Transaxle Pump Replace
Transaxle Pump Replacement
I imagine that this should actually be called an External pump addition ... either way I want to thank the guy that did this , excuse me if I get it wrong but the posting was by John F. Ryder ..
from the great state of Florida !!    Thank you for doing all this work and I hope it is ok that I am posting the repair by you and going to recreate it as much as I can ....
 
  To think I have already exchanged a transaxle assy. and threw away the whole thing thinking it was bad ...  the motor was no good and the pump was not working so I assumed nothing was worth anything ..........  
 
  But now since John came up with this fix it is a no brainer to go ahead and do it as soon as you start seeing that annoying oil pump jumping up ... 
 
  Thanks again to John and I will post pics as I install the units as I have 2 of them to do right now, I have ordered the pump and the filters off of ebay ...  I am going to pick up the rest of the supplies this evening , then I will go ahead and start by getting the hole drilled and tapped and making the jig pattern for it etc. while waiting for the pump and filters ...
Here is a the original instructions from John that I am going to follow, he even has a listed parts list, great instructions .....................
Ok, I got the drills and tools needed together to do this part of the job ... with the instructions that john gave this part should be pretty easy ....
  Here is a hammer a set punch and a drill with a pilot drill 1/8" drill is fine ..... this is to get going so jack up the back of the truck to get some space to work in, put in some jack stands and a 5 gallon bucket works best , slide it under the drain area and remove all the plugs and the pressure switch to make room to work in ......................
Draw a line to drill , with the sketch that john gave it is actually really easy , just draw a straight line straight down from the center of the pressure switch hole , then the same distance the pressure switch hole is from the side should be the same from the bottom up ...  thus as you can see a cross hair ends up as the center point .. using a set punch set a tab ...
now drill with the 90 degree drill (there is not a lot of room but this drill leaves lots of room to work with)  using the 1/8" drill bit , drilling a pilot hole it is very thick , probably a full 1/2 to 3/4" thick, drill it right on through ............................ be sure and keep it as straight as possible and use good sharp bits, nothing worse then a hole that can not be plugged ......................this was a great choice of places by john as soon as you go through you will see it will pretty much drain the whole thing without any work at all .......................
Using the angle drill and a 11/32" bit , a really sharp new one is best , you need a clean hole to tap when your done ...  wait until the draining is down to just dripping and go ahead and drill it the draining of fluid lubes the bit and lets you drill a clean straight hole ...

tap a good clean hole and keep the tap very straight, tap the hole in at least 1" so you have plenty of threads ...................................
Clean the hole with q-tips very clean to get all the chips out ................
OK now I have a really clean hole with threads in it, all finished and tapped ... time to put all the plugs and pressure switch back in ..................
I am still waiting for the pump and filter in order to finish this up and since mine is intermittent I have still been driving it every day to and from work, hopefully since it is just a 20 to 30 mile drive per day I am not hurting it ....  so in the abscence of any other parts I am going to add a 1/8" plug for now ... I have finished drilling this hole in both mine and the other one that I have here with a completely dead pump ...  I have added the plugs and with a funnel and long hose I will fill the transaxles back up for now , it is nice to add it and at least run them around a bit to get it mixed up so that when I get the pumps and drain them again the next set of oil will be really clean that way ................................  well I will top them off and then wait for the pumps ..
OK , I finally got the pumps and the rest of the parts I was waiting for !!
Johns instructions are really good .. the only thing I changed was instead of using a 90 degree elbow in the old drain hole I used another tee with a small extension on it to add another drain hole ...  other then that his instructions are really, really good .. so you can go by them or I will try and post as good a pictures as I can ......................... so lets jack the trucks back up since I am doing 2 of them at the same time I can do the same thing on both ...
remove the plugs and the pressure switch to gain some area ..  drain the trucks again so this will get really clean oil .....
Here is the new pump .. the bracket is already installed and you can just set aside the regulator sent with it since the pump is already preset at 17 PSI which is pretty close to the original pump ...  grab a felt pin and lets hold it up to the side bracket making sure the bottom of the pump does not stick down any farther then the bottom of the bracket we are bolting it too ...
once we mark the holes lets drill the holes ...
mark the holes holding the pump in place
Holes are marked and ready to drill
grab a drill ...  buy a set a tap and drill for a 5/16" hole ...  I used a matched set bought from the local hardware store just easier to have a matched set so no mistakes are made ....
Go ahead and drill the holes and tap them with the provided drill bit and tap .....
There they are all drilled and tapped and ready for mounting the pump ...
using some 5/16 x 3/4 " long bolts attach the pump .. pretty simple now that we have tapped holes ..
put together the tees and 2" long pipe and assemble them on the ranger ev just like the pics that john provided  ...................
using another tee add a plug and a small extension and mount it into the old drain hole ..
add 3/8 to 3/8 elbow .....
the 3/8 to 3/8" barbs to hook the new hose to ...........
there they are the pump is ready to start hooking it up with the hoses ...
cut a 20" piece of 3/8" hose ....
hook one end of the hose onto the pump then push it around and over the mount behind the battery pack and hook it up on the other end to the block added to the old drain hole ...
cut a 3" piece and a 5" piece of hose, make sure you hook it up with the arrow on the filter going to the in on the new pump to filter the oil before it gets to the pump .... the 3/8 line I am using is actually a lined fuel hose made for injection system the stuff is expensive $3.99 a foot but they say its worth it ....  then hook it up using the clamps and tighten em down ....
 
OK, all finished up ... I just cut and hooked the wiring up as john showed in his instructions I made sure and put them up and over the bracket so they would not get hung up in any moving parts .... wire tied it good ..........  fill the transaxle and put the plug back in it ... turn the key to on and the pump will run for a while ... I let it run for 5 minutes or so ... then pulled the plug and topped it off ... then just put it together and drive it !!!
Finished up and driving
Many, Many thanks to John Ryder ...   This is a very clean and a real money saver and saving these transaxles since the pump internal is no longer available ....
 
   I like it as I can hear it run , it makes me feel safer knowing it is running ....  I went for a good 30 mile run and it is the first time in a month I have not had to look at that dreaded oil pump lite and a power limit light coming on once in a while ....
 
  2 ranger ev's are now back on the road , and now it is just a matter of every 3 to 5 years to change the oil and I will probably just go ahead and change the filter every year since its easy ..