at the end of 2010, my tranny was cooked. I bought my L118 in 2005, too. I hope your oil change works for you.

It seems we do the same work with the L118, I use the tine thatcher and tow the Deere 10P cart (logs, rocks, all the good stuff) no aerator though, about 3/4 acre no incline to speak of.
I read some where about the engine being hard to start, saying the reason was the valves may need adjustment, so I adjusted the valves.

Rusting under the rubber of the foot rest and underneath of the same you may want to check.

I read in the L118 manual that leaving the transmission release lever out when starting the engine, could cause transmission damage (guilty myself). It makes me wonder if that is causing some of these KV46 problems.

 

[gtunney]

I read in the L118 manual that leaving the transmission release lever out when starting the engine, could cause transmission damage (guilty myself). It makes me wonder if that is causing some of these KV46 problems.

I believe that is what happened with mine. I was dethatching the lawn on a hot day and noticed I was actually getting stuck pulling the dethatcher which raised the "what the heck" flag for me. When I stopped to look over the tractor, I noticed I had left the transmission release partially extended. When I pushed the release back in, the tractor behaved better, but obviously down on pulling power from that time forward.

I now have about 40 hours on the rebuilt unit and so far, so good. I think I'll try replacing the fluid at the end of this season.

 

[frankngail]

JD STX38 , black deck TT K55 hydro
I bought & installed the K55 repair kit....... but doing a "bench test" (driving the pulley with my electric drill), the shafts are turning in the reverse (opposite) direction...... I'm quite sure I installed the "swash plate with the proper orientation, but am reluctant to reinstall into the tractor & the have to pull it again..... anyone have a thought?

 

[GeneralEclectic]

In my recurring role as Captain Obvious, let's review:

Thesis: Something, we don't know what, may be backwards.

Possibilities:
1) Operator is backwards
1a) Drill running wrong direction
1b) Transmission Front-Rear orientation reversed (thus observed wheel direction wrong)
1c) Foward-Reverse control input reversed from correct orientation
2) Swash plate upside down

If it ain't 1a/b/c, it has to be 2.

 

[klem]

Now fire up your tractor and drive off in to the Sunset

Mine worked fine immediately. I heard others had to get the air out by bleeding the transmission?

Here is how you do that: https://www.tufftorqservices.com/EnvEEdefault/FlatHTML/TechInfo/docs/AirPurging.htm



Drop me a line if this guide helped you : )
Brit

Can someone tell me what and where is the "bypass (tow) valve" mentioned in the above Tuff Torq article?

 

[GeneralEclectic]

It's located on the top of the trans, more or less between the direction input shaft (which is horizontal) and the power input shaft. The bypass valve shaft is vertical. The purpose is to open the motor cylinders to "bypass" the fluid around the cylinders. In that state, the motor can't develop any torque, either by high pressure fluid from the pump or by being back-driven from the output shaft. To drain the fluid effectively, you need to open the bypass valve so any oil in the motor can drain out -- thus introducing air into the motor circuit. This is the air that has to be purged when restarting the transmission after an oil change.

In my transmission, CW rotation of the valve opens it. CCW puts it in position for normal operation.

 

[klem]

Thanks. I get it now. The "tow" must then refer to the fact that when the connecting rod is pulled out all the way, you can tow the tractor without resistance from the trany. Ok, spot on. Now, next question. And I mean no offense to the folks at Tuff Torq, but that document is not very well written. Step 5 says "When vehicle starts to move..." This is impossible based on step 2: "Place vehicle's drive axle on jack stands"! The jack stands are not removed till step 7, so do they really mean, "when the rear wheels start to turn"??