:smile: Ditto, to what SandburRanch stated. When you pop the clutch you are shocking the variable speed sheave. I just worked on one this summer, Vari-speed sheave froze up, one heck of a time getting it off and unfroze. Also replaced the belts. When replacing belts on MTD products, I have found to use belts from MTD. I have tried after market belts and they just flat will not work. Mtd belts have a different pitch along with several others JD and Simple city for a couple.
The one I repaired for a neighbor, and hopefully the last, the center sheave was froze so I thawed it with a torch
. :laughing: I made a wooden wedge about the same angle as the V - belt but smaller and after heating the outer edge of the moveable sheave to prevent shaft heating, drove the wedge in . By continuing to rotate to different areas with the wedge and on opposite sides I finally saw a few thousandths movement
. :thumbsup: Things got better from there
.
Ditto on the belts
. You won't like the price one bit but that's about all the choice unless an industrial supply might be able and willing to duplicate OEM belts
.
Operation : once travel commences do not use the clutch to change speeds . This system was designed to simply move the speed control lever
. Clutch only when stopping and or reversing direction
. That's all in the manual but where did the manual go . That's probably the most misplaced / lost piece of paper on earth
.