2006 SLT 1550 - Leaked Hydro-Trans Fluid While Servicing Steering
 

I had my 2006 SLT 1550 standing up on it's rear bumper servicing the steering. When I finished I noticed I lost about 1/2 cup (maybe more) of my hydro-static transmission fluid through the vent. Kinda strange as I've service the steering in the past and didn't have any leaks. Anyway, now I need to add fluid. Looks like the rear deck and fuel tank have to come off before I can access the fill plug. Any tricks to get some fluid in? Rear fender is easy, fuel take looks like a PITA. Even worse, the battery leaked acid, ugh! That didn't happen before either...and it's a maintenance free battery. Leaked out some little weep holes. Thanks in advance for the help.

Welcome to OCC...... :Welcome2:

I have no experience with the SLT1550, but I am sure other will chime in.

Adding fluid to hydro gear on SLT1554
 

Hi, I just drained the fluid on my SLT 1554 which has the 618-04270A 317-0610 hydro gear. There is a plug on the top of the hydro gear that has just over 1/2 inch of clearance from the plastic fuel tank. To gain more access I removed the two frame bolts on the front the the two on each side of the hydro gear, then i jacked up the frame another inch and a bit. This allowed me to get a allen key in there and loosen the plug. The allen key was one of those built into a 3/8 inch socket. Test your allen key for fit and removal of the drain plug first. In order to avoid having to jack the frame up again I welded a 1.5 inch long drill driver bit to the top of the plug and now i can loosen and remove with my finger. Works like a wing nut.

This is my first post and I have a question for others. My manual says to refill the hydro gear with 76 oz of 20w50. When I drained it only 59 oz came out and I can only get 66 oz back in even after purging and cutting the lawn. The reason I changed the fluid and put a new drive belt on is because it is going slow up a slope. Any advice would be appreciated.

I'd remove the trans, it's not hard to do.
When adding oil use 10w30 motor oil, that's what came in it.
If removing the trans I'd change the oil. The manufacturer recommends 20w50 full synthetic. I've just used 10w30 myself but you do you.

As for refill quantity? I just fill them till they are about 1/2" below the full plug or just covering the magnet in the fill hole. It takes about 2 quarts. I've never bothered to measure how much comes out as it doesn't really matter.

I found a site with some cub cadet service manuals. It appears to include the SLT models.

https://www.ccpartsnmore.com/cub-cadet-service-manuals

I tried to upload a picture of my wing nut plug, but the photo is way too large. Have to ask my son how to compress or leave the photo somewhere as a link.

Just a quick comment on the wing nut plug, it will not fully seat as the wings will hit a part of the trans so you will have to shorten it or grind a part of the wing to allow it to seat. Photo will show as soon as i can post. I like the wing nut because I can remove with my hand in less than a minute and add fluid until it over flows but cannot check the level.

These are internal pictures of a HydroGear transaxle. You can see there are a lot of nook and crannies, so unless you dis-assemble it there is no way you will completely get all of the old fluid out.
The main reason that these start to slow down as they age is that the motor and pump surfaces (circled in red) get scored and no longer hold pressure. Changing the oil and filter (green arrow) sometimes extends the inevitable, but eventually it will die. The only fix is replacing worn parts which are not cheap.

Would anyone have a parts diagram for a hydro gear 618-04270A 317-0610? I took mine a part and the parts are scored as shown in the photos from Ironman (thanks). I have found some related parts diagrams but want to make sure i order the correct parts.

Ironman, how did you reduce the size (mb to kb) of your photos and upload? are they compressed?

Thanks
John