Dreaded 425 hydro leak-

12366 Views 11 Replies 10 Participants Last post by BigBomberBen, Mar 6, 2018

RustyFish

Discussion Starter · Jan 29, 2012

The 425 left a nice puddle under the transaxle the other day. Certainly not what I wanted to see. From what I've read here that would most likely require the removal of the trans. and replacing the 3 seals that are the regular suspects. Providing of course that one of these are leaking on mine.

After removing the seat pan, fuel tank and r. rear tire I could see the problem.
Its the swash plate o-rings that the forward/reverse linkage connects to. The Tuff Torq site says these are standard metric P26 o-rings. Someone here posted that these can be replaced without removing the tran. so I decided to give it a try.

The first issue is getting the snap ring removed thru the frame hole. A pair of 'Waldes Truarc No 2' snap ring plyers fit nicely and got the job done. I have several other snap ring plyers that would not fit thru the frame hole.

Getting the old o-rings out was a bit harder. Some old dental tools and small picks worked nicely. A straightened fish hook and needle nose plyers may also get them out.

Some new o-rings were oiled and eased back into the cavity- and everthing was reassembled.

After a few trips around the yard and sitting overnight I think it was a success!! No more drips. Plus I got to clean out 11xx hours of the PO's grass clippings out from under the seat pan.:trink39:

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jwill1776

· #2 · Jan 29, 2012

Nice job and write up.

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bvp2000

· #3 · Jan 29, 2012

Nice job, I did that last year on my 455...luckily my wife loaned me the dental probes I needed...lol (I kept them, so she didn't take them back to work!)

While I also did it without removing the trans, I am not so sure it was any easier...at least for me.

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Mike X485

· #4 · Jan 29, 2012

Thanks for the pics and the great write up. :trink39::trink39:

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RustyFish

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 31, 2012

Thanks for the comments!

bvp2000- I saw you're post about replacing these o-rings. It was encouraging to see that this was possible without removing the transaxle.:fing32:
I thought the job went pretty smooth and don't feel there was any compromise in the quality. I wouldn't hesitate to pull out the trans if it was required- it's just not necessary for this seal -with the right tools.

I removed the foot pan to clean under it while doing this job. The power steering control valve was exposed and looked pretty wet. Not leaking- but definetly seeping. Is this a common issue this this valve? It looks like the seal kit is $50 (AM118091). :dunno:

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Xcopterdoc

· #6 · Jan 31, 2012

Other shop tech did one last week. Same deal. 2k hrs worth of yak to dig thru! Job went Smoooooth. Not a single tool thrown or bad word even uttered! LOL!
Steering valve leaking.... where the lines go in, not real common but more common the older they get.

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Dunkelstar

· #7 · Jan 31, 2012

That work looks very familiar!

I ended up pulling the rear end out of the 425 because I was replacing a number of seals; the swash plate o-rings, diff lock and PTO. I found it was easier to replace all the seals by just removing the K92 rather than fish through the frame holes. I'll probably change out the same seals on my newly acquired 455 as well, for preventative maintenance . . . only an hour and a half or so for the whole job.

Good work!

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@ndre

· #8 · Feb 6, 2013

Dunkelstar said:
That work looks very familiar!

I ended up pulling the rear end out of the 425 because I was replacing a number of seals; the swash plate o-rings, diff lock and PTO. I found it was easier to replace all the seals by just removing the K92 rather than fish through the frame holes. I'll probably change out the same seals on my newly acquired 455 as well, for preventative maintenance . . . only an hour and a half or so for the whole job.

Good work!

dunk,
Where did you order you seals from? My 425 is leaking oil that looks to be coming from above oil filter but I can't pin point it. Anyway I was thinking of removing and replacing all seals and gaskets. Can really afford to take to the dealer and getting hit over the head with a bill, so I figure changing all seals and gaskets would be cheaper.

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Dan33Klein

· #9 · Feb 6, 2013

x2, the leak on my 455 is getting really bad, i will have to mess with it in the spring once the cab gets off..

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whytryduramax

· #10 · Feb 7, 2013

My dealer had them there only like 1.50

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Dunkelstar

· #11 · Feb 7, 2013

@ndre said:
dunk,
Where did you order you seals from? My 425 is leaking oil that looks to be coming from above oil filter but I can't pin point it. Anyway I was thinking of removing and replacing all seals and gaskets. Can really afford to take to the dealer and getting hit over the head with a bill, so I figure changing all seals and gaskets would be cheaper.

I bought all the seals from the dealer through jdparts.deere.com

If you can't find the leak clean it completely, use baby power / talc / cornstarch on it. It will show any leaks. In the end, the cost of the seals (and my time) was less than the future cost of the J20D Hy-Gard I was constantly losing. Hence the complete seal overhaul.

I found it easiest to remove the rear-end to replace the seals. It can be done with the rear in place . . . however, I decided to take the rear out as the swash plate o-rings are difficult to remove even with dental style picks. It is not hard to remove the rear end by any means.

A little wrench time is always good in my book.

Good luck!

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BigBomberBen

· #12 · Mar 6, 2018

Thanks for the write-up. I just had to do this on my 425 the other day. Was leaking pretty good while running. No question where it was coming from. I left the trans in place and worked through the frame holes. It got a little frustrating at times, especially fishing out the second oring. The old orings didn?t seem too brittle and I didn?t see any cracks, but I put new ones in and no more leaking!

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Dreaded 425 hydro leak-

RustyFish

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