D170 - extending K46 transmission life?

[jenkinsph]

Do you have one shred of proof any damage would be done? No of course you don’t- all it would do is void his warranty. If tranny is kept clean of debris on flat piece of property Owner can expect years of trouble free use. In addition technology has improved over last decade for seals and such in K46

I know you have a bad taste in your mouth after a K46 burnt out on you 6 or 7 years into use. The K46 is by far the most sold hydrostatic transmission in use today- with millions of them in use as I type this post

Mine started to fail at about 200 hour mark by the time it got to 260 hours top speed was about half of normal.

We all have our own opinions based on our own experiences. I have to tell you that YOUR OPINION is just that.

 

[crazyal]

It's up to you, either you can try to be gentle on it by avoiding doing things that work it hard like pulling a loaded cart or you can be proactive (and possibly void your warranty). I've heard of people using an oil extractor pump for changing the engine oil in a boat. They just pump it out through the fill port. I would assume you could remove the transmission and turn it upside down to drain out the oil or go through the work of adding drains. I personally would just try the oil extraction pump and change the oil every 50 hours and use what Deere says to use. I don't think it would void the warranty. After the first change you could have it sampled or at least note the color. If it looks black and burnt compared to what the new stuff looks like then I may not wait 50 hours. If it looks in good shape then maybe wait longer between changes. Once out of warranty I would switch to a full synthetic, maybe something designed for high temperatures.

 

[TX mower]

^^ FYI The K46BE has two oil access ports: a 'fill cap' and a 'breather cap', either which can be used for drain/ fill /level determination purposes. In the D170 application dropping the tranny is required to access either one for removal of the cap and to provide for proper fill-level determination.

Once that's done (a straightforward quick task with the chassis properly supported) it's easiest to just invert the tranny to drain, thereby emptying both of the 'sumps' cast in the tranny case. That also allows careful actuation of the pump with, for example, a variable-speed power drill, to effect more complete evacuation of the system and proper bleeding upon refill. The unit is small and light enough (~ 27 lbs full) that doing the work on the bench is quite reasonable.

IMHO your suggestions regarding evaluating the condition of the oil and using that as an indicator for tranny stress / maintenance intervals, as well as switching to known full-synthetic after warranty, are both quite valid.

If, especially after switching to synth, the oil condition indicates that more than once-per-year changes are appropriate .... well then I've indeed made a poor choice for my use and will consider what to do at that point.

Thanks for your comments :thumbsup:

 

[js5020]

Don't panic, as someone else said earlier,, K46 issues are overblown. I have an X300R with 370+ hrs, 7 yrs old and I'm always hauling a heavy bag of grass on the back end, up and down short but sometimes steep hills, not a problem to date and it still has the original oil in the transaxle.

 

[Rural newby]

I have a Deere D170 with the K46 trans that I bought in 2014. It has 80 hours on it with no issues, so far. I would like to keep it that way. I have 2 acres, mostly flat, with a grass covered sand mound that requires cutting. One side of the mound is steeper than the other three so I mow down the steep side and across the other three sides. The steep side is about 10 feet in length. The entire mound is around 25' X 25'. The tractor has no problem cutting while driving up this steeper side, but I prefer to cut going down hill. Is this mound an issue for the D170 trans and is there a better way to mow this particular area? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[BoylermanCT]

My Craftsman mower has a K46, and I have 509 hours on it. I mow mostly flat with some hills. The mounts sheared off the front of the transmission at 490 hours. I changed the fluids when I removed the transmission to drill out the sheared bolts. Ended up changing the mounting method to have the bolt go clean through the transmission so I could add a nut on the end instead of having the bolt screw into the casing itself. They say the K46 does not need fluid changes, but if you change the oil every couple of years it should last a long time.

 

[LouNY]

^^ FYI The K46BE has two oil access ports: a 'fill cap' and a 'breather cap', either which can be used for drain/ fill /level determination purposes. In the D170 application dropping the tranny is required to access either one for removal of the cap and to provide for proper fill-level determination.

Once that's done (a straightforward quick task with the chassis properly supported) it's easiest to just invert the tranny to drain, thereby emptying both of the 'sumps' cast in the tranny case. That also allows careful actuation of the pump with, for example, a variable-speed power drill, to effect more complete evacuation of the system and proper bleeding upon refill. The unit is small and light enough (~ 27 lbs full) that doing the work on the bench is quite reasonable.

IMHO your suggestions regarding evaluating the condition of the oil and using that as an indicator for tranny stress / maintenance intervals, as well as switching to known full-synthetic after warranty, are both quite valid.

If, especially after switching to synth, the oil condition indicates that more than once-per-year changes are appropriate .... well then I've indeed made a poor choice for my use and will consider what to do at that point.

Thanks for your comments :thumbsup:

I did the oil change in my K46 2 years ago, and should have done it a year sooner.
I used Mobile 1 20W-50 and it really helped the transmission.
It is kind of a pain to have to remove it and turn it upside down to drain but it's not a bad job to do.

 

[man00]

Not a K46 but on my kubota t1670 I used a small 12v pump. Went in through the fill cap and pumped out all the oil I could.
The oil was dirty and in need of change, if I recall think I got about 3.5qt..it ran better once done.

 

[1MOA]

I have a John Deere D170 with 102.1 hrs on it and the K46 has failed. Was dealer serviced at 50 and 80 hrs. John Deere says they will NOT cover ANY of the cost to replace the transmission.

 

[Richard001]

Well this seems to be a common issue with these hydro transmissions. A transmission should not fail with just a little over 100 hours. I never was a fan of the hydro transmissions, and I guess this is one of the reasons.

I can't believe that JD can't put together a transmission that would outlast the engine. But then, if you make a bullet proof transmission, how will you increase repair part profits?

Richard