Murray Riding Mower won't move

j12345 · #1 Mar 2, 2007, 08:42 AM

My Murray Riding Mower is 7 yrs old. When I last started the mower it started but does not move forward or backward. Can anyone asvise what could be wrong, e.g. transmission and is it worth repairing, or could it be repaired.

newaukumdon · Mar 3, 2007, 10:14 AM

A lot of riders have what is called a speed variater transmission or a "shift on the go" They will use a drive pulley and a driven pulley that are mechanical. These pulleys change the inside diameter of the pulleys and change speed as a result. To work properly they need to spread apart and contract freely, after sitting for a season they tend to stick and the belt will have no tension. If this is your case clean and lube with a penetrant.

If not do as previous ballenger1 states

Hope this helps
Don

thebriggsdude · Mar 4, 2007, 01:40 AM

Usually murrays, if they have a shift on the go, its just a transaxle... same setup as the others, just the transaxle is capable of being shifted when its moving.. mtd uses that variable speed drive.
Do check the belt... check the tension pulley (clutch) if the belt is indeed turning the pulley on the trans... you havn't taken off the tires have you? if you have make sure you put the keys back in.

But if this doesn't work, its usually the trans has gone.

PowerKing · Apr 24, 2009, 04:23 AM

My bro in law had one of those ;had been dead for 2 years. I bought a carb kit 20$ and installed; she coughed, spit kicked and came alive !! She smoked and gurgled mad eall kinds of weird sounds and finally smoothed out with a few minor adjustments , my bro in law was so excited he jumped on her but she would not go .!!

we checked the undercarriage and 1/2 of the idle pulley was bad ,we spent another 45$ on a belt and pullley , she still ain't moving; so we dropped the transaxle.The balls in the pump were stuck fro mthe 2 yrs of sitting. we cleaned them and put her back together ,she still not moving so here we are .

PowerKing · Apr 24, 2009, 04:24 AM

We have not checked the keys on the wheels , good call!!

codeblack · May 12, 2009, 02:57 AM

Hi all, I'm struggling with a problem that sounds a lot similar as above.
I have a Murray 12HP I/C 40, model # 40620X20B; I believe it's from 2000 (Manufacturing date '0030' ?).
The engine runs fine, but the mower isn't moving. I did remove the right rear wheel because of a flat, but did put the key back in.

Here are the things we checked:
- The belt as well as the pouly on top of the transmission are turning.
- The pin that is going into the transmission and turns as the gear lever shifts works as expected (as we expect anyway).
- If we remove the wheels, both axls are turning but only just. They can easily be stopped by hand
- If we turn the brake wheel (or that's what it appears to be, at the right side of the transmission, just before the right axl) both axls are turning appropriately.
- In all gears (also in neutral), there is a sort of a grinding sound. It dissapears when the clutch is down.

Since the axls rotate correctly when we manually rotate the brake wheel, I think (or is it hope) the transmission itself is fine. Maybe the pouly on the ingoing axl of the transmission is not connected properly. Whatever it is, I hope it's fixable without opening up the transmission :S. I still feel it should be something rather simpel, maybe related to the wheel I removed, as the problem started after the wheel was removed. It ran fine some days before.

As it's really hard to see what's going on behind the mower, we're planning on disconnecting the transmission. Maybe we can figure things out when all is properly visible.

Is there anyone with a bright idea? a tip? something to check? a common failure or known issue? Any response is much appreciated.

Regards,
Codeblack

jsfocke · May 12, 2009, 05:07 AM

Can you move the mower by pushing it while the mower is in neutral?

If not, the brake may be stuck.

codeblack · May 12, 2009, 05:38 AM

Thanks for your response. But yes, we can move it when it's in neutral.

Tydor · May 21, 2009, 04:30 AM

Wow, lots of good ideas here, But one thing i noticed on my mower when i had a similar problem was that the tension spring attached to the idler pulley near the transmission was broken, thus it wasn't putting enough pressure on the belt. By hand i could easily get the wheels to engage, but without that tension, the belt will either partially slip causing the mentioned "barely moving" or not engage it at all. They rust easy especially if the machine has been out in the weather. Might be worth checking on yours as well.