OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions On Ride On Mowers Frames tecumseh 705-002 hydro(honda hf2213h ride on)

i could do with some help, with has anyone changed the oil in this drive before, what oil they used? did it fix the fading drive problem, is there an after market drive that could replace a failed unit or does outdoor king have spares? or could it be the trans drive belt is getting hot and slipping due to not being tight enough?

had a close inspection of the hydro drive belt, it is a wreck. cracks all along. as well as hairline cracks. i would presume this would allow drive to fade after warming up. and also a vibration due to its cracks along belt??

Vibrations will be apparent if the belt has stretched and the tensioners are not holding it fully tensioned.

As to the drive unit I have never attempted to work on one as I understand they are a pretty precise instrument

When the engine runs, unless the belt slips, it drives. If it was slipping it will most likely show signs of overheating etc. What you have described is characteristic of an over-age or over-worked belt, but if they slip you should be able to see some signs of it on the sides of the belt. It takes a lot of slippage to keep the transmission from working. You may possibly have a transmission failure - I think you need to talk to someone who has experience with the particular type of transmission, because it is expensive to replace, but some types are not repairable.

thanks grumpy, the belt has massive cracks all along.each crack goes more than half way thru belt.

joe, i agree with what you say about the vibrations. anyway i have ordered a new belt and will see how this goes as first attempt at fix

i replaced the hydro belt and have a 'new' mower. so much difference. no fading at all when mowing. old one had so many cracks and craters in it.

That's a great outcome, greg. There should have been some signs of slippage on the sides of the old belt - you might look for blackening and crumbliness, or at least browning, and let us know what you find. Please post a picture if you can.

yeah grumpy. all of that it was a major bad belt. see attached file

It all becomes clear, greg.



I've blown up a piece of your picture to clarify what the problem was. That belt wore until it bottomed in the V-belt pulleys, then it slipped because it was no longer jamming in the pulley the way a V-belt must if it is to drive anything. It didn't matter how much tension was on it - once it bottomed, it slipped - then it cooked itself and cracked.

All this is shown by the extreme shine on the bottom of the belt. It cannot get shiny like that if it is working properly, because it doesn't touch anything.

You need to check how deeply your new belt sits in the pulleys. Most likely the pulleys are worn as well as the belt, though not as much as the belt. You will now need to keep an eye on the belt's position in the pulleys. At some point those pulleys will probably require replacement. This is fairly normal: grit gets on the belt, resulting in some minor slippage. The grit-coated belt acts as a belt-sander on the pulleys, and the grit-coated pulleys at as disk-sanders on the belt. They are wearing parts, unless they are fully enclosed to keep grit off them.

thanks for that grumpy, i will keep a close eye on it.

There is an excellent chance that the person who sold you that mower, thought the hydro drive was shot and therefore wanted to get rid of the mower. You may have made an excellent deal.

I'll close this thread, greg. If you find other issues with the mower you want to discuss, just open a new thread.