782 cork seal leak help

[Kimmer]

Hi All. I am new to the forum. I have an '81 Cc 782 that I believe is leaking from the "cork" seal. I am about to clean ol Bessy up with a power washer. But I could use ll the help anyone wants to offer. Can I do the job without removing the entire hydrostatic transmission? And where do I get the cork seal from?

[athomas]

I've done them through the tunnel cover, power wash everything good,get the drive shaft out of the way, put a drain pan under the hydro, loosen the filter and let it drain ( it gets a little messy,you may want a couple absorbent pads down ) disconnect the hydro linkage,take the bolts out that hold the hydro to the rear housing,pull it out of the rear and lift it up and out couple hour job if all goes well. You can get the gasket from one of the sponsors on this site or your local cub cadet dealer for a few bucks .I usually put a light coat of permatex on it. The gasket has a couple holes in it that line up with some corresponding holes in the hydro and case if I remember correctly . I may have missed something but it's been a couple years since I did one. Lots of experience here maybe others will offer some help,but not a bad job. Also this is the time to repair any wear in the damper plate assembly that houses the compression springs. gasket #921-3004

[ol'George]

Two ways to go:
You can drain the oil out through the back cover getting most all of the oil out, as the filter just holds a pint.
Then roll the differential/hydro assy out the back.
If you are not going to change the hydro oil, just roll the differential/hydro out and stand it up positioning it on the rear cover sitting it on a block of wood or brick whatever you have, then remove the hydro and replace the gasket, and reassemble.
Its much cleaner to have it sitting in one of those large shallow drain pans like they sell at harbor freight catching the fluid that leaks out when you separate the hydro from the diff housing, as you just cant prevent that, even if you drain everything.