Changed the oil in my K46 hydrostatic today

[NavyDood]

Took me four hours to remove the mower deck, remove transmission, drain, refill, re-install transmission, re-install mowerdeck and take it out for a quick test run. IMHO it is a very easy and straight forward job. No special tools are needed whatsoever unless you consider snap ring pliers a special tool.

Tuff Torq says to use a 10w-30 non detergent oil but suggests that a fully synthetic 5w-50 be used. I refilled with full synthetic 15w-40 since I had some spare laying around.

I didn't take a bunch of pics during the process. Just these.

THis is were you drain and refill from.

Refill 3/4"-1" below the lip where the plastic cap goes.

Don't forget to reinstall the magnet.

 

[2oldtommy]

Was the magnet covered with particles or was it clean? Was the drain oil discolored? Thanks for the pics. FWIW--Oldtommy

 

[JTK]

Great work! Synthetic 40 or 50wts are excellent for these. I believe the K46's have an internal filter/screen, but it's intended for big chunks.

 

[NavyDood]

The magnet was clean for the most part other than the typical mud like substance you would find on a car/truck differential mag plug or tranny mag plug. There were not any other flakes, slivers or chunks of metal. The drained oil was browned but not black by any means.

 

[riff1006]

How many hours on that mower?

 

[NavyDood]

Originally Posted By: riff1006
How many hours on that mower?
55.9 hours. My lot is 1.2 acres. If I had to guesstimate how oftern I mow, I would have to say every two weeks on average during a calendar year. I am located in TX.

 

[Slick17601]

This is a great project. I did the same on my JD LT160 2 years ago at roughly 190 hours. The oil was still in decent shape when drained but my lawn is perfectly level. Refilled with Syntec 5W-50. It took me about 2 hours start to finish.

 

[JTK]

~50hrs is probably about the sweet spot to drain out the factory fill and get any wear materials out of there.

I dunno what the maximum lifespan of a Tufftorq K46 would be, but they're probably built for the ~500hr range. I know lots of them have died earlier due to abuse/neglect. Keeping them clean and dry does wonders for lifespan, as does not over-working them.

Joel

 

[Slacker]

I worked on a friends K46 that needed rebuilding. They are not overly complicated. His came in a Deere that was purchased from one of the big box stores. Come to find out that these are not designed to be used on a grade greater than 17 degrees. A little over $200 and some time had it running like new again.

 

[SteveSRT8]

My 54 inch Craftsman has a TT hydrostatic in it. Not sure which model, but back when we purchased it I contacted them directly and got the 50w oil spec. I have 42 hours on it, other than a bit of whine it works great.

Mine is coming out this week for the same procedure.

My personal thanks to the OP for the pics!

 

[Slacker]

Steve, heres a link I used when I rebuilt one:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/parts-repairs/164892-tufftorq-k46-repair-guide-pictures.html

It shows the internal filter. If you want to crack the case open and clean it, its not that hard to do. Hardest part was cleaning the factory rtv sealant off the mating surfaces.

 

[NavyDood]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
My 54 inch Craftsman has a TT hydrostatic in it. Not sure which model, but back when we purchased it I contacted them directly and got the 50w oil spec. I have 42 hours on it, other than a bit of whine it works great.

Mine is coming out this week for the same procedure.

My personal thanks to the OP for the pics!
It is probably the same as mine, K46. I have a 46" deck Craftsman YTS4000. Look on the transmission. There should be a sticker with the part number. Google the part number and you will get the model # of the tranny. After you get the model number of your transmission, here's a link to the Tuff Torque website for all the info you will need.
https://www.tufftorqservices.com/EnvEEdefault/FlatHTML/TechInfo/index.htm

 

[SteveSRT8]

Thanks for the link!

 

[SteveSRT8]

Update, meant to tell everyone that I pulled the K46 out of my 26 HP 54 inch Craftsman mower and changed the oil at just under 50 hours.

Nothing on the magnet but a very small bit of paste-like goo, about like anti sieze. Only 6 bolts! About as easy as it could be.

Used 15w-50 M1. Unit is noticeably quieter. My sincere thanks to Navydood and slacker for the links and info!

 

[MassiveOverkill]

I just bought a Troy Bilt Super Bronco XP with 54" deck. This is my first riding lawnmower I purchased for our new property with 5 acres, mostly hilly. I'm coming up on 15 hours and want to swap out the K46 stock oil for synthetic for the upcoming season as well as for attempting to use the mower for pushing snow. I'm leaning towards racing oil as others have suggested as racing oils aren't concerned about trying to meet API certifications for catalytic converters and environmental reasons. I'm leaning towards Mobile 1's 0W-50 Racing due to its high zinc and phosphorous content: Mobil 1 Racing 0W-50

According to this chart, it has the highest zinc\phosphorous content:

http://store.forcedperformance.net/merch...Motor%20Oil.pdf

I've seen it for $20 shipped per quart.

If there's a better oil such as Redline\Amsoil that is worth the extra money\protection I'm willing to buy it. I also thought about installing a small radiator fan above the main one depending how hard it would be to retrofit it in there and not taxing the charging system. Thoughts?

 

[dave123]

Originally Posted By: MassiveOverkill
I just bought a Troy Bilt Super Bronco XP with 54" deck. This is my first riding lawnmower I purchased for our new property with 5 acres, mostly hilly. I'm coming up on 15 hours and want to swap out the K46 stock oil for synthetic for the upcoming season as well as for attempting to use the mower for pushing snow. I'm leaning towards racing oil as others have suggested as racing oils aren't concerned about trying to meet API certifications for catalytic converters and environmental reasons. I'm leaning towards Mobile 1's 0W-50 Racing due to its high zinc and phosphorous content: Mobil 1 Racing 0W-50

According to this chart, it has the highest zinc\phosphorous content:

http://store.forcedperformance.net/merch...Motor%20Oil.pdf

I've seen it for $20 shipped per quart.

If there's a better oil such as Redline\Amsoil that is worth the extra money\protection I'm willing to buy it. I also thought about installing a small radiator fan above the main one depending how hard it would be to retrofit it in there and not taxing the charging system. Thoughts?

I would suggest not running the racing oil and run a oil specific for the application if you don't mind spending the extra money Amsoil ASE 4stroke formula is what your looking for.

 

[MassiveOverkill]

Originally Posted By: dave123
I would suggest not running the racing oil and run a oil specific for the application if you don't mind spending the extra money Amsoil ASE 4stroke formula is what your looking for.


Well Tuff Torque calls for 5W50 synthetic:

"Tuff Torq recommends the use of our 5w50 fully synthetic oil as a replacement for the original 10w30 API class motor oil if you are changing the oil or doing internal repairs to the unit. If adding to the original oil to bring up to the proper level, use any 10w30 API class motor oil.

 

[SteveSRT8]

After a long conversation on their tech line the TT rep and I agreed M1
15w-50 was a fine choice for mine...

 

[bchannell]

I've been a fan of M! 15W50 (or 5W50) for TT and HydroGear x-axles in mowers. I switched my HydroGear 730 over last year and it seems to love it. From my 'barnyard' temperature checks with a laser thermometer after mowing in the heat, it is looking like it took about 20-30^F off the max temp, so that can't hurt. It is also quieter on hills and under load, so it looks like a great choice. The fact that HG and TT both recommend it, is just icing on the cake.

 

[JTK]

I like the looks of those Hydrogear G730s. Nice to have that spin-on filter and some serviceability.