Did I hurt the Pump/Trans?

[Joelk]

I have a 3165 Cub Cadet that has the shaft drive Hydrostatic Transmission.

It had a leak from the bottom of the rear axle housing and I removed the rear end cover to try to stop the leak. I put it back together with some silicone sealer and then drove it to my shed to park it. As I pulled it into the shed I noticed that the trans and power steering were acting up and I just got it pulled into the shed as it quit moving and lost power steering.

The rear was full of fluid and the only thing I could think of was that I must have sucked up a piece of silicone and it was blocking a passage somewhere in the system. I assumed I was going to need to tear the entire trans down.

I pulled the entire trans/rear out of it (took about 2.5 hours) and then pulled the rear axle cover off. No loose silicone, but I did find what was causing the problem. I apparently left a paper towel in the rear axle and it got sucked into the pump pickup. I felt like one of the Surgeons that left a sponge in a patient. The paper towel is intact so I don't think any if it went through the system, I think it was just starving the pump of oil.

I drove the tractor about 100 yards before it stopped moving and I probably left it running for another 30 to 60 seconds trying to figure out what was wrong.

DID I BURN ANYTHING UP IN THE PUMP/TRANS?

I don't want to tear the pump/trans apart if I don't need to, but by the same token, I don't want to spend 5 hours putting it back in and tearing it out again, if it is definately damaged.

Any way to test the pump without putting it back in the tractor?

 

[ray66v]

There was oil in there, so I would expect it to be fine.

 

[Thomas]

Welcome to TBN.
Would there be in line screen/screens in hyd. lines which maybe plug?

 

[Yandaddy1110]

I just finished rebuilding my hydro-pump last weekend. Sounds like it just ran out of fluid to pump and stopped. All the parts inside were not hot and were coated with hydro fluid so I would say everything should be ok.
Dont feel bad about the paper towel, I thought I had left 2 rubber bands in my rebuilt hydro unit ,wasnt entirely sure, slept on it, then decided to resplit the tractor and unbolt the hydro. Sure enough, I had left those binders in there. Cost me a day, but saved me countless potential future problems.

 

[Joelk]

Thanks for the replies.

I called the local CC Dealer and talked to Mechanic today. He said that no longer than I ran it, he thought it would probably be OK.

After work I started putting it back together and just finished getting it back together enough to start it up. No test drive (no fenders/seat or gas tank) but I started it long enough to confirm that I got power steering and forward/reverse so I think it is probably OK and I will finish reassembly tomorrow.

Morris9460, if it's not OK, how hard is it to rebuild the pump and about how much did parts cost?

 

[Yandaddy1110]

The hydro-pump are really simple machines, not much to them. My tractor is a Kubota , but the hydro and gear case is made by Daikin of Japan. If I had bought all the parts that I replaced from my Kubota dealer costs would have been over $1000. I researched Daikin, found a company called Sauer Danfoss who distributes Daikin products in the US, and a company called Hydro Gear that supports parts for Daikin hydros. These hydros are used in many big name tractor companies like John Deere , Kubota, many others. Anyway, fortunately I have a Hydro Gear parts dealer close to me, so I could order parts direct, they also have many in stock, just not the ones I needed. Anyway, cost in parts was about $200 from hydro gear and $100 from Kubota, then I had the back plate resurfaced for $70, at a machine shop. Oh yea, also needed a new gasket, Hydro Gear charged $14 for the gasket and seal kit, but it wasnt exactly the one for my hydro unit, so I had to go to the Kubota Dealer for it,$42 for just the gasket.