Chosen Solution
Was mowing two days ago and my riding mower suddenly shook a little bit and stopped moving. The engine and the blades were still turning but no response from the throttle pedal either forward or backward. At first I thought the drive belt had slipped off or broken, but I’ve checked and the belts is still tight and turning and nothing is broken underneath. The throttle pedal is still connected to the transaxle and moves freely back and forth and moves the lever on the side of the transaxle. . I noticed yesterday that when I was working on it, I can now push the mower with the freewheel level engaged. There is still a little resistance but not a whole lot compared to when I pull the freewheel level out. Normally with the level pushed in the wheels are locked and linked to the engine and will not turn. The combination of no response from the throttle pedal and the semi-engagement of the freewheel lever makes me think that the transaxle is broken on the inside and is not connecting to the wheels. Is this a safe assumption? The mower is only 15 months old and I am going to file a warranty claim with Sears, but I can’t have anyone out to look at it until I get back from vacation next week. I’m just curious more than anything since it’s on my mind at the moment and I can’t do anything about it.
JR Ewing absolutely does it sound like an issue with the transaxle. Check your oil as well as the pump shaft where the pulley from the belt mounts. The biggest problem for the troubleshooting will be to identify the model of that transaxle. Craftsman used multiple different ones. We would need to identify that first. Most common would be a Tuff Torq Transmission
