Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
tuckermaclain

New CVT transmissions. Any experience?

tuckermaclain
9 years ago

Looking for a rider to do my small yard, just for fun. It's just a 1/2 acre but pretty steep slopes. Had wanted an X304, but JD cheapened them with a K46 recently. Thought I'd need a manual because of the slopes. Thought about a Wheel Horse. Looked at the latest AYP Craftsman, and they have a new General Transmission built CVT. I demo'd it and it pulled like an electric motor up a steep slope. Pretty powerful. Never heard of this. Heavier duty than the one MTD licenses. Reading the specs, it's got a bit more torque than a K58. It will run cooler. It is more efficient. Mantaining it should be replacing the external belt. There seems to be no down side to it. The AYP tractor cost me 1,600, which is a lot less than something with a K58. Before anybody tells me how bad AYP is--I like it just fine. For my needs it is more than adequate. Just cutting a little yard and pulling a trailer with mulch or shrubs. Does anybody have any experience or opinions on this tranny that they'd share? I've used torque converters in other things (minibikes, snowmobile) and they were wonderful and easy to maintain. I have a suspicion that Tuff Torq and Hydro Gear are going to make some or lose this market. Hydrostatics are in comparison inefficient, expensive, make lots of noise, and need regular (hard to do) maintaining. I feel pretty certain that they are going to the dustbin of history with lawn tractors.

Comments (79)

  • grasscatcher
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Larso1, that is kinda what I was getting at, except hoping the mfr. would take the bull by the horns here. If General Transmission would step up and make a retrofit available for, say, $400-$500 for the RS800 to replace worn out K46 units, they could hit a home run. If their units are reliable, word will spread fast and folks will not only be looking to buy retrofit units, but will be looking for the RS800 when it comes time to buy a new lawn tractor. As it is now, GT has a long row to hoe as far as getting word out on their RS800, and folks probably won't trust it for another five years or so...

  • justalurker
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The percentage of K46 transaxles having problems in the field is insignificant for the amount of units out in the field or TuffTorq and every manufacturer that uses the K46 would have acted to rectify the situation and mitigate their warranty costs.

    Almost every instance I have read of people having problems with a K46 is due to them using the K46 entry level transaxle to do more than it was intended to do and then complaining when it fails.

    The K46 is speced to be in an entry level riding lawn mower for mowing limited area FLAT lawns with no inclines and VERY limited towing capability.

    The CVT may be a viable option and time and users will tell if it is by us being paying beta testers, BUT the solution really is to use the right tool for the job and buy a rider/garden tractor with the capability to do the job you want it to do.

    Consumers often break an anvil with a rubber hammer and them complain.

    JMO

  • grasscatcher
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Justalurker, I'm with you on using the right tool for the job.

    The point behind all of this discussion on transmissions is that it just rubs some of us raw that you have to buy a $3k+ tractor if you want the convenience of a hydro and have a hill to mow, or want to pull an occasional cart of wood. If you don't have a big bank account, your options are to 1) buy a good used GT and have the ability to wrench on it, or 2) buy a manual transmission (which is typically only available on crappy entry-level riders), and put up with shifting gears to mow around obstacles, etc. This is why so many of us are interested in something better than what the K46 represents. At the very least, the mfrs. could spend an extra $5 and make the K46 serviceable on the majority of these LTs. Is that really too much to ask? What is the least expensive LT out there that has a(n officially) serviceable K46?

  • justalurker
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yea, we're all members of a big club... the I don't like what stuff costs club... BIG club.

    I don't like the idea of having to buy a $35k 3/4 ton or 1 ton pickup to (safely) tow around a Bobcat but that's just the way it is.

    The only power consumers have is to vote with our wallets. Don't like K46 transaxles then don't buy them. When the sales numbers fall the manufacturers will reevaluate. BUT, since K46 failures are often due to people abusing them (using them for what they want them to do instead of what they are designed to do) and the failure rate is statistically insignificant the manufacturers stand pat.

    A serviceable (oil changeable) K46 will not change its operating specifications. People would still abuse that poor transaxle and piss and whine when THEY break it.

    CVT may be an answer or it may not. Time and we paying beta testers will see. I know that the CVT they offer in the current version of one of my cars SUCKS and I'll never buy one.

    I know that I hated to have to spend what I did on my John Deere X500, but lo and behold it excels at every task I put in front of it and has never been out of service for a single second whether mowing a couple acres of rural lawn or blowing a couple or three feet of snow of my 100 yard uphill gravel driveway or towing a trailer full of anything. When I'm in the seat and the X500 is effortlessly doing its job I never think about what it cost me. When I do think about what it cost me I always relish the fact that I won't have to buy another one for the rest of my life... well unless I want a BIGGER toy.

    I'll bet our Dads felt the same way when he spent hundreds of dollars on that 60's Wheelhorse or JD or Case that's still giving reliable service today. Sometimes you have swallow hard and pay the price to reap the rewards later down the road.

  • bus_driver
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The crystal ball must be murky. I have never towed anything with my riders. No operator weighing over 200 pounds has ever been on one of them. Out of 4 hydrostatic units, 2 have failed. The overall sampling may not be large enough to be statistically significant but it most certainly is meaningful to me.
    My yard does have hills. For parts of it, 42" is absolutely the widest deck that will work. That limits the size of the mower that can be used.
    Those particular circumstances may not be prevalent enough to warrant the makers building units for such service. The mowers I have do not list the limitations about using on hills that keep being posted here.

  • justalurker
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My crystal ball is clear as can be and based on lengthy discussions with engineers and parts people at companies I can not name.

    While your circumstances are not unique and are of particular importance to you it doesn't change the data on in warranty failures or the sale and shipment of parts for out of warranty repairs of those awful K46 transaxles..

    I anxiously await your long term review of the CVT you're getting ready to buy so we can all benefit from your experience.

    "The mowers I have do not list the limitations about using on hills that keep being posted here"

    Well, John Deere asks the question prominently in their Riding Lawn Equipment Product Selector...

    http://www.deere.com/wps/portal/dcom/productselector?siteName=en_US&categorySetName=Riding%20Lawn%20Equipment

  • grasscatcher
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I guess my biggest gripe is that there is not much available between the K46 (which is probably adeqate for 80% of small homeowners) and the K66 (which is overkill for the other 20% of small homeowners). Yes, there are K57/K58 and other variants, but there aren't many of those around and they aren't much more than a K46. Worst of all is the difficulty in determining which transaxles are in which tractors, which seems to be getting more difficult every year. It's becoming a crapshoot. Then there are the Hydrogear transaxles which are uncommon enough that there is not much history/user reports about them.

    It is for these reasons that we are holding out hope for something like the RS800. There's no doubt that the transaxles in these LTs are the weak link. I'm sure many LTs are simply thrown away once the owner hears that a new transaxle will cost half the price of a new LT, and with no parts requests are made to the OEM.

    I would love to have a JD 500, they are awesome GTs, but I cannot justify the cost for my half-acre of hills. Btw, I had my K46 before I moved to this property, and am nursing it along on synth 5w50.

  • justalurker
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The market determines what customers want and manufacturers address those wants by pinpointing the most profitable wants.

    When i or we (but not LOTS of us) find ourselves wanting a product in a particularly small slice of the marketplace we get ignored. Manufacturers can't justify the expense of design, R&D, and marketing for a small segment of the marketplace. It's manufacturing economics 101.

    When I was a little kid all I wanted was to be a catcher on the neighborhood baseball team. Too bad, there were no left handed catcher's mits or left handed scissors for that matter. It was just the way it was. Now there are all kinds of left handed everythings because there is a significant market sector that is profitable enough for manufacturers to address.

    It very east to find out what transaxles is in what L&G tractor... crawl underneath or look under the seat and read the label on the transaxle. If the pedigree of the transaxle is important to you then make the effort to look.

    So we have entry level LT K46, upgrade to LT K58 increases axle diameter and axle torque, minimum GT K66 which is being used less, and the the full GT K72 transaxle. They get even bigger but that's $10K super GT class. Where's the hole in that product lineup? Now, if you're saying you want a K58 and only want to pay for a K46 then get in line behind all the rest of us who want more and want to pay less.

  • grasscatcher
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, it is getting harder to identify transaxles. I know Craftsman, for one, no longer identifies the transaxle under the seat. I know there are some Hydrogear transaxles out there, but I'm not sure I'd be able to identify one readily, or tell it apart from a K46 easily. It's also not that easy to crawl under a LT to identify the transaxle, you start getting weird looks from the salespeople and even weirder looks when they find out you're inquiring about the transaxle make and mfr. - lots of thin sheetmetal hiding that transaxle nowadays. Additionally, JD used to identify their transaxles on their website - they no longer do so. Why? I'm sure it took more cost/effort to delete that line of code then to just leave it in.

    I'm not asking for a K58 at K46 prices. I'm asking for a K46 with external filter, filler and drain plug, for say, $30-$50 over the non-serviceable K46. That does not exist in today's market, AFAIK. You have to step up SIGNIFICANTLY in price (to GT prices) to get that option that probably costs the mfr. an extra $5 per unit.

  • justalurker
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Screw the weird looks...I'm spending money and I'll know what I'm getting.

    JD continues to ID what trans is in every model L&G tractor if you look at the specifications.

    I've always found that TT and Hydrogear transaxles either have a little metal ID tag on them or the ID is stamped into the case.

    " I'm asking for a K46 with external filter, filler and drain plug, for say, $30-$50 over the non-serviceable K46"

    When i or we (but not LOTS of us) find ourselves wanting a product in a particularly small slice of the marketplace we get ignored.

  • bus_driver
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The John Deere site opens just fine for me. Then it does no more.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Selector

  • justalurker
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The JD selector can be kinda flaky from time to time.Seems they try to do too much with Java and scripts and there's way too many animations

    I just go to residential products and navigate from there...

    http://www.deere.com/wps/dcom/en_US/products/equipment/riding_mowers/riding_mowers.page?

  • grasscatcher
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    JD must've started posting their tranny specs again. They didn't have them posted a year or two ago when I was looking (and I looked HARD!), and I had remembered finding them in previous years. I had to go to the tractordata website to find what tranny they were using.

    Also, as I posted earlier, I doubt that a lot of the K46 failures get back to the original oem, or even the retailer. I bet a lot of them just get tossed, and the manufacturer is none the wiser (I know of several people who have had problems that did just that, didn't even look for issues/remedies posted on the web). Therefore, I think the "small" number of people wanting something a little stronger is much larger than you (or the mfrs) think. OTOH, the more they break, the more new tractors they can sell, so why shoot yourself in the foot if there are no good alternatives for the end-user? THAT is why we are hoping that something like the RS800 becomes a reliable and less expensive alternative to what we are force-fed now. I still maintain that transmissions are the weakest link (durability and maintenence-wise) in all LTs across the board.

    I understand the market, supply & demand thing. I realize they build for a certain profit margin, certain price points and failure/return rate (again, I think that is skewed in their favor due to lack of adequate data). You are right, they will not change until their is enough squawking from the end-users, or they have some venerable competition. I don't think the squawking will ever happen in large enough numbers, so I am pinning my hopes on the competition. Competition is always a good thing.

  • tex599
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Curious about these new CVT transmission as well. In the market for a new rider and noticed the Home Depot Ariens and some craftsmen have the RS800 installed. And the John Deere d105 has the smaller version the RT400. Anyone using one and how have they held up? My yard has hills and don't think a Hydro would hold up for very long.

  • mike_c_1969
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    How does a rs800 compare to a k66?
    I'm about to pull the trigger on the husky with the k66 and locking diff but I would love to save $1000 or so if the performance is similar.
    I have/had a scotts 2046 until the k46 died on me. My front yard is one big hill so considering its age and usage it didn't do too badly. I can only mow downhill then I go back up my driveway. The driveway is steep enough that a std car has to be in 1st gear to go up it.
    I pull a lawn vac, carts of firewood, etc....

  • justalurker
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If the tractors are comparable (you only mentioned the HUSQ) and there's a $1k difference in price between transmissions that should tell you something.

    I'd give a GT class trans with a locking diff a big edge over a CVT.

  • grasscatcher
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'd go with the K66 over the CVT at this point. The K66 seems to be a proven tranny. It is rated as ground-engaging, whereas the RS800 CVT may or may not be ground-engaging, depending on which marketing hype you listen to.

    The RS800 CVT capability is supposed to be somewhere midway between the K46 and K66 based on advertising hype and available info. If that proves to be the case, it may be a very worthy transmission down the road - at this point, there just isn't enough real-world data to make any sound judgements.

    I'd definitely stay away from the lower-end (MTD) CVT, as well as the unit used in the JD LTs until they come out with something much better.

    Probably the greatest advantage to the CVT unit is that if you overload it, it will probably result in a burned-up belt, rather than an expensive tranny with toasted innards. But if those belts burn up every half-hour, there's not much point in it - death by a thousand cuts, etc.....

  • Rick Ashby
    8 years ago

    I just ordered a Poulan Pro 960420174 PB24VA54 with the RS800 transmission and it has a 10 year CVT belt warranty. With the low speed operation I don't think the belt is going to be an issue. I am more worried about the nylon gearing and forward/reverse transitions but time will tell. No more K46's for me.....

  • jlbutler66
    8 years ago

    Neighbor has a Cub Cadet with one of these CVT transmissins and after a few months of use my impression of it is its a litle crude compared to my lawn tractor with the K46. When he starts off mowing when its cold the belt squeals and it seems herky jerky as he mowes his yard. Also seems slow backing up. I know the secrets to a realitivly long and happy life with the K46 and it incudes pulling and draining the transmissin before it gets much more then 50 hours on it and refilling with a high quality 5-50 weight synthetic oil although a 10-40 will work well. The unit comes with 10-30 non detergent dinosaur oil so most any high quality synthetic would be a big improvement. This is recommended by Tuff Torgue on their web page for HD usage like hilly property etc. I personally used (with T.T E mail approval) Mobil -1 15-50 Wt. advanced formula motor oi with excellent results so far. Age had slowed my tractor down little and the service took care of that and it is a little quieter and cooler running to boot. I have some hills,trees and other challenges on my property so it is considered a some what demsnding environment for the K46.

  • rexlex
    8 years ago

    curious - if yer riding jd green, what happens to yer superwarranty when you bust open thet tranny at 50 hrs to change oil?

  • chriswcaruso
    8 years ago

    Serious problems with GT RS 800 transmissions on inclines. Craftsman 91720390 22hp with the plastic RS800 will not climb a moderate grade in my yard after 3 months of use. Purchased in July 2015 and now in October it's useless. Bought a 5 year extended warranty and Sears came out and ordered a new trans. Tech said they have replaced dozens of these already. They had ordered so many for a while they were on backorder. New trans. arrived, tech came out, opened the shipping carton and the plastic bottom of the trans. case was cracked with fluid all over the bottom of the carton. Tech said this happens a lot, it's plastic. Another trans. was ordered. Tech said because of the moderate incline of my back yard this will happen again in a couple months, but not to worry, they'll replace it again. After three replacements I qualify for a new tractor. This GT RS 800 transmission has been over hyped by everyone. Start reading the blogs and you'll see these things fail left and right.

  • jlbutler66
    8 years ago

    Changing the K-40/46 transmission oil "as recommended buy the manufacture" at 50 hrs will not void your warranty. I E mailed Tuff Toque about changing my JD 130 series lawn tractor and they said go for it and they would be OK with it.

  • rexlex
    8 years ago

    lemme see if I got that right - JD and TT are gonna letcha go in and change fluid in a factory sealed tranny within the warranty period and still continue to stand behind the warranty for whatever else? Trusting souls, indeedy. Do think I would want that answer in writing from both the warranting parties..

  • jlbutler66
    8 years ago

    You do not have to "bust open. the transmission" to change the oil. Pull it out,remove the plug covering the opening used to fill it and the turn it up side down and let the oil drain out into a container of your choice. Go to T.T web site for any additional info you might need. The K46 will take 2 gts of oil after draining over night. Per T.T recommendation for longest life and best performance use 5-50 weight synthetic oil although good results are possible with 15-50,5-40 and 10-40 weights as well. Any of these oils are far better then the 10-30 non detergent oil that comes in it from the factory. I E mailed T.T. and confirmed this fact after reading this service recommendation on their web site.

    Your warranty will not be breached anymore the your engine warranty is breached by changing your motor as recommended by the manufacture.

  • rexlex
    8 years ago

    and you speak for JD in all this ?

  • jlbutler66
    8 years ago

    My JD dealer was OK with it when I showed him a copy of T.T. service recommending the oil be changed @ 50 hrs. They were very surprised however to find out the transmission could and should be serviced. Keep in mind that T.T. is the actual warranter of this transmission not JD they act as a vender and provide re embossment to JD for repairs or replacement to their transmission. Obviously they have agreed to wave the oil change requirement for the first 120 hrs. Not a bad gamble for JD and T.T. but for the consumer who is looking for long term reliability in any application but flat and level ground not a very smart move. One qualifier. If you damage your tractor while servicing your transmission you will obviously be responsible for it.

  • rexlex
    8 years ago

    Ah, the qualifier... yup, you (the owner/customer) take all the risk... lotsa related things that could happen while one wus pulling that tranny out to turn upside down, drain, refill and put back in .

  • jlbutler66
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Step by step instruction are readily available on line including pictures,however if you do not have some mechanical ability and basic tools it might be smart not to try it. I was 74 yrs old when I did the service on my JD K-40 (which for the record is a lower capacity version of the K46) and it wasn't that challenging. The K40 takes 2.2 gts. of oil due to the lighter weight of the reduced capacity components used so more space is available in the case for oil. Both the K40 and the K46 use the same size case.

  • wheely_boy
    8 years ago

    Give it up jbutler66. Rexlex is smarter than all of us put together and he will shortly demonstrate it with his mature answer to my post. Apparently he thinks you should just throw the tractor away.

  • rexlex
    8 years ago

    why thank you, rollergirl.. almost amazed to see you making a supreme effort to stay with an issue instead of trying to be a jackass comic. But say.. come to think of it.. betcha could get a job at one of them west coast psychic outfits.

    M/w, still looking for proof that JD or the other OEM's will continue to warrant their products after an owner has did the tranny oil change on factory sealed units. If such is out there, great for owners of such rigs. If not, those owners are left to proceed at their own risk, warranty-wise.

  • jlbutler66
    8 years ago

    I see rexlex considers it his duty to make his point rather than open his mind to what I have posted. Here is a compromise, wait until you get 120 hrs on your JD and then change your transmission oil as recommended by the MANUFACTURE of the transmission if you think you can do it. If you don't have a JD wait for your 2 year warranty to expire then change the oil. Even waiting past the recommended oil change point you will still extend the life of the unit and improve its performance. One more important point. THE TRANSMISSION IS NOT " SEALED" the units fill plug is designed to be easily removed and re installed and if done properly no one would ever know it has been removed.

  • rexlex
    8 years ago

    still looking for that proof...

  • wheely_boy
    8 years ago

    This is why there are only 5 posts on this forum a week.

  • rexlex
    8 years ago

    ANOTHER supreme contribution effort by the wannabe comic that trashed so many many threads in the past. When's the last time you REALLY helped anyone on here, rollergirl? At least Mr. Butler is - and he makes some very good points about extending the life of a tranny that (imho) should have been designed to be owner serviceable in terms of fluid changeout. But if the average owner is going to be pulling his tranny out to service same during warranty and then later experience any other related warranty issue, I would not be surprised for the OEM to refuse such once they saw that the tranny had been removed/reinstalled by someone other than their own service people.

  • wheely_boy
    8 years ago

    Very predictable..

  • rexlex
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    was that another attempt to help, rollergirl? Are you even sure you have any idea of what Mr. Butler is advocating? Or are you just ticked because I rain on your little comic parade every time it starts?

  • Eric Riedel
    7 years ago

    My Craftsman lawn tractor T2800 with RS800 CVT is sticking in gear instead of stopping when I use the lever to change from forward to reverse. I have to press the brake pedal to stop or to shift from forward to reverse. The mower just started doing this yesterday. Any thoughts on a fix?

  • jpssurveys
    7 years ago

    I repair these for a living. Do yourself a favor and do not buy anything with the plastic transmission. Trust me. JD, sears and others are using it. Grass packs on top of it if nothing else. The controls are plastic. If it lasts long enough , the axle bushings fail and it leaks gear oil. You have been warned. I got it down to about 25 minutes to replace it. Anybody want one ?


  • dennisfly
    7 years ago

    Tony Mcginnis - I have the same problem. It's a safety issue. You take your foot off of the pedal and the mower keeps going or when you reverse direction it lurches enough to momentarily lose control.

  • Eric Riedel
    7 years ago

    dennisfly,

    please check this link for a fix of your problem.

    https://vimeo.com/168637190

    Eric Riedel

  • dennisfly
    7 years ago

    Eric,

    Thanks. This is really interesting. My mower is the T3200 and the gas tank is under the seat so I'll have to find a different way to access that area.

  • Terrence Godchaux
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I have owned my Craftsman 25083 2400 Tractor with the GT RS800 for 2 years, and usually mow my lawn 2-4 times a month (except for winter).

    PRO'S

    Overall, it's a highly capable tranny that handles inclines twice as well as a K46 in my opinion. There is no maintenance required, and the only item that can wear out is a replaceable interior belt. There also are no temperature related issues either. While I have not exceeded recommended operational limits, I usually mulch my grass while pulling a drop-spreader with 100lbs of fertilizer and grass seed in the bin, and allot of my 2 acres is at a 15 degree incline. (Most of the time, the drop-spreader gate is closed, pulling it only to aerate the lawn). Without bogging, I can crawl up any of my slopes at speed unless the ground is very saturated, which then just spins the drive wheel. I'm very impressed with this tranny.

    CONS

    While the replaceable internal belt is inexpensive and accounts for almost all known problems, it could be made far more robust in my opinion. While I have heard that changes in the belts design are being considered, I am currently on my 3rd replacement in 2 years. As the Sears warranty techs do not change the belts (faster to exchange tranny's), they have been replacing the tranny instead. While I've heard a backyard mechanic could change the belt in 4 hours, I have not. Also, it would seem my issues are not common either. Most report no problems at all.

    in summary, I would still buy this again. Belts are cheap. The tranny as a whole (minus the belt) is highly reliable, capable, and foolproof in my opinion.

  • Jerry Shea
    6 years ago

    BUYER BEWARE!!!! I have a 2014 craftsman mower 22hp and 48" cutting deck I bought brand new, I mow less then 4 acres. I do tow a lil trailer for raking leaves, 350 hours and i just broke the second variator (about $60 and 3 hours of my time, not to include the WEEKS waiting on parts) on the transmission, and both axles are leaking. The coupling to the transmission from the variator it PLASTIC! every part you unbolt from the transmission (minus the pulley) is plastic. MOST of the internals are plastic as well. This is how they get away with saying it never has internal issues because this part breaks far before the transmission has a chance. MAYBE if you own a perfectly flat lawn less then 2 acres it might be a good fit for you. Sears marketed THIS mower to be capable of mowing 5 acres and under. my property is relatively flat, this is the only problem with this mower is the transmission. I will close in saying while the IDEA of the CVT tranny for a riding mower is good, practically speaking when parts placed under torque are made out of plastic with a low heat threshold, you have a recipe for disaster.

  • toefungus666jpssurveys
    6 years ago

    This transmission SUCKS. RUN RUN RUN from it. Piece of garbage . Sorry to tell you . No retro kit available yet. Littering the landfills. Waiting for the Class Action Lawsuit . AVOID . YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.


  • Wayne Miller
    5 years ago

    I have a Craftsman 917.255810 42" 19 HP Briggs & Stratton Fast Auto TurnTight® Riding Mower equipped with a General Transmissions RS800 CVT (constant variable transmission). It was purchased on Black Friday, Nov 24, 2017. I also purchased the correct Craftsman 9 bushel, 3-bin bagger to fit the mower. I used the mower to 'get up' leaves 3 times in the fall of 2017. I stored the mower in a shed, out of the weather, until this spring. I have used the mower 2 times to mow my lawn. Basically to knock down the onions and dandelions. There was little or no 'real' grass to mow yet. My front yard has a slope that I run side to side on. The CVT started sticking, becoming difficult to change from forward to reverse and back, in the fall. In the Spring it became an issue to the point I contacted Sears Service and they sent out a service technician. He was a contractor for Sears and had enough work with Sears that he didn't do anything else. One of the common problems with this CVT is debris jamming the exterior workings, ie. Variator Levers, Inversion/Variation Control lever (forward/reverse), Drive Variator (variable pulley), etc. The Sears Tech said that my CVT was one of the cleanest he'd ever seen (I attribute this to the few times I had a chance to used it & blowing it off with a leaf blower.) and was not a debris problem or issue. The short of it was that the CVT was failing. The Tech said that the GT CVTRS800 was one of the main issue on most of the calls he was dealing with. He said that Sears & Kubota had gone away from it and were mainly using a hydrostatic transmission again. He did say that John Deere was using it in their new 'consumer grade' mowers sold at big box stores like Lowes & Home Depot. My options were to continue to call Sears Service for 2 years while the mower was still under warranty, then purchase a yearly Service Contract for about 1/2 the cost of replacing a CVT, or try to sell the mower and purchase something else. The Tech did say that he had worked on one CVT RS800 equipped mower that didn't have these issues. It was used on a yard that was about an acre or less and as flat as a 'golf course putting green'. The Tech is coming back in a few days to replace the CVT at no cost to me. The Tech said that the CVT was originally designed to drive the blades and wheels of snow throwers/blowers and it did fine at that. GT tried to repurpose it for Lawn tractors to less than mixed results. I guess I'll ride this horse for two years and then try to sell it to someone with a pool table flat lawn. I'm also with toefungus wondering if there will be a Class Action Lawsuit as a result.

  • montesa_vr
    5 years ago

    I have the same Craftsman mower as Wayne. I've used it hard for two seasons now, and I have the issue with the sticky forward/reverse. I get around it by avoiding backing up. If I had known how prevalent this issue is I would have chosen a different mower. On the other hand, I paid $1,100 for the machine new, so I could buy two more for the price of anything with better than a K46 hydro. With my hills I probably would have killed a K46 by now.

    The Briggs Platinum engine is astonishingly smooth and powerful for a single, and it gives my lawn an excellent cut. I hope General Transmissions comes up with a fix.

    If I have to spend over $3,000 for a mower I will be buying a zero-turn.

  • HU-295620404
    3 years ago

    I also have a Craftsman 917.255810 42" 19 HP Briggs & Stratton Fast Auto TurnTight® Riding Mower equipped with a General Transmissions RS800 CVT. I bought it in 2015. The transmission has been replaced seven times under the original and extended warranty. A few months ago, the transmission broke "AGAIN." Sears and the warranty department were rude every time I spoke with them. A Class Action Lawsuit seemed the right course.

  • montesa_vr
    3 years ago

    My mower is well into its fourth summer. I now work around the glitchy forward/reverse of the transmission by getting it just barely moving one way or the other, then immediately applying firm pressure in the intended direction. After that it seems to work either way for a while before it gets hung up again.


    I am very pleased with this mower’s performance considering the beating I give it and the $1100 price. I mow a 3 acre pasture, a bunch of rough highway right of way, and both sides of 200 feet of driveway. That’s in addition to a large lawn. I probably have already exceeded the number of hours this thing was designed to last.


    I swore I’d never buy another Briggs but this 19 hp Platinum single is amazing. Still starts instantly and zero oil consumption. I cant say I like the transmission, but it’s still working in spite of steep hills and heavy trailer loads. I’m guessing General. Transmissions is probably giving up on the RS-800, since the mower companies stopped buying it.

  • Daniel Myers
    3 years ago

    I bought husqvarna used with 300 hours on it. It plugged up with dirt first two times I used it. Installed repair kit and mowed 3 lawns all summer,no problems, and my lawn 2 acres. would buy another again, very good design.

Sponsored
Ed Ball Landscape Architecture
Average rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars30 Reviews
Exquisite Landscape Architecture & Design - “Best of Houzz" Winner