OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions On Toro Ride On Mowers Loss of drive

Hi all,
I seem to be suffering a loss of drive, ( my ride on not me). It's a Toro XLS 420T that's about 7 years old and when attempting to drive in reverse I often need to disengage the cutting deck just to get it to move. Is there any adjustment possible or do you think the transmission needs attention? When driving forward it doesn't seem to have the same issue.

Any info would be very much appreciated as we live 50Km from our nearest service outlet so I like to do relatively minor jobs myself.

Thanks.
Bob W

Hi

Thats a fair bit modern for these forums! Where to start though? when trying to reverse is it labouring, cutting out or just not moving? There are many things it can be, also is it Hydrostatic?

Oh boy do you have the troublesome CVS Transaxle. It is made by General Transmissions and is a RS800P. Only external parts are available for it; therefore, don't open the plastic casing. Most likely it is a problem with the inversion controls. Note: debris on top of transaxle causes a lot of the problems.

This is their service manual. General Transmissions RS800P

Good Luck figuring what the problem is.

All I know is manufactures are redesigning the new mowers to no longer use this beast.

Hi Nath,

Thanks for your reply.

By Hydrostatic do you mean heel and toe pedal for reverse and forward? If so, yes that's what I have.

On flat ground I can reverse albeit fairly slowly and it will cut as long as the reverse cutting switch has been thrown, if not the safety cuts in and the deck disengages. However when challenged with an upward slope it either struggles or won't move at all even when the deck is disengaged. The engine revs don't change there is just no drive to the rear wheels.

Cheers
Bob W.

Hi AVB

Yep, that looks like the beast I have. Your comments don't fill me with a lot of confidence, but thank you very much for the link to the service manual.

That at least gives me something to look at and if I follow the troubleshooting step by step I should be able to find the problem by employing the 'process of elimination'.

First up it seems I had better revisit the cleaning process as I have used my compressor to blow the debris away from the top but it may take a more detailed clean before choosing to pull the entire unit out of the chassis.

Once again thanks to both you and Nath for your assistance, and I'll keep you informed of my success, or lack thereof.

Cheers
Bob W.

I know most think it is a hydrostatic but it is not. It more like the ATV belt drive system that uses two sliding sheave pulleys and a single speed manual transmission. The system principal is sound but it just the design of this one just not well thought out for mower service as mowers are rather dirty with clippings and other debris finding its way on to transaxle. Once you get a look at it you will see just how flimsy it is designed. They have come with a debris shield for it but I have only see of these in my shop and the customer is definitely not happy with it.

Nath also not all pedal speed controlled mowers are hydros as MTD uses a belt drive version with their sliding sheave pulley setup and their single speed transaxle but a lot of my customers thinks they are hydrostatics. Now MTD does have hydrostatic setup on some their newer mowers using the Hydro Gear hydrostatic transaxle.

On a side note I have heard that manufactures are considering put a belt system similar to the ATV system into automobile service.