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Hi, I just bought a second (more like 5 or 6) hand riding lawnmower, was advertised as a Craftsman but my brother-in law said it's a MTD 42" deck. Someone painted it black and painted over the model number under the seat but I scrapped off some of the dirt on the front of the engine and there's a number engraved there which I cannot read till I remove the front of the hood. The seller guess's it's a 1990 something.

Everything seems to work ok till I put it away in the shed and it wouldn't come out of drive. Today I checked the tranny lever and was able to move it into forward-neutral-reverse easily so I drove it around to the other side of the house and stopped but it wouldn't come out of drive again. I shut the engine off and was able to move the tranny lever again.

Would this be a simple clutch adjustment fix or am I not that lucky ? Thanks in advance.

Tranny is like this one from another post.

Most likely either the wrong belt was installed or the someone damaged the drive pulley.

Ok thanks, I'll check that out.

Hi again. I took the hood off my MTD/Craftsman and cleaned away some more dirt from the front of the engine to reveal these numbers, Model 281707, type 041101, code 900228 then what looks like 11.
Is the model number just for the engine ?
From what was said on another post I think it's a 1990 ? or at least the engine.

Yes it is the engine number only
You have got the numbers a little mixed up but basically a 28cu inch engine or 28000 series .
the 900228 II is the serial number 1990 feb 28th in factory II

Thanks bertsmobile1, working off this info I was a googling maniac yesterday looking up model numbers for tractors with this engine and most seem to be 1988/89/90/91. I couldn't find any that had a 7 speed like mine just 4, 5 or 6.? Deck size was either 36" or 38" but when I measured mine from one side to the other I get 46". should I measure the blade length instead ?she
Here are some pics of my tractor and like the seller said, it ain't pretty. Hopefully someone will know what model it is.

I could only attach this pic as it said others were too big and I couldn't enlarge it after I posted it.

I managed to get this pic to go and can zoom in.

The 7 speed shifter and can zoom in.

It doesn't really have turn signals.

The F-N-R lever should only be used when the mower is stationary & the clutch/bake pedal is pushed in.
The "gears or speeds" are nothing more then notches that prevent the clutch /brake pedal returning to it's full height .
This changes the tension on the belt which changes the position of the sliding sheave on a double pulley which naurally changes the relative diameters of the pulley.
In princile exactly the same as the stepped pulleys on a pedistal drill or bench lathe.

bertsmobile1 said:

The F-N-R lever should only be used when the mower is stationary & the clutch/bake pedal is pushed in.
The "gears or speeds" are nothing more then notches that prevent the clutch /brake pedal returning to it's full height .
This changes the tension on the belt which changes the position of the sliding sheave on a double pulley which naurally changes the relative diameters of the pulley.
In princile exactly the same as the stepped pulleys on a pedistal drill or bench lathe.

Click to expand...

Thanks bertmobile1 that's interesting info about the clutch. Think I will have to find out how the tractor likes to be driven.

Take off the cover between your legs, where the forward/reverse lever is, so you can watch the belts/pulleys. It will not want to go in F or Rev if the belts are still moving, so check things out.

Fish said:

Take off the cover between your legs, where the forward/reverse lever is, so you can watch the belts/pulleys. It will not want to go in F or Rev if the belts are still moving, so check things out.

Click to expand...

Thanks Fish, I did take that plate off and the lever goes into all three positions without a problem but I've not tried it with the plate off and engine running but will do.

Just a little update on my 1990 MTD mystery lawn tractor. The grass is tall enough and it wasn't too hot today so I did my first lawn cutting with it. It still doesn't want to come out of forward but I found out it will if I make like I'm on a bucking bronco and catch it at the right moment. BTW, it's not a pretty sight.