Yard Machines shift on the go mower will only operate in gear 7. Please help

Missy68

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  • / Yard Machines shift on the go mower will only operate in gear 7. Please help
I have a 2014 Yard Machines shift on the go mower. Model # 73A2775S3000. I can't seem to find a manual either.

Anyway, even though it is a 2014 model it has barely been used. Towards the end of last season it started doing this. Now it will ONLY move in highest gear of 7 which makes it unusable.

I don't know much about mowers so details would be helpful. Shift on the go has never really worked the way I thought it should since I always had to push the foot pedal at least part way down in order to move the shift lever. Is that normal?

Please help. My lawn is very tall.

Thank you
 

Rivets

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  • / Yard Machines shift on the go mower will only operate in gear 7. Please help
First of all, you don't have a good model number, so I am using a model 13A2775S3000 tractor. My bet is that the sheeve pulley on your variable speed pulley assembly is frozen, not allowing speed changes. Not a very difficult fix, but if you are not a mechanic, I would not recommend you attempting the repair. If you go to MTD products and type in your model number you can get an owners manual. One last question, if you knew of the problem over the winter, why didn't you try to resolve it before the grass started growing?
 

Missy68

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  • / Yard Machines shift on the go mower will only operate in gear 7. Please help
First of all, you don't have a good model number, so I am using a model 13A2775S3000 tractor. My bet is that the sheeve pulley on your variable speed pulley assembly is frozen, not allowing speed changes. Not a very difficult fix, but if you are not a mechanic, I would not recommend you attempting the repair. If you go to MTD products and type in your model number you can get an owners manual. One last question, if you knew of the problem over the winter, why didn't you try to resolve it before the grass started growing?


Thank you. guess that's why I couldn't find a manual for it. As for your last question...I have a serious problem with "out of sight out of mind" really need to work on that!

But thank you for that information as to what is wrong. Even though you are right about probably not being able to fix it ourselves at least we have an idea what is probably wrong so we don't get totally screwed at the mechanic.

Again, thank you.
 

Roger B

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  • / Yard Machines shift on the go mower will only operate in gear 7. Please help
Missy,

I suspect that Rivets is correct in his assessment of your mowers problem. As I recently tore a similar unit to yours down so the transaxle could be repaired, I can also assure you it isn't something you want to attempt if you are not mechanically inclined. The way the speeds are varied in those machines is as he described to you, moving the speed control lever up or down changes the diameter of a variable pulley, which in turn changes the RPM's that the pulley turns the shaft it's attached to. One half of the pulley is fixed and the other half slides up and down a shaft varying the diameter that the belt rides in. If the movable part of the pulley is badly corroded on the shaft, then the entire transaxle would have to be removed to access it. Once it was out where you could get at it, depending on it's condition, it shouldn't be terribly difficult to free up, so that it would work reliably again, although it might have to be replaced if it has been badly damaged.

A reputable dealer or mechanic should be able to repair it for you. Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

Roger B
 

Missy68

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  • / Yard Machines shift on the go mower will only operate in gear 7. Please help
SOLUTION:
Thanks for all your help guys but it was actually a very simple fix. (at least for now) Once I found a video on youtube showing me in layman's terms how the Varidrive works I explained it to my husband, showed him which pulley it actually was, lubed it up with
WD-40, started the mower and ran through the speeds a few times, and mowed the lawn!
 

BlazNT

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  • / Yard Machines shift on the go mower will only operate in gear 7. Please help
I'm glad it is working right now. But this is my worry. WD40 is not a lubricant. Get yourself some spray Lithium grease and remove as much of the WD40 as possible the spray it well with Lithium grease. WD40 actually actracts dirt which in turn causes more problems.
 

Rivets

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  • / Yard Machines shift on the go mower will only operate in gear 7. Please help
CAREFUL. ANY lubricant will cause problems, Belt and surface where the belt rides must stay very dry. Just a word of warning.
 

BlazNT

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  • / Yard Machines shift on the go mower will only operate in gear 7. Please help
CAREFUL. ANY lubricant will cause problems, Belt and surface where the belt rides must stay very dry. Just a word of warning.


Agreed I should have included that in my post.
 
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