Sounds to me like you inherited a large hole that yer going to pour yer money into, and which will never fill up! Any way, we need more inforrmation. Model number, Serial number, type of machine: Lawn tractor, riding mower, that kind of things. might i suggest that you desist from fixing that thing-it'll only cost you mucho money, but its probably too old to get parts for any more! From the way you describe it, i think you better forget it! Rustyj

Oh man, that is priceless. Thanks for posting.

One Hydro Craftsman i have here, has a rod with a flat round top, similar to a flat washer, and it has to be pulled out, and a clip put thru the inner-most hole to hold it out, so the machine can be pushed around without the engine running. It is located on the left side of the rear panel, below the seat area. As for jacking it up and spinning the wheels, only to see one turn the oppsite way of the other--shows the differential is working. Every car or truck made since the "old times" has this feature. If your tractor didn't have it, you'd "play the devil" trying to steer it around anything! You'd have to lift the drive wheels off the ground and set it back down in the direction you wanted to go! Not easy!

Does the free wheeling (bypass) valve operate smoothly in & out when you perform the purge, or if you are doing it to roll the tractor by hand? If the bypass valve does not move freely, and "click" into its proper detent positions.......it could be still bypassing a small volume of oil. As to "worn gears" being the source of noise AND ALSO being related to poor performance: Highly unlikely. The gears in this unit are the few that are required for just ONE reduction ratio between the drive motor and the differential section of the unit, and the differential gears themselves. The final reduction gearing would only be noisy during periods where the tractor ground speed was pretty fast and the pitch of the noise would change with any increase or decrease of ground speed. The differential gears themselves DO NOT have any relative motion to each other EXCEPT when executing corners (turning tractor to left or right) or when one wheel is spinning due to a loss of traction. At all other times the differential gears may as well be welded together as they remain stationary relative to each other. I suggest you might want to completely disassemble all the brake and friction pack parts for inspection, cleaning and lubing (where needed). Because Hydro Gear does list brake adjustment disorder as a possible cause of noise and poor performance, I am inclined to think that there may still be something about that friction pack and the brake caliper/pucks that may be at the root of the problem. If you put the trans into free wheel mode, are you able to roll the tractor at all by hand? If not....that may be confirmation of a dragging brake. If you undertake the disassembly of the brake and friction pack, be sure you take plenty of photos as you take it apart so you will know without question where each part came from and how it was oriented. Don't rely on the other manuals for that, they can sometimes be vague, but your own photos will be clear.