I have a steep hill (mow sideways or the mower slides down the hill) in my back yard. The past couple times mowing I found that the mower was not pulling up the hill like normal. I had to push rather hard on the pedal just to get it up the hill as opposed to it just climbing right up with no problem. I figured something happened to the belt but when I replaced it, I discovered a limb jambed near the transmission and broke all the blades off the cooling fan for the hydrostat transmission.

My first concern is am I wasting my time and money to replace the fan and belt? Would a couple times mowing the .75acre lot (.25acre being a steep hill) likely burn up the transmission or should I be fine?

I understand the transmission is a "sealed" transmission so I'm assuming you can't replace the fluid or filter.

Do you have directions on how to replace the fan and drive belt?

Thank you,
Dan

Hi,
I believe I would try the fan/belt combo as the overheating of the oil from lack of cooling could cause this. The oil would loose viscosity.
There is no way to drain the unit easily, the filters are internal but there is a black plug on the top that can be removed to add oil. It uses 10W30 high quality oil, and should be 30mm(or about 1 1/4") below the top of the hole.
Part #'s are M127359 fan and GX10644 belt.
Peace,
Clarke

You were spot-on Clarke, thanks so much!
Wow, what a job though. I replaced the drive belt and the fan both and had to drop the transmission about 4" as well as remove the blade height attachment in front of the battery. Everything works fine now.