I have my neighbors little Cub Cadet 1170 riding mower in the shop. It has an automatic transmission, but not a hydro stat. Its like a snowmobile clutch type set up.
I got it because it was jerking when driving, like the drive belt was slipping, but it also does not disengage when letting off the pedal. It creeps slowly with your foot off the pedal. I replaced both drive belts, they were original, with no change. It actually might be a little worse now. The clutch is clean and moves freely.
I am at a loss what to do to remedy this. Any tips for me? Thanks in advance.
Checked the manual. Thank you. Everything checks out from what I can see. Not sure where to go with this. Doesnt make sense that it slips while driving, yet not disengaging all the way when letting off the pedal.
It sounds like you may have a combination of two problems. The drive belt not releasing properly, or maybe a rough pulley that is gripping the belt, and turning the belts, the other problem may be the shift collar and associated gears inside the tranny are worn, and it is jumping gear slots.
Since it is a variable speed t-axle, the only thing inside the t-axle are 2 bevel gears (1 for forward one for reverse), the input gear, and the differential gears. If the shift collar did slip, it would have a strong jerking action.
MTD loves springs; check the idler pulley spring and make sure that the belt has tension on it. some of the variable speed pulleys also have a spring on them so check that one as well. the other possibility is (if this is a pedal drive, is that when you push on the pedal to make it go, there are 2 idler pulleys that the belt snakes around. when the pedal is up, there should be no tension on the primary drive belt. if there is, the unit will creep. there should be an adjusting arm that looks like a small drag link that can be adjusted. be warned, it is a pain.
It is a pedal drive. I did adjust that rid this morning. It's got alot of slack in it now. Still creeps most of the time unless I really hammer the pedal and let it spring back real hard. Still slips/jerks when driving. It feels like belt slip. I took the clutch off and inspected it again. It's clean and smooth.
But from under the tractor it looks like everything is moving smooth. Idler pulleys are nice and smooth. All Springs are in the correct spots according to the manual.
It is a pedal drive. I did adjust that rid this morning. It's got alot of slack in it now. Still creeps most of the time unless I really hammer the pedal and let it spring back real hard. Still slips/jerks when driving. It feels like belt slip. I took the clutch off and inspected it again. It's clean and smooth.
But from under the tractor it looks like everything is moving smooth. Idler pulleys are nice and smooth. All Springs are in the correct spots according to the manual.
the 2 idler pulleys that are on that rod should have an "L" shaped belt keeper on them (it has been a while since i looked at one) when the pedal is up (no drive) the L bracket should be in contact with the belt. this will prevent creeping. if that belt keeper is not there, it should be on one of the pulleys. there should also be a spring that should pull the brake pedal back up.
i know this rod has caused issues in the past.
I hate to admit defeat, but this thing has me stumped. Everything is correct according to the manual. Neighbor is not in a hurry for it, maybe I will take a couple days off and come back to it.
Back at it today, still same results. I have adjusted that rod from one extreme to the other with no change. The idler pulleys are all free. Uhhgggg!!!!
Pull the deck off.
Stand the mower on its bum
Take a couple of phots with the camers sitting on something solid so they are in good focus.
Post the photos.
A couple showing the entire transmission belt run and hen some close ups of the clutch pulleys and brake.
As a long shot you might pull the drive pulley and check the key is intact.
If the box is bad it will make a grating sound.
Surging with a vari drive set up happens when the slack sort f accumulates in a section of the belt then equalizes then builds up again and is generally due to bad tensioning arm or a bound bearing, paticularly in the vari drive pulley.
Open the box.
Inside you will find a rod with 3 slots that run over a spring loaded ball bearing.
This sets the position of the shaft.
The shaft is connected to the F-N-R shifter on the mower and shift fork on the other end.
Pull it apart and it will be very apparent how it works.
The gears are shimmed to make proper contact anc if the grease has dried out they wear the case so might need extra packing.
The input shaft has a pulley which you will need to remove to get at the case screws, Some are splined some are keyed and both can break particularly if the driver is lazy and does not stop before shifting or the clutch drags
