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Cushman Trackster Reborn - Hopefully

K

Kawgomoo

New member
Hello all from the snowy city of Phoenix Arizona! BBRRRrrr....its almost under a 110 out here.

Anyhow last night i brought home a stray Cushman Trackster. Overall shape doesn't seem to be terrible. Appears it was partially redone in the 90's, then forgotten.

Lets be clear, this thing is a basket case. The transaxle is loose, but they couldn't get it out without "cutting the cage". Whats wrong with the transaxle/hydro unit whatever that thing is, i have no clue. The used car sales man said he picked it up with a fork lift and broke a fitting on the bottom of the case. Uhhh. Yeah. Sure bud. We all know the Trackster is flat on the bottom, with a skid plate. Im not sure what they did to explode the transaxle, but I'm fairly certain its exploded. :hammer: In my professional opine of course.

Today, if my power washer will cooperate {it flat out refuse to start last night} i will blast the layers of crap off it, bet the cage released, the transaxle out and on the work bench and we will figure it out from there!! Hopefully!

Pics will be posted later today, as soon as i recover from the impending heat stroke i am about to receive. Wish me luck. :flowers:
 
The guy over at Cushman Trackster seems to think the trans won't need to come out.

But then again, its already 2/3 of the way out. Do i finish removing it and bench it so i can go through it? Or roll the dice, put it all back together, replace the axle seals and hope for the best?

Knowing me, ill probably finish taking it apart. :D

Heres a quick walk around video of the Trackster after i got done hosing most of the crap off her. Literally. This thing was COVERED in cat/rat pee. Super awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePL1t16CLh0
 
Looks pretty clean. the cdi, points, and ignition system over all are the issue with those motors. If you take the flywheel off be very careful with the piece that cam that is behind. Those break and don't think there are many left.
 
Is the flywheel on the motor or on the hydrostatic side?

Ignition was a constant pain in the ass on my OMC outboard as a kid too. Big surprise there.

If the hydro unit is good, and the motor sucks ill likely just yoke that 2 smoker out of there and put something worth a crap in it. We put street bike motors in everything out here, and thats what we got laying around. So thats probably what it would get.

Besides axle seals, where could the hydro trans start leaking at? The owner said it ran and drove but leaked like a siv.
 
I have done a bunch of Cushman repowers with Hondas Kohlers and even liquid
Cooled Kawasakis one guy even installed a Geo motor in one. The tracks look like new must have been inside. Idlers don't look bad either. If it were me I would take the red track lock brake cylinder off and throw it as far as you can
That is one of the reasons they quit making them you would go up a big hill and if the engine stalled out pops the track lock and it was possible to cause the machine to start rolling head over heels down the hill.

Some of the older John Deere Mowers have the same hydro pumps

Good luck! Keep us posted and head to lake pleasant and cool off!or Crown King and have a cold one.
 
lol doing all the above trying to stay cool. Of course, that means i got suckered into installing audio into a buddies boat today. Why do we wait till its hot out to do this stuff?

I was curious what that red thing was. Does it serve any possible benefit? Would it be worth the trouble to leave it, and just divorce the hydraulics so its not "idiot proof"/automagic?

Any idea what may cause one of these things to hemorrhage fluid? Seems to be leaking out one of the axle seals at this point. Im chasing my tail in circles debating pulling the trans all the way out. Seems like a pain in the butt. The manual says to pull the entire power unit out as a whole....which seems like an even larger pain in the butt.

Any advice on where to start diagnosing what parts of this machine are valid, and which are in need of service, and why?

Thanks!

I think i saw your geo swap on youtube. Is that the rear engine one?
 
I have taken them all off and thrown away they are just a hazard. Plug the port on the pump

I would take the unit out complete replace all seals, they use to leak at the copper lines that ran through the cooler the most those hoses dry out and need to be replaced the other item that normally needs attention is the bypass valves they can get rusty and stick in if pushed they are the small buttons on each pump assembly
 
MNo do you mean take out the entire power unit, motor and all? Or just sneak the trans the rest of the way out?

Its like mostly half assedly disassembled....
 
If you look around on the Internet your should able to find a PDFs on the operators and another for service manual on the Cushman
 
Once you get it all repaired if out as a unit and not under load you can spin the input with a drill and test the rotation forward and backward both sides to make sure it functions. Not a load test but if it moves that's a good thing.

To test the machine as a unit you drive up to a tree in front of the machine and try to spin the tracks
 
I've got the Cushman manuals in PDF they say to remove the entire unit as one deal. Sounds like a pain in the butt for no reason to me.
 
Still trying to get this infernal thing off the trailer.

Its loaded with all the weight towards the tongue. My forklift only has 3' forks, so i can't balance it to get it off. Figures!

Looks like it will fight me every inch of the way....tomorrow I'm off to scrounge some fork extensions unless anyone has a less stupid idea on how to move this heap.
 
Lift one end, slide planks under the tracks as far in as you can get them, with pipes under the planks as rollers. Lower the machine onto the planks and roll the whole shebang off the trailer?
 
If only it were that easy! its the exact same width as the trailer, which has a sunken floor. no rolling gonna happen. I just spun the trailer sideways, slid a 4x4 through the cage and lifted it up with the forklift rolled the trailer right out. It was too hot for my brain to work last night apparently.
 
My track lock had pitting on the shaft for sitting. When if powered up and retracted this caused it to leak. Off plug and trash.

Think it was a 4an cap for the hose? Something like that . Tractors hydraulic place had one.
 
Finally got this thing off the trailer and sitting on some blocks of wood.

20160703_145537_zps0yf0lhao.jpg



And i also got the trans out finally as well.

20160703_145554_zpsvsa9tm0r.jpg

20160703_145607_zpsdivm8qna.jpg



Moving slow, its damn hot out here.
 
First signs of fuckery -
With the transaxle laying on the ground i am taking time to just look it over and let it all soak in. The first thing to jump out at me is this....I figure these 2 bolts are used as a throttle stop of sorts, so when tell it to go straight it goes straight. It concerns me that one is much longer than the other. At this point I'm wondering is one pump weak? Does one pump have the swash plate in backwards? Why the hell are these two bolts such different lengths?
20160704_152203_zpsscmlhqwk.jpg





So with my natural curiosity, off comes the pump. Now granted i have no clue what I'm looking at inside this thing. But heres what i observed, and the things that stuck out to me as potential problem areas.

The wear pattern on this valve plate looks a bit suspect, but i can't feel it with my fingernail.
20160704_152548_zpsamjdvxpc.jpg




You can see a faint amount of frosting on these plungers. the barrels the ride in seem ok, some wear is noticeable but no scouring or scratches. i really don't know what the tolerance here should be, or have a good way to measure it.

20160704_152643_zpsv3w4p0yf.jpg




The other valve plate doesn't look as bad, this is from the "motor" i believe
20160704_152655_zpsfewnk22g.jpg



These grooves aren't deep, but you can def feel them if you drag your nail across the surface.
20160704_152847_zpsz7wflala.jpg




The heat mark on this shaft seems weird. I don't know if its stock or has been flame sprayed and repaired. The ground surface next to it doesn't seem to have nearly as good a surface finish to it as the other ground surfaces on the shaft. The bearing it runs through feels smooth as can be though.
20160704_153031_zpsar3v6yv1.jpg








Overall, lots of questions. The guy who sold it was adamant the transaxle is "ok" and that it just leaks cause he tore a fitting off with the fork lift. who then proceeded to half remove the trans over the next decade or so and never complete it? On top of that, he absolutely knew they were Sundstrand pumps in this thing right off the top of his head, so I'm sure he knows there are no fittings that can be broke off from underneath. There is clear RTV everywhere, every mating surface EXCEPT inside the pump itself only where it bolts to the axle and all the axle surfaces. What kind of hell was this thing really giving this guy? And how do i fix it? The questions of the day. :hammer:
 
Well it seems to two different length "throttle stop" screws are factory. The pumps are just offset a bit different in the machine.

Plodding forward, the mystery of WTF was wrong with this thing continues. {So far i haven't found anything}

I did add fuel and a battery and fire the motor. It fired right off, but immediately started to over speed so i killed it. I don't know if the idle is just set high on these motors because they always have some amount of load from the pumps, or if the carb is just super funky from years of sitting. Either way, glad to know it at least is a runner.
 
should be a belt on the governor I think? Maybe with no load to hold the motor. They are loud and sound like they will explode running good!
 
How do you remove the 882022 hub from the output of the engine? Have tried heat and a hammer and unscrewing it but it refuses to move, What is the secret? Any help is appreciated.
 
Think that’s a flange without seeing a pic.

One of these to keep some pressure on it. Heat pb blaster. Heat cool lube repeat overtime it will go.

Of course if no flange to put the jaws on ?
EFFBC784-BD34-46C4-9109-B0544310F697.png
 
Ball joint fork lube heat time or a bearing separator if it will fit between the collar and motor.

Possible a bearing separator with some modification to push off the motor gently.
 
Might be able to use those two holes in the flange, threaded rods and nuts to apply push power off the engine casting.
 
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