125 Hydro problem

[namvee]

Hi

I’m a newbie and I’ve never really done the message board thing so please forgive me if I have miss posted this.

I recently bought my first cub (a 125 hydro) from a guy on Craigslist. He was a mechanic and said he took good care of it. I asked about the transmission and he said he maintained in regularly. I mowed the lawn once with no trouble. Last night though, I was mowing (again with no noticeable trouble) and after about an hour the hydro conked out while I was moving from reverse to forward. I took the sight plug out of the back and found there was virtually no Hytran in there. I went to the store and purchased a gallon of universal hydro fluid, simply with the hope of filling the reservoir and getting the tractor back to the garage. It took the whole gallon and it’s still low. And the tractor still doesn’t move. I also get a grinding sound when the forward/reverse lever is at the extremes of the range.

I’m hoping I haven’t irreparably damaged the transmission. Any thoughts? Next steps? Is there hope?

Of course, I’m kicking myself for not checking the fluid level first thing. But It really seemed to be working fine, and I never expected there to be NO fluid. Found a small puddle of Hytran on the garage floor, certainly not 7 qt worth though. Thanks for any feedback you may have.