MTD being resurrected

Hush

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OK more help required please forum members, the right hand rear wheel will not run free? It makes pushing the immobile tractor around to repair things very hard. I have started taking things apart for my son to paint and my job will be to get the motor running and tidy up the electricals. I took some photos from under the seat with the battery box removed. I think this machine is missing a belt which would explain the empty pulleys and I guess they shouldn't be locked together like that either, is this why the R/H wheel is locked up? Also does anyone have a schematic of the under side of an early model (2003) MTD ride-on so I can figure out where the missing belt should go? Any help greatly appreciated, 1970's two stroke motorcycles are what I am used to rebuilding so completely lost here.
 

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bertsmobile1

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Check the parking brake should be behind the right rear wheel
The pads rust onto the disc.
The brake works on the layshaft which effectivly locks the diff so the wheels can only go in opposite directions .
So one wheel is rolling and the other is trying to rotate backwards
If you have to push it try to lift one wheel clear of the ground .
Should be no problems for a KIWI
I have seen them All Blacks
 

Hush

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Yeah them All Blacks right lol, I found putting my bike hoist under the rear worked great but I do need to find out why the darn thing is not turning. I think I am missing 2 belts from the Youtube vids I have been watching on belt changing a MTD mower, there is one good belt still on the machine which might be the drive belt from the engine. I have found a supplier of MTD parts and batteries here in Napier (NZ) and a classic older mower mechanic who is a mine of knowledge but I will still need some in-put from the forum. My aim is to get the mower running to check its' mechanical condition while my son paints the pretty parts. Still looking for a service manual for this model, does the forum have a files section with one in it?
 

bertsmobile1

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No MTD manuals as such but MTD did put out a one manual covers all some time ago in a series of 4 called the "Must Have Manual of Outdoor Power Equipment" and you need volume 2 Rear Engine Riders & Lawn Tractors
Troll around the web they are out there
 

Hush

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So after watching 20 or so vids on Youtube I now know how the pulley and belt system works, now I will just have to figure out how to fit them and in what order.
 

bertsmobile1

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No MTD manuals as such but MTD did put out a one manual covers all some time ago in a series of 4 called the "Must Have Manual of Outdoor Power Equipment" and you need volume 2 Lawn Tractors & Rear engine mowers
 

slomo

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You are correct. The pulleys are not designed to run that close LOL.
 

bertsmobile1

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Found it, 360 pages of confusion lol as I still cannot get a definitive model for my machine. https://www.gardentractortalk.com/d...1e52d98febf5c30a2f21a8fd3cb87cb-770-10579.pdf
Does not matter
Sit down with some of that dishwater you call beer over there in a nice sunny spot out out the freezing antartic winds and read the transmission section, twice
In principle they all work the same the only difference is how they change the tension on the belts
Early models put extra tension on the engine belt and the variable pulley was fixed, either to the body or transmission housing while latter models the variable pulley swings on an arm .
The hardest part is always taking the nut of the big pulley as they always tend to rust on , even worse if the owner had cheap skated and fitted a flooded cell battery so acid collected on the pulley
Once you have read & understood what is in the manual the rest is dirt easy
 

Hush

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I just watched Taryl (Tetradactyl) ? do a few, he should leave the comedy to the clowns but his repairs are easy to follow. We are in late Autumn/early winter here in Godsown and the days are short and chilly, not good beer drinking weather for sure, not even good wrenching weather lol. Tomorrow new battery, air filter, oil, plug and maybe blade if the dealer has one. Found a Ride-on mower wrecker locally, who knew we even had those here in NZ? Hopefully he can supply a replacement seat as this one is growing stuff! Spiders, I have emptied a can of fly spray on the mower, these spiders I'm sure eat birds and mice, hopefully they will hijack a taxi and go back to the farm where I found this mower.
 
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