Thanks, LotsOfGreenGrass, GixxersRevolt, and JoeBob for your extremely helpful posts and advice and all of the replies in this thread.
I tore apart the K46BA from my Craftsman LT1000 over the weekend and was able to get it put together correctly.
I am a cheap S.O.B. so I tried sanding down the center case, motor, and pump mating surfaces; and replaced the fluid with 5w50.
After a stressful air bleeding process where I thought for sure I missed something; the tractor came back to life.
I'm going to let it sit overnight and see if it is anymore responsive tonight. I am probably going to break it down again, though based on anyone's feedback on my two questions.
1. The "freewheeling" bypass lever. I have zero resistance when I push this in and out. If I push the rod all the way in (beyond the hole in the chassis!), there is a slight catch at the very end. I realize that there is two positions on the lever for the rod. I'm in the outer most position, and may try moving to the inner position to gain some length. But my question is,
shouldn't I feel some resistance pushing this in and out?
From the 89 pages of replies: I have checked the fluid level and I have 2.3qts of oil in her. I made sure the "tic-tac" pin (#25) is in place, and also the washer (#39). The one post that I saw that might be the culprit is that someone reported the snap ring (#19) in theirs broke. I'm also concerned about #90 & #95. Small spring pins, might have broken.
2. The IDS Valves. In one of the early posts, someone mentioned to be careful that these don't pop-out. Not only did mine not pop-out. They feel seized. Does anyone know what these do? May tractor is moving in forward and reverse, ok; not great. But when I had it opened up, I could not get either of these two to budge. I'm thinking that this may necessitate replacing the center case; but I'd like to avoid that if possible. I didn't find any post where anyone reported an issue with these.
Thanks for any replies, all the best,
Matt
The filter is plugged solid with metal, and the differential gears are a bit worn. I have priced out the parts: pump, motor, center case, gears, etc. at TT and it looks like it will cost about $400+. I just can't decide if I should do it or not; I am afraid of throwing good money after bad. It has always run well but I wonder if I should just sell it for parts and buy another.
