nh1520
Member
I had a "near hydro death" experience with my 1520 this afternoon and I'm looking for advice. When I got back to the barn after brush hogging, I'm ready to fuel up and take the rest of the afternoon off. I shut everything down and my heart sank when I heard something running. I looked underneath and saw that one of the plastic plugs in the bottom case - near the pto shaft - had been punctured and was leaking hydro oil pretty steady. I must have backed over a stick when I was mowing and - lucky me - it must have came up and hit the plug. I freaked and tried to remove the plug but only managed to push it inside the case and then the hydro oil really started coming out. I'm running around like an idiot trying to find something to stick in the hole to prevent losing all my hydro fluid and ended up ramming a cork in the hole to stop the leak. The cork is holding and I won't be running until I get it fixed. Question is - what should I put back in the hole (maybe 1/2" diameter) that will take some heat and fit tight and where do I get one? After I got the cork in there, I started cussing the plastic plugs until I got to thinking that since I ended up pushing it inside I'm probably better off than a metal one.
Thankfully I was almost finished when I nailed the stick and only mowed maybe 5 or 10 minutes. I back tracked and could follow the oil trail the whole way back to the barn. I ended up losing 1 1/2 gallons of hydro - but it could have been much worse if I would have punctured the plug when I was just getting started. I'm settled down some now - thanks to the cork and having a couple gallons of hydro oil in reserve. Thanks for the advice and help.
Thankfully I was almost finished when I nailed the stick and only mowed maybe 5 or 10 minutes. I back tracked and could follow the oil trail the whole way back to the barn. I ended up losing 1 1/2 gallons of hydro - but it could have been much worse if I would have punctured the plug when I was just getting started. I'm settled down some now - thanks to the cork and having a couple gallons of hydro oil in reserve. Thanks for the advice and help.