One thing that happened to me that took forever to figure out was the axle can get tweaked a little from banging it into trees, etc. while mowing. This will increase the spacing of the gears (on the wheels) and they won't mesh correctly; there will be too much gap between the wheel gear and the metal drive gear. I took a small jack handle and bent the axle back to its original position and no more problems.
Thanks for the video. I need a little help. The long 1/8” diameter steel pin engages “ramp/teeth” on the inside of the plastic gear. See the video at 13:01 minutes. Should the tops of the ramp/teeth be sharp or rounded? My mower’s ramp/teeth are rounded. Are the rounded tops by design or due to wear? Thanks again.
I had the same issue, I was not sure about the drive gear engagement so I purchased a plastic wheel set and replaced them. I left the gear alone since the plastic wheel gearing should wear out first against the metal gear. The front wheels are two for $20-25 and the rear wheels are a whooping $50 each, very strange on that pricing.
Thanks. However, we are talking about different parts. I am referring to the brownish-yellow plastic gear INSIDE the transmission housing, not the gear teeth molded into the front wheels. I don't think the gear I am talking about is available as a service part. It looks like repairing the transmission is by replacement.
@@douglaslawson733 my apologies, you are correct. You can buy a used one at a yard sale or a whole system. The price at the time of this video was $160.
@@A_Renaissance_Man Update from douglaslawson733. I disassembled the transmission and used a 1/8" cutter and Dremel tool to restore the sharp top of the internal teeth of the brown/yellow gear. This restored the proper gear engagement. Self propel works again. With less material the repair won't last forever but any time is better than spending $160 on parts to fix an old MTD mower. Thanks again for your help and comments.
Thank you for asking. The clutch arm pushes the plastic gear over to engage the worm gear and then the mechanical circuit is complete and the shaft turns to drive the wheels.
I can only find the whole assembly new and that is around $150. So I recommend going around to the shops and see if they have a junk lawn mower you can buy. Or you could just see if they will sell you the used assembly. An independent repair shop would be your best starting point. The only other option I can think of is going to yard sales. Great prices but the time involved might be a bit much.
