This weekend I tried going a different route: fix the mower I have (before throwing thousands at a new one). As one of the YouTube guys says, "she's already f*ckered, you ain't gonna f*ck her more." YouTube can be inspiring, and now I'm basically a hydrostatic transmission expert, except for understanding how they work
I removed the transmission (Hydro-gear light duty), drained it, cracked it open, and checked all of the parts for wear and damage. Nothing funky going on inside that I could determine. I was focused on the pump and the "motor," but those seemed well (tight tolerances/fit). The fluid was nasty, but not much build-up of shaving/silt on the magnet, and no chunks either. Filter is really just a screen, but it was clean too.
I put it back together, but the RTV was still curing so I didn't get to fill it and test.
I have a theory that the overflow/expansion tank may be where the issue originated, but I won't know until tomorrow when I pull it off. I should have pulled it off earlier, but I didn't think about that possibly being the issue until I had it back together. My theory is the fluid in the main housing expanded into the expansion tank, but it isn't being retracted from the expansion tank, possible because the overflow hose is broken. So maybe the main housing was low on fluid, which caused poor performance (cavitation).
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