Craftsman front wheel drive mower won't drive.

Posted by tomkanpa on May 22, 2007, 2:29 pm

It has a gearbox that is powered by a belt from the engine. It doesn't
appear that the belt is slipping. And the arm that engages the gears
moves. Yet there's no power to the wheels. Well, I take that back. On
a level driveway, it will pull itself along at a slow pace. At the
gear box which is part of the axle "jumps up and down." And with the
engine off and the gearbox engaged, the front wheels are locked as if
everything is engaged.
Any ideas on what the problem is?

Posted by Oren on May 22, 2007, 2:55 pm

>It has a gearbox that is powered by a belt from the engine. It doesn't
>appear that the belt is slipping. And the arm that engages the gears
>moves. Yet there's no power to the wheels. Well, I take that back. On
>a level driveway, it will pull itself along at a slow pace. At the
>gear box which is part of the axle "jumps up and down." And with the
>engine off and the gearbox engaged, the front wheels are locked as if
>everything is engaged.
>Any ideas on what the problem is?

Missing bolt holding the gear box down?
--
Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens
constantly."

Posted by trainfan1 on May 22, 2007, 8:52 pm

tomkanpa wrote:

> It has a gearbox that is powered by a belt from the engine. It doesn't
> appear that the belt is slipping. And the arm that engages the gears
> moves. Yet there's no power to the wheels. Well, I take that back. On
> a level driveway, it will pull itself along at a slow pace. At the
> gear box which is part of the axle "jumps up and down." And with the
> engine off and the gearbox engaged, the front wheels are locked as if
> everything is engaged.
> Any ideas on what the problem is?

The worm wheel on the driven axle has worn out. The lever slides the
clutch dog(keyed/splined to the axle) into the worm wheel, which is in
constant mesh with the worm gear.

It's not too bad to repair. All the parts are available at

http://www3.sears.com/

Pack the gearcase well with Lucas Red 'N Tacky #2 grease when reassembling.

Rob

Posted by M.Paul on May 23, 2007, 11:30 am

My craftsman has the same setup and had the same symptoms. Turned out that
the shaft (axle) that the gearbox drives had snapped in half. They must be
fairly weak because I was just mowing the lawn when it broke - mower never
abused. New axle shaft was about $30. PITA to replace, but it's been
working great ever since.

> It has a gearbox that is powered by a belt from the engine. It doesn't
> appear that the belt is slipping. And the arm that engages the gears
> moves. Yet there's no power to the wheels. Well, I take that back. On
> a level driveway, it will pull itself along at a slow pace. At the
> gear box which is part of the axle "jumps up and down." And with the
> engine off and the gearbox engaged, the front wheels are locked as if
> everything is engaged.
> Any ideas on what the problem is?

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