MTD Lawn Tractor starts OK - won't go forward or reverse

Keith41

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  • / MTD Lawn Tractor starts OK - won't go forward or reverse
I have an MTD Lawn Tractor Model 13AN690G352 I bought secondhand recently. I don't know how old it is. It starts OK and it operated OK for the first hour or so. I stopped it to take a phone call. It then restarted OK, the cutting deck was able to be raised and lowered and the blades were able to be engaged and disengaged OK. However, no matter what I do with the Hydrostatic Control Lever, I can't get the tractor to go forward or back again.
 

dodgefate

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  • / MTD Lawn Tractor starts OK - won't go forward or reverse
check on the back of the tractor where the hitch is and there should be a pin hanging out try pushing it in or pulling it out and see if this fixes the problem. If not look underneath and see if the drive belt is still around the rear pully, if not check to see if the rear has shifted due to the two front support bolts being missing.
 

Keith41

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  • / MTD Lawn Tractor starts OK - won't go forward or reverse
Thanks Dodgefate for the quick reply and apologies for not responding sooner. The pin you described at the rear of the tractor of course disengages the transmission, enabling the tractor to be pushed around manually. This pin was in correct position. You also mentioned the drive pulley might not be engaged but this was also where it should be. However that reminded me of something else I'd seen in another forum about how the drive belt works so I removed the battery and battery carrier and found underneath that the belt had jumped off the tensioning pulley instead.

Repositioning the drive belt was a simple task. I also gave myself a severe beating for not paying attention to the operating manual and thus avoiding the problem in the first place. It instructs that, when changing from forward to reverse, or vice versa, first disengage the blades (the old "double-declutch" trick). Anyway, all the grass and weeds around this rural property are history now and I can look forward to the approaching bushfire season with a bit more confidence. Cheers!
 

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