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I have an older (probably 2000 or so) Craftsman DYT4000 mower with a kohler single piston engine and hydrostatic trans. The issue is it stalls if the pto is engaged and you pull it in to reverse.
One shop told me that it is by design and another shop told me that it is a problem with the transmission.

So my first question is: Is this by design?

and my second question is: How can I make it cut in reverse? I absolutely love this mower, I've had it for 5 years and use it daily If for nothing else then as transportation to and from the house and barn, cut the front andb ack yard once a week and plow my driveway. I've used to to move severl crs and trucks I was rebuilding as well as move my 10' enclosed trailer around the yard. My LT1000 can not move those things.

I just wish it would cut in reverse like the LT1000 does..

My 2008 Troy Built (MTD) does the same thing. I believe it's a safety feature. I would like to disable this.

Not familiar with your machine, but usually there's a position on the ignition switch you turn to after starting to manually enable reverse with accessory on. Look for a mower with an arrow icon.

Some mowers have a button you step on when pressing the transmission reverse pedal.

One last thing to try, try disengaging the mower, put mower in reverse the engage the mower. This is not supposed to work, but under certain circumstances it does.

The mower not mowing in reverse unless the operator does some function to bypass it is mandated by federal law. The early 2000 models didn't have the push the button and turn the key or something on that order until mid 2000's

Follow the speed control pedal down to the transmission
Some where, usually near the transmission you will see a switch that cuts either the engine off or the blades off if your mower is equipted with a "no reverse mow" safety switch.
Comes out of a BS legal case supposedly about mowing over a toddler while reversing .
Some people are too stupid to be allowed to reproduce but apparently it was the fault of the mower company.

bertsmobile1 said:

Follow the speed control pedal down to the transmission
Some where, usually near the transmission you will see a switch that cuts either the engine off or the blades off if your mower is equipted with a "no reverse mow" safety switch.
Comes out of a BS legal case supposedly about mowing over a toddler while reversing .
Some people are too stupid to be allowed to reproduce but apparently it was the fault of the mower company.

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Not BS about the toddler. One here in New Hope, AL was ran over while the operator was mowing is reverse. We also had young girl in Athens, AL that lost part her foot because the same thing. So it did and does happen. I personally have seen toddlers to ran up behind the mower operator to show daddy or mommy something here.

And yes it is a little bit of pain to switch or push a button to mow backwards but it just might save a kid's life or from being manged for life.

Toddlers & small children should always be inside or at least in the other yard when mowing is happening and ALWAYS under direct supervision of an adult when outside.
No if, buts maby's , neighbour distracted me , etc, etc ,etc .
If you can't supervise them then you should not have them .
Same thing for reversing a car / truck etc you check where every one is before you move .
The parents should have been gaoled not the mowers modified and the rest of their children sent to some where or some one who can properly supervise them .
And the same thing could happen with a ZTR as with a tractor .
yes I am an old nark, but we all have responsibilities for the safety of ourselves and for others in our immediate surroundings .
Adding the lock out is another example of what I call the "Superman Syndrome"
No matter how stupid I am nor what I do SOME ONE ELSE will jump in and save me so I don't have to think about what I am doing .
I have about 1.5 miles of street verge to mow .
I manage to do it without impacting the traffic because I do 2 runs from the fence throwing out then all the rest 6 to 8 runs throwing towards the fence so the last run is the actual street border & I throw all of the bottles , beer cans & other debris back towards the fence.
When the council mow the other side they just put up the "Caution Mowing " signs and mow from the street in throwing all of the debris onto the roadway .
The sign abrigates any claim for damage to vehicles passing rather than the workers mowing in a mannar to reduce the chances of damage.

enigma-2 said:

Not familiar with your machine, but usually there's a position on the ignition switch you turn to after starting to manually enable reverse with accessory on. Look for a mower with an arrow icon.

Some mowers have a button you step on when pressing the transmission reverse pedal.

One last thing to try, try disengaging the mower, put mower in reverse the engage the mower. This is not supposed to work, but under certain circumstances it does.

Click to expand...

Spot on bro! for the last 4 years I wondered why it had two run positions, just figured it was fr some optional addon or something..

So long story short, I found there was a switch by the reverse lever (it doesn't have the pedals it has the lever next to the seat). just disconnecting the switch (either at the two pronged coupler or cutting one of the two wires and heat shrinking off) worked. But since I have the reverse setting on my ignition like you said, I re-hooked it up and tested. it works both ways..

Right after I posted this message it just bugged me so I put the mower up in the air and poked around the tranny and just followed the speed control linkage back to the lever and found the switch..

But your way is much better..

StarTech said:

Not BS about the toddler. One here in New Hope, AL was ran over while the operator was mowing is reverse. We also had young girl in Athens, AL that lost part her foot because the same thing. So it did and does happen. I personally have seen toddlers to ran up behind the mower operator to show daddy or mommy something here.

And yes it is a little bit of pain to switch or push a button to mow backwards but it just might save a kid's life or from being manged for life.

Click to expand...

Can't fix stupid. Anyone with toddlers or even adults that mow while they are in the yard is the problem. Risk of injury from flying objects is real.
Legislate all the knee-jerk fixes they want, but can't fix stupid and those who do not have a clue what a lawn mower can do.

Yup. I took a required class on liability years ago. One example was for the warning on "no toes under deck". This was due to several people loosing one or more toes that had gotten under a mower deck.

Backstory: a retired guy in Florida wanted to go golfing, but had to trim his hedge first. His three pals stopped to pick him up and he told them he had to trim the hedge first. So these four geniuses put their brains together and figured out if they lifted the electric lawn mower over the hedge, they could just walk along and trim they hedge in a couple of minutes. So the three lifted up the mower and the homeowner flipped it on. Fingers went everywhere. So they sued the manufacturer. And won! Seems the manufacturer put a warning in the mower to keep toes from under the deck. But never told us not to put your "fingers" under the deck.

Court ruled that the manufacturer was at fault because he "should have foreseen all possible conditions that are consumer could use the product". That ruling is the reason you get a owners manual that has the first five pages of dangers, warnings and cautions. It's known as "failure to forsee".

Stupid is assumed.

I bought a brand new Craftsman 2006 4500 & AYP was about the only mowers left to allow reverse mowing without first doing the Hokey Pokey dance.

I figured AYP would change theirs to a button too & may even change their replacement ignition switches to include a reverse "button" so I bought an extra ignition switch to have on hand for future ignition repair. They never changed them, I think its still the only brand allowing for easy reverse mowing, idk if thats true? Sure seems like it?

Although a rider gets used to the button like I did my FIL 110 JD, until then its an added distraction looking for reverse buttons. I understand the reasoning and always keep safety switches on.

Like mentioned here they really can't fix stupid no matter what they add to the equation (or manuals), this is true!
People who mow near other People/Pets & remove safety switches are quite ignorant about the dangers a mower will cause.

I've lifted mowers off of its riders.
I've searched yards for parts of riders fingers (he lost 2 1/2) reaching for a stick while sitting on it.
As a young boy I watched an older man push mowing slip & lose his own foot who later lost his leg due to infection.
Shorty mowed home & business yards his entire life before it occured.

So yes I learned pretty young to "never" mow near anyone/thing that moves on its own & to pay close attention to what your doing operating any machine.
I can wait for safety, I actually returned on a different day to mow if thats what it takes.
My suggestion is just read this.
You can read it again to the person who expects you to mow while they fart around in their yard:

Mowers with a Button can be fixed by removing the switch and connecting wires. Same BS that requires the stupid foot pedals for forward and reverse instead of a handy lever that also acts as cruise control.
Thank the STUPID people of the world for all this BS.

Enigma-2
That old mower hedge story has popped up many times over & over through the yrs. Sometimes with changes to it here & there but so far nobody knows if its really true or not?

Seems to be older than the net so some actual leg work will be in order to prove if its true/false by getting court records from it all. If somebody knew the county it all occurred in maybe one could learn the truth then.
They say most stories have a grain of truth somewhere in them but is that saying even true? Who knows..lol

Fwiw Snopes don't know the answer yet?

.

It's a wonder we're even allowed to have snow blowers at this point.

enigma-2 said:

Yup. I took a required class on liability years ago. One example was for the warning on "no toes under deck". This was due to several people loosing one or more toes that had gotten under a mower deck.

Backstory: a retired guy in Florida wanted to go golfing, but had to trim his hedge first. His three pals stopped to pick him up and he told them he had to trim the hedge first. So these four geniuses put their brains together and figured out if they lifted the electric lawn mower over the hedge, they could just walk along and trim they hedge in a couple of minutes. So the three lifted up the mower and the homeowner flipped it on. Fingers went everywhere. So they sued the manufacturer. And won! Seems the manufacturer put a warning in the mower to keep toes from under the deck. But never told us not to put your "fingers" under the deck.

Court ruled that the manufacturer was at fault because he "should have foreseen all possible conditions that are consumer could use the product". That ruling is the reason you get a owners manual that has the first five pages of dangers, warnings and cautions. It's known as "failure to forsee".

Stupid is assumed.

Click to expand...

The problem has 3 roots

Firstly there are too many lawyers so they end up being ambulance chasers and because they are always suing a big wealthy defendant courts have no problems making a ruling in their favour where as a jury of 12 normal people would have told the plaintiff it was their own fault for being so stupid .

Next there is the uniquely USA overt religiousity where it is taken that every one is the image of their deity so to put it in Frank Zappa's words "He made us to be just like him so if we are all dumb then God is dumb and maby even a little ugly on the side ".

Finally there is still collective guilt amongst the bureaucracy about the wholesale adoption of the principles of eugenics where hundreds of thousands of supposedly sub standard Americans were instutionalized or sterilized to prevent them breeding dumb children and when that was debunked the tendency was to swing laws too far in favour of dumb people .
Fortunately down here we have a liability clause called contributory neglegance which generally knocks the stuffing out of idiot compensation claims

mitchstein443 said:

I have an older (probably 2000 or so) Craftsman DYT4000 mower with a kohler single piston engine and hydrostatic trans. The issue is it stalls if the pto is engaged and you pull it in to reverse.
One shop told me that it is by design and another shop told me that it is a problem with the transmission.

So my first question is: Is this by design?

and my second question is: How can I make it cut in reverse? I absolutely love this mower, I've had it for 5 years and use it daily If for nothing else then as transportation to and from the house and barn, cut the front andb ack yard once a week and plow my driveway. I've used to to move severl crs and trucks I was rebuilding as well as move my 10' enclosed trailer around the yard. My LT1000 can not move those things.

I just wish it would cut in reverse like the LT1000 does..

Click to expand...

THATS A SAFETY AND YOUR 1000 HAD IT SOMEONE BYPASSED IT. THE safety features were put in place 40 plus years ago when 2 mental giant picked up a running push mower to use it to cut the top of the hedge and lost there fingers. i wont work on mowers that are disabled for obvious reasons. the fact they are not obvious to you leads me to believe you need all the saftey switches.

DELTASCIENCES said:

THATS A SAFETY AND YOUR 1000 HAD IT SOMEONE BYPASSED IT. THE safety features were put in place 40 plus years ago when 2 mental giant picked up a running push mower to use it to cut the top of the hedge and lost there fingers. i wont work on mowers that are disabled for obvious reasons. the fact they are not obvious to you leads me to believe you need all the saftey switches.

Click to expand...

It wasn't bypassed because if it dies when trying to mow in reverse its working just as it should do.
He finally figured out the AYP units aka: Husqvarna/Craftsman/Poulan Pro mowers don't have buttons or levers to reverse mow like all other mowers have you do. Instead AYP mowers have "two" run positions on their ignition switch.
All you do is turn the key backwards one notch to the spot that has a tiny mower pic with an arrow under it. Its just like setting your ignition to ACC on your car ignition. You just leave it right there, then you can mow backwards/forwards all day long just like any old style mower does. You never touch a thing, just mow. Only AYP mowers are like this as far as I know, both my 2006 Craftsman mowers have it, it is factory I bought them brand new.

MowManMow said:

Enigma-2
That old mower hedge story has popped up many times over & over through the yrs. Sometimes with changes to it here & there but so far nobody knows if its really true or not?

Seems to be older than the net so some actual leg work will be in order to prove if its true/false by getting court records from it all. If somebody knew the county it all occurred in maybe one could learn the truth then.
They say most stories have a grain of truth somewhere in them but is that saying even true? Who knows..lol

Fwiw Snopes don't know the answer yet?

Lawn Mower as Hedge Trimmer

Plaintiff who cuts off fingers using a lawn mower as a hedge trimmer sues manufacturer.

www.snopes.com

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing this. Although it's been 40 years ago (or so) it had a big influence on me. This was at a National Marine Manufactures Association seminar. (NMNA used to represent recreational boat manufactures in the United States, which became the BIA years later. Back in the 70's my company had a contract to conduct inspections for the Association at each of the boat manufactures. I needed to be certified and attending seminar training was considered mandatory.) The seminar was back in the early 70's, believe it happened around 1973 or 1974.

As I remember it, the gentleman who delivered the lecture was involved in manufacturing liability (don't remember if he was a lawyer or not, but I believe he worked for a law firm, relayed this occurred back in the 60's and if I remember correctly, in Florida. He gave the city and year, but I've long since forgotten what he said exactly). He presented it if it had actually occurred and he had personal knowledge of the event. I tend to remember one slide showed a newspaper clipping of the event.

What I took out of it was the sentence "failure to forsee" which I've used to good advantage in helping clients over the years. Helping them to see what liabilities they were opening themselves to was a rewarding part of my job.