I haven't had any issues with my 2 year old mower (Toro Zmaster 4000 series) and it's been so long since I did have an issue I didn't think to stop the mower when I smelled wood burning. I thought the nearby construction guys were burning scraps or something.

Turns out the wood burning was a stick stuck in the hydro belt and it threw the belt and snapped the hydro pulley fan off.

No one has the part in stock so I'll order the pulley and fan kit online. However, I've got to remove the seat and gas tank to get to the bolt that holds the fan on the pulley. Unless I can get some sort of 90° impact wrench this looks like a winter project.

In the meanwhile, I cleaned up the surfaces, mixed up some epoxy and stuck the fan back onto the pulley. I'm trying to not be delusional but do you think the epoxy will keep the fan on the pulley until after I'm done for the season? I'm talking late November.

I can't wait until I'm able to get out of mowing. The equipment cost is too high.

The part in question:

quote:

hydro pulley fan

Are you talking about the plastic fan in diagram item #136?

IF so it's a plastic fan, can't see where a repaired part wouldn't work, as long as it's done properly and your vital bits are protected from it if it shears off

136 - 144-6597 1 Kit, Fan And Pulley

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

hydro pulley fan

Are you talking about the plastic fan in diagram item #136?

136 - 144-6597 1 Kit, Fan And Pulley

Yes, I updated the OP just as you were posting.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

hydro pulley fan

Are you talking about the plastic fan in diagram item #136?

136 - 144-6597 1 Kit, Fan And Pulley

Yes, I updated the OP just as you were posting.

LOL great minds.... or something like that

If you have all the bits and do a good epoxy job imagine it would be ok, how long it will last is another question altogether.

Hard to say. Give it the best chance by thoroughly cleaning and degreasing the parts. Rough them with a little sandpaper.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
Hard to say. Give it the best chance by thoroughly cleaning and degreasing the parts. Rough them with a little sandpaper.

I did those things. Then I put a little extra around the seam on the inside and outside of the plastic fan. It feels solid. I'm just going to run it as I believe the fan is just to keep the pulley cool to increase belt life. I don't think it actually cools the hydro pump.

According to the parts counter the fan actually does cool the hydro. Crap.

I'll just have to check it after every lawn.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
According to the parts counter the fan actually does cool the hydro. Crap.

Well if it's together and will stay together it one would think it should continue to cool as long as it's turning when it's put back on... doesn't look like it has a significant load

I’m going to say that I think the parts guy is wrong about this fan cooling the pump. I’m 90% certain that it only keeps the pulley and belt cool. If it cools the hydro system, wouldn’t there be cooling fins on the pump case? I guess i could see this fan keeping the engine heat away from the pumps so maybe there is that. I do admit that I could be very wrong.

Regardless, it seems the epoxy is set pretty well and I ran it at full RPMs and it does blow some air. Seems like this could work. I should still order the part.

Well, it's not an inexpensive machine, and it's not an inexpensive repair if the pump goes fubar... so yeah get the part on order for a winter repair

Part ordered. I'll push out the next mowing day to Thursday.

Give it a try . I'm not optimistic but what the hell .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Give it a try . I'm not optimistic but what the hell .

Keep in mind this isn’t your regular homeowner model mower. I think they’re up to $14600 these days. I’d say around 42% of my income is generated by it. I can’t wait to not rely on it at all.

If the epoxy seems to hold, maybe lay a skin of E6000 on top of it. Very strong and also a little flexible that might be of advantage. Things may be a little out of balance, hopefully not enough RPMs to self-destruct. I'd give the E6000 a good day to cure.

If you cleaned up the part really well and roughened it up and used JB Weld, my opinion it would hold very well. God Bless

I don't know man. That pulley is under a lot of pressure at high speed. JB weld offers a plastic mix and I would be inclined to go that route over another brand.

Taking that machine apart may not be as big a job as you might think. I have a Toro Timecutter 5000 series which is fairly similar in layout. Last winter mice got into it and chew the harness up pretty good. I had to remove the seat, and the ignition panel (you would be working on the other panel) just to get to all of the harness and it really was not that big of a job. The whole thing including repairing the broken wires, took me about 3 hours.

Shoot, and i'm an old guy. I do believe I would bite the bullet and just replace the pulley and just be done with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Bassamatic:
I don't know man. That pulley is under a lot of pressure at high speed. JB weld offers a plastic mix and I would be inclined to go that route over another brand.

Taking that machine apart may not be as big a job as you might think. I have a Toro Timecutter 5000 series which is fairly similar in layout. Last winter mice got into it and chew the harness up pretty good. I had to remove the seat, and the ignition panel (you would be working on the other panel) just to get to all of the harness and it really was not that big of a job. The whole thing including repairing the broken wires, took me about 3 hours.

Shoot, and i'm an old guy. I do believe I would bite the bullet and just replace the pulley and just be done with it.

The pulley is in fine condition, it is not broken. There’s no tension from the belt on the fan. The only pressure is air resistance on the fins which while significant doesn’t seem to be an issue.

The new part is on order and if it comes in before next weekend it will probably be installed the Sunday after tomorrow.

In regards to a 90 degree Impact Wrench, Milwaukee has one in the M12 lineup. It will only generate a claimed 220 ft.lbs (actual is closer to 100 ft.lbs.). I suspect that Milwaukee puts a 15 minute time limit on the hammering cycle to get their torque specs, if a fastener is too tight I reach for a breaker bar to break it loose. Good news is if you break loose the tight fasteners this will spin them out quickly.

What about one of the plastic welding tools that are available on Amazon?

I cracked the lid on my John Deere’s bagger lid and repaired it. One year later still holding.

I think posters including myself are missing something.

Just for clarity, the fan itself is not broken, rather it just separated from the pulley, the fan is plastic, and the pulley is metal or plastic. If this is the case, then how was the fan attached to the pulley in the first place, Glue? If so, I don’t see a problem glueing them back together.

Clean and scuff up the mating surfaces of the fan and pulley and glue them back together. It’s not like they are under titanic pressure.