Well I got some news. I decided to cut the oil filter to see what may be inside. Not good. What appears to be everything from rust, to sand, to paint chips (silver, the color I painted it and yellow, the original color)!!!!!
I will attach photos.
Its obvious that this somehow got in there while I had the machine apart.
At initial start up, I let machine idle for roughly 2-4minutes, moved the machine in reverse and then forward. When doing this it had a lot of power back and forth, but would not steer. As I moved around the garage for about 2mins, it was loosing power and has had consistent power ever since.
My theory, (I could be completely wrong) or maybe just a guess, this debris was in the pump, running at idle (at first start up) it wore the pumps. When I moved the machine the pumps were wore so fluid went directly to case drain. Never made it to motors......
Your thoughts????