Redneck in training
Elite Member
We have a lot of thorny trees on our property. Due to constant issues with flat tires on my wife's mower I pumped some slime in them. The problem went away but it created another this spring. When tried to mow first time this year left side of our mower worked right but the right had no power. When the mower was pushed against a tree the left side would spin the tire but the right wouldn't. I bypassed the seat switch so I could lift it and see if the belt is slipping. All looked OK there. I called the dealer and was told that the hydraulic transaxles don't get bad very often but that he saw a broken "ring" in the pump with similar symptoms. Therefore I removed the transaxle, took it apart but found nothing broken. I put it back to the mower and since it exhibited the same symptoms I decided to buy new transaxle. After I installed it right side still had no power. Only then I discovered that the rim was spinning inside the tire. Apparently the slime damaged the rubber of the bead that lost contact with rim shoulder. Surprisingly the tire was not losing any pressure. The slime also completely stripped paint from the rim but didn't cause rusting. Once I determined the cause I painted the rim and replaced both old low pressure with new high pressure tires because they are way thicker. Total cost of misdiagnosis 2300 USD. I have an Eaton transaxle with 1200 hours for sale.