Mower Gear Box

[JDKu]

Tonight, I hooked up the 60" mower (MF2325) to use it for the first time on my GC2300. When I started it up, there was quite a "whirring" sound.

Is this sound normal on a mower with a gearbox? I've always operated cheap mowers without a gear box before. The whirring is as loud as the blades and other mower sounds. What could it be? Blades, belt, bearings all seem to be as they should be.

I pulled the mower off to inspect the gearbox and make sure it had oil. There are two plugs on the gearbox. The operating manual does a poor job of labeling the plugs. Can anyone tell me which plug the oil should be filled to? The top plug is about half way up the gearbox. The lower plug is 0.5 to 1" from the bottom of the gearbox. When I opened the top plug, there was no oil. When I opened the bottom plug, I lost about 0.5 cup before I got it closed.

Thank you,
Chris

 

[flusher]

Tonight, I hooked up the 60" mower (MF2325) to use it for the first time on my GC2300. When I started it up, there was quite a "whirring" sound.

Is this sound normal on a mower with a gearbox? I've always operated cheap mowers without a gear box before. The whirring is as loud as the blades and other mower sounds. What could it be? Blades, belt, bearings all seem to be as they should be.

I pulled the mower off to inspect the gearbox and make sure it had oil. There are two plugs on the gearbox. The operating manual does a poor job of labeling the plugs. Can anyone tell me which plug the oil should be filled to? The top plug is about half way up the gearbox. The lower plug is 0.5 to 1" from the bottom of the gearbox. When I opened the top plug, there was no oil. When I opened the bottom plug, I lost about 0.5 cup before I got it closed.

Thank you,
Chris

Yep, that's the normal sound that a brush hog makes.
Usually you fill through the top hole until gear oil starts to run out of the bottom hole. Appears that your gearbox was slightly overfilled.

 

[JDKu]

Thank you,

I don't imagine this makes any difference, but it is a mid mount mower.

I was hoping this machine would be quieter than my JD L-120. I believe the engine noise is less, but I think the deck noise is a lot more. Perhaps the blade tip speed is higher too.

Chris

 

[buckowens]

I have the same mower and while it is loud, it does do a nice job mowing.

 

[thatguy]

The first time i started up my MMM on my JD it sounded like a plane winding up, sorta startled me at first - I thought I was going be taking off lol

 

[massey driver]

Manual says that oil should just start to come out of the top hole [plug] thats the gear box level.The bottom hole is to drain the oil manual says drain oil after first 50 hrs then add new gear oil.Then every 600hrs Manual says to drain oil out the bottom plug in order for all the oil to drain put the mower on a incline so that the drain is lower then the other side,it also goes on to say wrap the plug threads with teflon tape when installing the plugs to stop any seapage .Of course it also says that you can remove the gear box as well,to drain the oil The gear box does make a bit of a whine for sure.Larry

 

[JDKu]

Thank you for all of the feedback on the noise.

Masseydriver, the wording of your manual sounds similar to mine except mine recommends oil change after first 50 hours, and then 200 hours thereafter. Given that I don't know how many hours are on mine, I think I will just change the oil today, and measure in 400 cc. It doesn't look hard to take the gearbox off. Evidentally your manual also has a diagram that makes sense!

Thank you!

 

[massey driver]

Thank you for all of the feedback on the noise.

Masseydriver, the wording of your manual sounds similar to mine except mine recommends oil change after first 50 hours, and then 200 hours thereafter. Given that I don't know how many hours are on mine, I think I will just change the oil today, and measure in 400 cc. It doesn't look hard to take the gearbox off. Evidentally your manual also has a diagram that makes sense!

Thank you!

I went and took a look in my manual and sure enough its a as you said 50 hrs then every 200 hrs I was thinking about a gear box that I had bought last fall for a diff application :ashamed: Glad you caught my mistake don't want to misinform others.Larry

 

[JDKu]

I emptied the gearbox, and by dumb luck I had exactly 400 cc of gear oil remaining in the jug. I added it. It brought the oil up to the top plug. Thus, if anyone else is wondering, the oil level should be at the top plug. The bottom plug appears to only be there for draining.

I took the mower blade and gearbox off so I didn't get oil all over the deck when I drained it. It wasn't too big of job, but it did involve flipping the mower over a couple times.