JD Hydraulic steering pump weak and grinding

jwjsr · Apr 12, 2014

do i drive it till it dies? it's on a JD f650 Z-Track zero turn, wondering if i drive it till it dies vs fixing it now would save any $. Oh, and i am assuming it is the pump and not something in the wheels it drives. I haven't messed with the freewheel valve, is it adjustable in a way that might stop the grinding? thanks for looking
And the right wheel hydraulic pump works fine.

Harvey H · Apr 15, 2014

A grinding pump is never good to let continue to grind. You are only polluting the system with metal debris and potentially damaging other system components. I would say fix it ASAP.

jwjsr · Apr 15, 2014

5 years ago I vaguely recall a similar problem, Seems that a local hydro rebuilder told me he couldn't get a rebuild kit for my pump, Doing a little googling makes me think kits/parts are available. Now to find some one capable of diagnosing installing the kit/parts in my area. I like to fix things but I'm rarely very good at it, I either make it worse or have to redo.
I put a brand new one in about 3 years ago and not long after the other pump went out and local mechanic was able to use parts from the pump that was replaced by the brand new one to repair it. This mower gets very light use, wasn't even used last summer, to do the perimeter of 5 acres where ford 4000 with finish mower does the bulk.
I'm thinking the system is polluted.