Slow 3184

[evan4434]

Man my 3184 is slow as all get out. I think a snail could pass me. Is there anyway to speed this thing up. I tried the adjusters on the pedals and gave the front all the power and they did not do much. I also tried the reverse and gave the reverse pedal all the power and that did not do much either.

I had a 2544 and it was way faster then this 3184. Are all the 3000 this slow, I would say mine goes about 4 or 5 mph in forward and maybe 1 or 2 mph in reverse max.

There is a noise from the hydro's and it sounds like it is coming from the power steering unit I can also feel it in the steering wheel when it makes the noise. I took the entire rear fenders off to see if there was any kind of leak and everything looks good. I also changed the rear-end fluid and filter.

Any ideas what else I could check?

If my power steering unit is bad would that make my mower slow?

 

[evan4434]

FIXED IT!


There are two adjusters for this. One that everyone seems to know about which is where the pedals are (This is mainly for reverse adjustment not forward adjustment). There is a second adjuster under the mower for the forward pedal. Mine had slipped all the way to the lowest setting. You want it about half way otherwise when you press the break pedal it will kick in your forward control if you adjust the adjuster to far the other way.

I am getting about 8 mph forward out of her now and about 2 to 3 mph in reverse.

I will post a photo of the adjuster sometime in the next day or two. From what I have read on here this seems to be a common issue that no one has found an answer to. Some have made way to extend the pedal, but there is no need to do that with this adjuster.

 

[Donsyl]

Evan, glad you found out what it was.............they can drive you freakin crazy if you let them....Don

 

[scoutcub]

Sooo.. did the noise go away as well??

 

[evan4434]

No it did not, I can't seem to find where it is coming from. I have narrowed it down though. I think it is either the charge pump, or the entire pump it self what the drive shaft bolts up to.

Anyone know what a charge pump sounds like when it is going out?

 

[highboy1975]

like a bad power steering pump. whining like crazy. before i bought my 3185 i rode on a few older ones that made noise and the steering was jerky. your either getting bubbles or not enough pressure through your hydraulics.

 

[evan4434]

I thought that is was the steering pump as well but after taking the fenders off the noise was coming from in front of the charge pump where the drive shaft bolts up. Is there anyway to check if you are getting air in the lines? I am not losing fluid anywhere and the hydros are strong. I picked up a 400 lbs tree stump yesterday with my 3 point and forks no problem. I just had to have my 250 lbs friend stand on the front bumper

 

[highboy1975]

was it making noise when you picked it up? as far as i know all hydraulics are run off the pump that the drive shaft goes into.

 

[evan4434]

It was making the noise when I picked it up. It does it wosre when it is cold out.

So what the drive shaft bolts to would be the charge pump right? I am thinking that all I need to do is replcae the charge pump which I think is about a $250 part.

 

[highboy1975]

thats what my thought would be. im by no means a mechanic on these, but ive done alot of work on cars. ive even done a full resto on a 75 f250. im just crossing what i know about cars into what i would think would be right about these things. you might want to double check anything with a dealer or mechanic, but my best educated guess would be that the pump is on its way out.

 

[evan4434]

That explains your sig HIGHBOY1975.

Man I love those older Fords my friend has a high boy as well. I use to own a few 1978 and 1979 because I love the square head lights. My 1978 was a F250 long box two wheel drive with a 351M in high school, and my 1979 was a F150 long box two wheel drive with a 460. That was my last one and I sold it on ebay.

My dream would be to have a 1979 short box 2 wheel drive cruiser, and slap a big block in it. Very hard to find truck! If I had the money and found won I would never sell it!

I think I am going to take my cub to the dealer and get an estimate just to make sure it is the pump. I don't want to drop $300 or so on a pump for nothing.

 

[evan4434]

Attached are photo's of the forward adjuster as well as my Cub with the gas tank and rear end plate removed. I was trying to find any hydro leak that I could and I don't see a leak anywhere on this thing. It has to be a charge pump going out.

 

[WNYTractorTinkerer]

Attached are photo's of the forward adjuster as well as my Cub with the gas tank and rear end plate removed. I was trying to find any hydro leak that I could and I don't see a leak anywhere on this thing. It has to be a charge pump going out.

Just for giggles try this- find the hydro-releaase mechanism and make sure it isn't partially stuck open.. This would dump your hydro pressure and cause your low pump output.. Another thing to try is to block up the thing and run it elevated for a while to try and bleed any air out of the pump.. Good Luck..

 

[evan4434]

I finally gave up on this hydraulic noise issue. It is getting worse now and I still cannot find it. I took it into the dealer today to see if they knew what it was. He thought I was getting air in the lines somewhere. They said they have never seen a charge pump make this kind of noise, and when they do have problems they just go out and nothing works. I told him good luck finding a air leak I have spent many hours with the fenders off looking and had no luck. So we will see what they come up with.

 

[evan4434]

So far the dealer cannot get my Cub fixed. They have no idea what is causing the issue. Bad part is I need it to clear snow and they are taking about a couple of more snow falls soon. I might have to go pick up my broke Cub and beat it up some more.

 

[evan4434]

Well I picked up my Cub today, and I am $274 lighter. They replaced the O rings on the suction and output lines on my charge pump as well as an O ring on my transmission filter. $217 of the bill was labor. I have only driven it up on my trailer, so I don't know if this fixed the issue for sure or not. It better have for that much money.

 

[evan4434]

Ok since my cub dealer cannot get this fixed I need your guy's help. The leak is in the suction side somewhere. When looking at the charge pump from the back which line is the suction line. The one on the right that goes down to the bottom of the transmission, or the one on the left that goes up front?

If you look at the attached photo is it the red or green circle?

Also where all could the leak on the suction side be coming from. The Cub dealer replaced the "O" ring on the charge pump and the one on the transmission.

 

[evan4434]

Bump any ideas?

I tried using a bottle of Lucas hydro sealer in the rear end and of course that did not work it only made my hydro's slower. My next step I am going to do it is drain the entire rear end and put in synthetic shell rotella 5-40W to see if that helps. If that does not work I am going to replace all the O rings on the power steering pump.