Cub cadet RZT 50 hydrostatic transmission

[cub214]

Mokanman, my story is almost identical to yours. I've had my RVT 50 for just a little over 3 years. The left side has always been weaker on hills than the right. But this year it's become a noticably worse. The mower only has 110 hours. Following some great previous post, I removed the transaxle, drained the oil, replaced oil with synthetic, and installed a new Husky 57" kevlor drive belt. Unfortunately none of the above fixed the problem.
I think there needs to be a safety recall on these before someone gets seriously hurt. Can you imagine driving a car if the brakes and steering continously went out on one side?

Did you find out the problem with the rzt50 LH transmission

 

[RICKYMARK]

Did you find out the problem with the rzt50 LH transmission

I did indeed, it was extensive water buildup in the transmission and it simply went out. After about 8 weeks of fighting with Cub, contacting Consumer Product Saftey Commission, Threatening to open a class action suit etc. they finally replaced the tranny, refused to replace the right transmission but did change the fluid. Went by the dealer for a sample of the fluid, but they convieniently had already discarded it. Per the transmission manufacturer, they have a known problem and just aren't doing anything about it. I even got a call from the head of customer service accusing me of "washing" my mower and telling me to keep a hose away from the unit. They aren't made to get wet. When I asked why they put deck washout ports on them if they aren't supposed to get wet he had no answer. This is nothing more than a toyota debacle and I'm totally done with Cub. I've got a good mower now with new Tran. Anybody want it cheap?

 

[cadet cub]

I had this problem with mine so being the old mechanic that I am I removed the left side hydro unit and split the case and found that the jack shaft was rubbing hard on the side of the case and the longer it rubs the hotter it gets which makes it get tighter I removed about .030 where it was rubbing and it fixed the problem it has performed flawless for the last 5 years

 

[Fixn43]

I'm having the same problem with the right side. (Slows down after it warms up) Someone mentioned a "jackshaft" that was rubbing the case. I've got my split, what does it look like?
Thanks,

 

[JTKub]

I've got a copy of the service manual in *.pdf format for the Hydrogear EZT series transaxles. If anyone needs it just drop me an email. With respect to draining/adding oil to the EZTs, they don't have drain/fill plugs like the next step up ZT-2800's have. Here's the EZT per the manual. The drain/fill procedure is very vague:

Joel

 

[Fixn43]

I've got a copy of the service manual in *.pdf format for the Hydrogear EZT series transaxles. If anyone needs it just drop me an email. With respect to draining/adding oil to the EZTs, they don't have drain/fill plugs like the next step up ZT-2800's have. Here's the EZT per the manual. The drain/fill procedure is very vague:

Joel

Hey thanks Joel. I did find a manual by using google. I found the jack shaft and shaved it a little more than .030. It is a little better but still seems like something is getting tight inside the transmission after it warms up. (Also replaced belt, tensioner spring, lubricated tensioner, and replaced pulley.)
I just wondered if Cadet Cub ran into anything else while inside his transmission. I'll have to keep looking for ideas. I don't want to give up on it.
thanks again,
Jeff

 

[JTKub]

Good info Jeff. If it's any consolation, the Hydrogear unitized zero turn transaxles seem to be getting better every year, so they are continuously improving them (hopefully?!?). I believe they are the only ones in the market with this technology, although I did read somewhere where Tufftorq is getting into it as well. I do think these units would fare better if you could rig some type of auxilliary oil cooler on them. I don't like how hot to the touch the ZT-2800's feel on my new Z-Force after only an hour's worth of mowing in 80degF weather.

Joel

 

[Incrediblemapgie]

Cripes! The saga continues! I have the same problem. Purchased 6/15/2004, the left side started developing "weaknesses' in the first month. Now six years later the bugger has given out. Fine if I wanted to mow circles to the left, but my property is square with numerous trees and obstacles and this is just an insurmountable problem!

I was unable to find the manual link posted earlier for the Transmission. Hydro-Gear EZT But my good buddy Google came through at hit number 8.

[/URL]
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...uRE-h4EHt9mJLQ5-A&sig2=99yCAyFw-82fdQefH8jjgg

Tomorrow the wrenches will fly as I begin to extricate the faulting culprit, leaving numerous DNA samples and red "corpulant" stains upon my fallen Yellow Steed!

 

[gravybones]

I did indeed, it was extensive water buildup in the transmission and it simply went out. After about 8 weeks of fighting with Cub, contacting Consumer Product Saftey Commission, Threatening to open a class action suit etc. they finally replaced the tranny, refused to replace the right transmission but did change the fluid. Went by the dealer for a sample of the fluid, but they convieniently had already discarded it. Per the transmission manufacturer, they have a known problem and just aren't doing anything about it. I even got a call from the head of customer service accusing me of "washing" my mower and telling me to keep a hose away from the unit. They aren't made to get wet. When I asked why they put deck washout ports on them if they aren't supposed to get wet he had no answer. This is nothing more than a toyota debacle and I'm totally done with Cub. I've got a good mower now with new Tran. Anybody want it cheap?

That's Great, it seems that you have a new mower w/ tranny and yet you have to get rid of it because of the humans involved w/ the company. Watch out that their irrationality isn't contagious.

 

[margegeneverra]

I had the same problem with an RZT-50. Left side had no power.

The mower was 4 years old and had just over 200 hours on it. It was stored inside, and well maintained.

Dealer said that both right & left transmissions needed replacement. Estimate was close to $2000! Cub Cadet customer service refused to help. The dealer said that "we see a lot of these transmission failures, most people just replace the mower". And then tried to sell me a new Cub ZT at full price!! Not being that dumb, I went to another equipment dealer and got another brand.

Sounds like Cub has a design defect with the RTZ series, at least the ones built a few years back. Maybe they've changed the transmissions that they use...