Milky gear oil in JD LX6

[wushaw]

One note is water will go straight to the bearings and the rest is $$$.

I can see where water can splash up into the vent and get in from there.
Cover the gear box and see if it continues.

 

[OKnewguy]

Just food for thought: guys that run the mud bogs sometimes attach a heavy duty ballon or a little accordian plastic thingy to their vent tubes for their diffs. This makes is pretty sealed.
Dave

 

[N80]

Thanks for the tips guys. Someone mentioned noise. This thing is the quietest rotary cutter I've ever been around (so hopefully no damage done yet) and the gear box is indeed tiny, which also helps account for quiet.

I checked the JD website and there is NO gasket shown under the flat plate on top of the gearbox! Here is a link to the diagram of the gearbox:

http://jdpc.deere.com/pimages/WP52/WP5233_________UN17MAR03.gif

However, not even the paint has come off of it and the paint is solid all the way around the edge of it.

So, here is my game plan, based on what you guys have said so far:

1) Keep the gearbox covered. Will figure something out, but I have nothing with a roof. One small barn on my place...could collapse any day now. A five gallon bucket with a slot for the pto shaft would be easy.

2) Drain gearbox. Will clean it out as best I can. Will try to find stuff that Soundguy recommended to get any water out. If I can't find it, I'll do the fill, spill and repeat routine a few times. I'm debating about pulling the top plate off. What do you guys think? Would make cleaning the gearbox out a lot easier. Could spray the inside with kerosene too. I guess I'll have to find some type of gasket-maker goo (any recommendations?) to put around it when I put it back on.

3) Teflon tape or pipe dope the fill plug, drain plug and vent plug. Maybe replace vent plug?

In regard to seals, wouldn't they be leaking oil if they were bad enough to admit water? I really don't want to go messing with tearing this thing apart.

You guys have been a big help. Thanks.

 

[N80]

I looked up Trans Tune. Should be easy to find at most auto parts store. I may use it in two stages. Add it to whats in there now. Run it a few minutes than completely drain it. Clean out the box (however I decide to do that) then put another round of Trans Tune and gear oil in run it a few minutes then drain that out completely and then put in final gear oil.

 

[teg]

I opened the top of the gear box, drained what I could, got a roll of paper towels, a garbage bag and got "comfortable" for a long and messy job of wipping out the inside. Sides, bottom, gears... everything. I did not use kerosene since I thought it might hurt the seal (I don't know). There was a LOT of grease left in the gear box after it was "drained".

I worryied about the gear box getting rust but this Woods rotary cutter was sitting for 10 years like this and there was not any rust on the gears. (when I first open the gear box, I pulled out a 2x3x3 chunk of ice... not sure if the oil covered the metal and the water collected into pools?)

(remember to seal the cap afterwards, mine did have a gasket but I just used a tube of sealent)

 

[N80]

I pulled out a 2x3x3 chunk of ice... not sure if the oil covered the metal and the water collected into pools?)

That's a pretty good way to get the water out. Let it freeze soild and take it out by hand!

I'm going to tackle this little project this weekend. Already made a bucket cover for it. Thanks for all the help. I pulled the vent tube off too. It does not rattle when I shake it. If the JD place has one in stock, I'll replace it.

 

[Soundguy]

JD charged 13$ for my vent cap. able to clean 3 of the 4 that were on my tractor by dipping them in carb cleaner. and using compressed air on.

All my JD boxes had some sort of liquid gasket 9 rtv? ) under them.. and that's what I repalced it with.. etc.

A bucket will be a good water stop.

Kero shouldn't hurt your seals for flushing.. but do whatever yuo are comfortable with. Flushing with oil and transtune will be FINE.

Soundguy

 

[N80]

Hmm, $13. I'm kind of a tightwad. I'll try carb cleaner. I did try WD-40 to no avail. But, I might stop by JD and see what they have to say about the whole deal.

I'm definitely going to flush with the transtune.

I noticed something else when I got to looking at things. The little metal ID plate that goes on the gear box is not there and the area has been painted over, so I'm sure the gearbox has been repainted. I'm starting to wonder if this unit was a refurb, or even cobbled together. Like I say, paint looked good, all decals in the right place with no paint on them. Average wear on the blades. Minimal rust on the deck except on the front edge where chains attach and the big scored area on the deck that looks like something got caught between the blade and the underside of the deck. Who knows what happened to this thing in its previous life. But, I'm not complaining, it continues to work perfectly and it cost me less than a new KK or Howse. If I can solve this water problem all will be well.

 

[Soundguy]

I also tried wd-40 on my vent cap plugs.. didn't help... dipping them in carb cleaner for about 30 sec, and the blowing them out ( cover eyes! ) worked on all but one.. it had a broke dipper stick anyway.. so i replaced it.

1 of the gear boxes on my 1517 mower had been replaced.. it 'looked' same the other gear boxes but had brown primer paint. pretty sure it was a replacement box vs a rebuilt box.. as you mentioned.. had no tag on it.

Good luck.

Soundguy

 

[N80]

Well, got it done. Some of it might be right, some of it might be wrong, but here is what I did.

First, I used a little hand pump to get most of the existing gear oil out. Then I poured it about half full of kerosene and let the pto idle for about a minute. Then I sucked all that out with the little pump. Then I poured in some gear oil and a can of Sea Foam Transtune and ran it for about 5 minutes at various rpms. Then I pulled the top off. Pumped out as much as possible. Removed all plugs and vents. Used paper towels and rags to get the inside of the box completely dry. There was a smattering of thin rust in places so it had to be water in there. Then I cleaned the vent cap in carb cleaner and that did get it clean and loosened up so that the ball would move properly. I used the carb cleaner to clean all the plugs, bolts and holes that they go in. I removed all the previous gasket material off the gear box and gear box lid. I used RTV liquid gasket and put the top back on. I used teflon tape to put all the plugs back in. I filled it with the proper amount of 85w/140 gear oil. I covered it with a bucket.

Only time will tell, but there really isn't much more that I can do to think of.