129 hydro leak?

[Rob Achenbach]

So the 129 is leaking significant amounts of hydro fluid. Have replaced the relief valves and snugged up the 3 piece tube assembly. Coming to the conclusion it must be the pump gasket. Sound reasonable? Has anyone replaced this without splitting the tractor or is this an off season major project? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Rob

 

[kharvey]

It's not that bad of a job if you have the tools, skills and the manual. Last time I did the gasket replacement my brother helped me and we took better part of an afternoon. Of course we had to have a few barley pop breaks.

 

[abthomas]

Changed my 109 without splitting !

 

[Rob Achenbach]

Great. So typically a project that I think should take 4 hrs and $50 ends up taking a week and $300. Should this be a winter project or can it truly be knocked out in a weekend, by ones self of course, and assuming minimal cold snack breaks.

 

[abthomas]

I did mine one morning in less than 3 hrs by myself ! not sure where your getting the week and 300 dollars from ? unless your having $250 in cold snacks, in that case it may be a week !

 

[mgonitzke]

It's a weekend project if you have everything you need. I have done this both ways, and find it easier to just split the tractor. This also makes a few other maintenance items easier to accomplish at the same time.

Have you changed the Hytran and filter? If not, this is the best time to do it. Get the pump to transaxle gasket, rear cover gasket, axle seals, filter, and a 2-gallon jug of Hytran. If the trunnion is worn, this is a good time to weld up wear in it and/or add shims on the cam plate to tighten up slop.

I'd recommend reading through the pertinent FAQs if everything I said sounds like a foreign language

 

[jbaker]

Um,, what matt said 100%

 

[dschwandt]

I'm with matt on this one as well.
Gives one a chance to become intimate with your machine if you will!
Great chance to really clean up and make other needed repairs and adjustments, brakes come to mind here.

Good luck and be careful

 

[kmcconaughey]

Yep, Matt's post has wisdom and truth.

 

[gloughery]

Yep, I decided to do what Matt says on my 107 this weekend. Ordered all of those items plus needle bearings from CCS that shipped yesterday. Drained the rear last weekend, hytran has a unique smell for sure. Felt a lot of gel-like residue inside the casing and decided to go full bore on the maintenance. I forget to order a rectangular cover gasket but I can cut one. Not sure what I’ll see in there but may as well take a look. The only thing I don’t like is putting the brakes back together, I never get those set the way they should be. I’ll try to post some pics of anything unusual.

 

[snicklas]

Yes Hy-Tran does.....

 

[hydroharry]

Hey Rob - your problem certainly sounds like the "infamous cork gasket" on the hydro pump mounting. As has been mentioned, you can replace it without splitting the tractor but it is fairly hard to get at and this method doesn't allow you to really clean things up to easily. The Service Manual identifies the splitting the tractor method - which also allows you to fix up the trunion. The trunion repair will be in the FAQ's and there should be a couple methods you could use, either welding or using a small metal cut-out.
Let us know what you decided to do here.

 

[Rob Achenbach]

Just wanted to pass on HUGE thank you as well as a few quick pics (not the best) of the hydro pump gasket change. The FAQ with photos was the absolute best. Nothing like step by step directions with photos and arrows walking you thru the complete process. Of course the worst part of it all was "reassemble in reverse order" while Mr Murphy came into play quite a few times. You can possibly see in the old gasket photo the reason it may have been leaking. Not sure if it's original but still can't complain after a few decades of use. The new gasket, correct part number, still appeared to be all cork unlike the FAQ photo. Hopefully there was an internal layer of composite material. Finally, I couldn't imagine trying to replace it while still in the tractor. Maybe next time in the next life. Anyway, again a big thank you to all who provided direction and advice. Truly would not and could not have done this without your help.