OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions On Ride On Mowers Frames Yardman 38" cut, won't drive any more. Any ideas?

Yardman 38" cut, won't drive any more. Any ideas what the broken bit is?

My old yardman MTD 38" cut 12.5 twin cylinder b&s has finally stopped moving. The lead up to this was that you would be dring around and then the thing would slow down in forward momentum.

Then I would press the brake/clutch and stop moving, then release it and it would go forward again etc.

Eventually now nothing happens. It was pushed into the shed and there it has sat for a while now.

So as it is now, you start her up and go to take off and you can just here a spinning noise and thats it.

It has the forward-neutral-reverse transimission with the 8 speeds on the right hand side wheel guard.

Any ideas what might be the issue? Could it simply be a worn belt? or something more sinister?

and the numbers are:
139-685 lot/model
662-E229H mfg date

Peter [u][/u]

If it is belt-drive (rat's nest of belts underneath, not just one) the belt and pulleys are likely to be the problem. Under the mower is a dirty environment - dirt particles embed in the belt, wearing the pulleys and also the belt. When there is enough wear on both parts, the belt hits the bottom of the pulleys instead of wedging between the pulley's sides. V belts drive by wedging in the V, they can't drive much at all on a flat pulley.
If one or more belts are bottoming, you need at least a new belt but if the pulleys are worn, the new belt will bottom quite quickly since it will be way down in the V even at the start. You should replace both parts - belt and pulleys - together.

I agree with you grumpy but I would check one other thing and that would be the tension pulley for the belt because if the spring has come adrift it will not tension the belt so it will not drive.

Thanks Bruce, quite right of course, and I shouldn't have missed it. Must be having a bad morning (that's my excuse anyway).

No worries Geoff I have missed a lot of stuff over the years and you tend to pick up stuff when reading peoples post and replies as you would do also.

I also love the detailed replies that you make to help members here on the forum. Thanks again for your assistance.

Thanks fella's.

I replaced the two drive belts. One from the engine to the vari speed, and from the vari speed to the diff.

I also replaced the front most idle pulley.
I also replaced the tension pulley next to the vari speed.

And she works,...whoo hoo! It now goes up the hill in the back yard without slowing down.

I also ended up replacing the cutting belt too.

The vari speed pulley had worn through the bottom thrust washer. So I got a new one, and then covered that and the needle bearings all in lots of grease.

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Next question is on the engine, but I will make a new post for that.