First, thanks Scott. Your video did help me. I had a similar symptom, but not the same problem. In the yard while mowing it would drive in reverse. When I raised the deck and tried to back into the barn, it would not drive and I could not push it in neutral either. Sometimes one wheel would spin. After performing your procedure, when reinstalling the rear wheel, i noticed that the mower deck was catching in the tire and acting as a brake. After considerable adjustment, all is well.🎉😂😂😂
It just so happens that I got this tractor for free, sold it to some friends, they used it a few years until this problem arose. They had me track them down another tractor to buy. For my help, I asked to take this one away for them. I made this video and then sold it to my boss! He loves it!
Dear Scott, Similar problem -- can't go in reverse. I have a Craftsman Lawn Tractor Model 917.203800 with the same 6 speed forward 1 speed reverse capability with the same gear shift lever arrangement on the right side of the tractor as in your video but the motion of the gear shift is transferred via a rotating round metal shaft to the other (left) side of the transaxle where a welded lever arm extends forward and goes up and down as the shaft is turned manually by the gear shifter. There is a six inch long linker with two "universal joints" (one at each end) pointing 90 degrees apart from each other, one of which screws into the lever arm and the other attaches to a flat piece of metal that is pulled back and forth and is attached to the gear shifting shaft that come out the top of the transaxle. Are you familiar with this arrangement? On the advice of our professional lawn mower repair person, I bought a new transaxle which he has installed (he said that the old one was internally broken because the copper-colored wheel that extends outside of the transaxle wasn't turning). However, after two long sessions at our home, he can't get the arrangement to work. Once or twice we got the tractor into reverse but mostly when we try to do that, the gear shift doesn't click into place and instead resists any effort to move it backwards into the reverse position. We found that the shaft of the threaded attachment bolt on the linker was hitting the frame of the tractor as the welded lever arm raises it. I was able to fix this by slightly bending the lever arm centrally. But no real improvement -- still resists going into reverse. There is an a slotted adjustment screw on the right side under the gear shift housing that is somewhat like the one in your video and he has adjusted and readjusted this to no avail. First, any suggestions? Tractor goes forward fine, all six gears. I am worried that when he put on the new transaxle he reversed the orientation of the linker. In other words, if instead of having the threaded bold facing out toward the frame (which it was hitting), maybe it should face the other way (inwards). Attaching it the other way would cause the bolt at the other end of the linker to face down (in the current arrangement with the bolt hitting the frame, the bolt at the other end faces up). My guy says no, it's correctly attached. But I can't find anywhere a diagram illustrating how it's supposed to go (I have pored over the "exploded" diagrams in the manual and can't see the linker piece anywhere -- its part numbers are 166231 or 597068804 -- you can see what it looks like on Amazon or Sears Parts). Can you describe to me the proper way for it to go? Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I'm about to lose this tractor which should have many good years of life ahead of it. Sincerely, Tom
I am looking into this problem right now… if you got to- get the manual and start messing with it- just give it a try- u can fix it. But check out your belt for slack
First thing I do is remove seat , battery and battery box I use jumper cables Clean top of trans really good and right rear wheel Then I can check it out Wire spring on shift level maybe broken and fell of Rusty shift arm or shifting unit defective or simply out of adjustment is common
Any place where there's metal to metal contact is a good place to grease. The inside of the transmission should have lubrication that should be changed periodically also.
There is a rubber fitting you would open up to pour gear oil inside. I have my old trans I was going to add grease zeros so I can fill it up with marine grease
Could have used a good cleaning under there before you put it back together and probably some lubrication! Things don't last very long unless there is some preventative maintenance every so often.
Well great but lawn tractors now need the clutch in....some one of the PROPER weight on the seat and usually one of your legs must be behind your neck before they will start. Then ANY tractor I have worked on either you beat the rim to pieces or go buy a 100.00 puller to get the tire off......maybe....a 40% chance then. One thing FOR SURE...WE NEED MORE PEOPLE CALLING FOR SAFETY......
