Snow Finally/reverse gear

[siii8873]

We finally got enough snow (~4") to plow. The cub did great pushing the snow. I did have to take the skid shoes off. With the skids all the wasy up I was leavin over 1-1/2" snow. I did not have any trouble controlling my depth without them.
The one thing that bothered me was that there was quite a bit of gear noise when going uphill in reverse. And it seemed to start after I had been running the tractor for a while. I did notice this to a lesser amount this summer when doing some grading on flat ground. Again after the tractor had been running for a while.
Anyhow I like the way it pushes snow. And it has great tracction even on the uphill of the driveway. Sure beats the John Deere 110 I was using!!

[rick 48 cub]

Check transmission fluid level ?

[Matt Kirsch]

There's always going to be some gear noise, as the Cub's gears are "straight-cut." Both mine are noisiest in reverse, slightly less noisy in 1st, fairly quiet in 2nd, and completely silent in 3rd.

[siii8873]

I checked the level and if anything it was a little high as fluid ran out of the level plug. The fluid was a brown color and thick so I drained it. Should I flush the case with something before refilling it?
It's hard to tell if this noise is normal. The tranny sounded good for at least the first 1/2 hour, (most of this was backing on nearly level ground). Then it is suddenly louder and there almost all the time when under some additional load like backing uphill. There is no noise at all in any forward gears.
Is it typical to have a significant noise increase under load in reverse?
I'll change the fluid and run it a little to see if it changes anything.

[Rudi]

siii8873:

Personally, I have taken the advice given to me by many of the forum members in the past, and put kerosene in the tranny. Then I drive around with it for a while.. 1/2 hour to an hour maybe. Then I drain, flush with clean kerosene again, then refill to the correct level with SAE90 Wt as per the Lubrication Chart on Page 17 of the Owner's Manual.

[Rubee]

Both of my cubs have noisey trannys also with the noise varying with the gear it is in and whether going up or down a hill. If yours gets noisier after a half hour or so of running , it might just be the old tranny fluid warming up and thinning out. Changing to fresh fluid should help.

[siii8873]

Rubee,
I think this might be the problem. I drained the fluid and it did not look good at all, brown color not gear oil color.

Has anyone ever added drains on the final drives for changing that fluid? I have not done these yet because it is a bigger than needed to be job.

[George Willer]

Rubee,
I think this might be the problem. I drained the fluid and it did not look good at all, brown color not gear oil color.

Has anyone ever added drains on the final drives for changing that fluid? I have not done these yet because it is a bigger than needed to be job.

Adding drains would be pretty easy, but then it would be possible to knock them loose and lose the lube without knowing it. That's how I lost a Mercedes diesel engine --- from a wiped out drain plug. Not good!

[siii8873]

George,
that was my thought also "knocking them off" was the reason there were none to start with and given the location where they would need to be and the intended use of these tractors.
I am finding out that the previous owner of my tractor did not do a whole lot of maintenance. All I have left are the final drives. It look like these are not going to be easy. There is a ton of sealant around them amd I'm concerned with deforming the pans when removing them. Plus I would like to do a more complete teardown of the entire final drive units including replacing seals, clean up of the parts and painting. Right now I need this tractor as it is my plowing machine. Maybe I'll get some gaskets (look like rubber impegnated cork on TM's site coul make them) and do just an oil change if I get a warm weekend. That old gear oil doesn't pour or drain well in cold weather.