finish mower oil from vent

[tornadowatchranch]

I recently got a great deal on a 7 year old 84 inch land pride finish mower. It was bought from a golf course so I figured it was well used. After filling gear oil to the proper level (bottom plug per the manual) shortly after running, it starts leaking from the vent hole. There is no noise or excessive heat (warm to touch after 20 minutes) after allowing time to drain back down it does not even show on dipstick. There is probably 8 ounces that came out of the vent. It spins quietly by hand when unhooked from the tractor. The first 3 people at the dealer had no idea of the problem. The last guy said that when the gears are worn it froths more inside of the gearbox and to either get a new box $$$$ or fill it with corn head grease. I leave it to the TBN brain trust to guide me here

1. any other ideas?

2. When a gearbox does give up does it seize (worried about damaging tractor here) or do they start clanking and making noise first?

I did a search and was not satisfied with how that related to my problem. One poster said not to worry as gearboxes vent until they reach the level they want???

 

[sweettractors]

Make sure the gearbox has a non foaming mineral based oil in it. We use a GL 90 in most of ours. Ken Sweet

 

[Soundguy]

I agree.. what oil are you filling it with? 80w90? or something thinner.

as long as there are no seals leaking, and the input shaft and the output shaft have no in/out/side-side play, and the shaft turns smoothly with no feeling of tooth skip on multiple revoloutions, then I would do the following.

drain oil in there and refill with an 85-140 oil like Mr sweet suggests.. ie.. non foaming, and I would also shoot in a few pumps.. or more than a few pumps of gun grease, then go mow with her. ( cornhead greas on top of the gear oil would be ok too )..

run her and keep check. the heavier oil / oil and grease slurry should still lube and cling to gears and slump to fill voids, but should be less likely to make it out of the brethar.

an oily residue at the breather is more or less normal.. but -loosing- oil is not. IE.. the oily residue might account for a tablespoon of oil per decade.. etc. maybee the same on a decent seal... ie.. you should not have to top off oil often. YEARLY at most.. and even that is a bit excessive IMHO...

soundguy

 

[tornadowatchranch]

I was using a valvoline 80-90 gear oil that I had in the shop. I will double check for in-out slop. I didn't think of that only that it turned smoothly. I assume TSC or napa will have the heavier weight stuff.

thanks for the help

 

[Soundguy]

80w90 valv really shouldn't have foamed... that's a good quality oil.

you sure it wasn't very low? if real low it could have been slung and whipped easier.

85-140 can be generically bought in quart bottles everywhere.. napa, carquest, walmart.. etc.

carquest and walmart probably the cheapest.

85-140 and some shots of gun grease should help if there are no mechanical difficulties.

syphon old oil out with syphon gun or battery bulb / hand syphon pump... then add 85-140 to fill level, then add gun grease to fill hole.. give her quite a few good pumps.. nominal oil level is usually 40-50% up the side of the box.. even with the gear chunk in there.. there's plenty of room for some grease.. and you want it mixed and thickened and gooey.

do check for problems first though.. weepy seals.. loose bearings/shafts.. etc..

soundguy

 

[whodat526]

shell rotela t walmart price 12.50 wts price 10.95 walmart is high on all oil they sell its called marketing and people seem to fall for it real well just cause there honey buns or cheaper dont mean anything else is they like the uneducated buyers

 

[Argosy]

Check your vent plug. Some use a spring loaded check ball that hangs open.

Other times there doesn't seem to be a lot of thought given to the location, right above the gears where they sling oil on the fill/vent instead of off to the side.

 

[tornadowatchranch]

The inside of the vent shows a screen covering the 3/8" hole. When I cleaned it and blew through it there was no resistance. The parts breakdown did not show parts inside the vent plug--just a single unit. Local dealer did not know. Maybe I will try to email land pride directly. They are actually build not too far from here.

 

[Soundguy]

if it is a pipe thread, you can always build a stand off.. get some pipe with the same thread.. a short section.. say 6".. get a pipe cap for it ( ie.. 4-6" of pipe threaded on both ends.. one end gets screwed into the box, the other sticks straight up with the cap on it. drill a small hole in the pipe right at the base of the cap.. smalles drill you have..

soundguy

 

[tornadowatchranch]

soundguy

that is a great idea--it would allow the oil to run back into the gearbox. I will just take the vent into a hardware store and see what I can cobble together. I just ran it again without refilling the oil and it was foaming out within 10 seconds of getting up to speed. Will probably tip it up and completely drain and refill with all new oil first to try--who knows what they have been putting in it.