Recently gave our older riding lawn mower, John Deer 102 Series, to our grandmother because our grandfather passed and she wanted a riding mower. So my Uncle took the deck off, welded the brackets (they had been rusting off for a while) put the deck back on and the mower no longer drives. He couldn't get a belt to fit the deck either. I asked him what he changed, he said nothing. I went out and eventually realized that he put the brackets back on but they were in different holes on the bracket side... So I fixed that. That was also causing the deck to not be able to lower to the lowest height. Can't believe we let him work on it.

Anyway, about the transmission. When you put the brake in, put it in gear, release the brake, the mower does not move. After a few seconds it SLIGHTY engages and has a minimal stuttering crawl to it. A baby can crawl faster than it moves. So I jacked up the rear end and engaged the drive. I am able to hold one wheel ( either side) from rotating and then the other side will begin to rotate. So I hold the right side and the left side spins. If I hold the left side, the right side spins. If it is on the ground neither side spins. The belt and the pulley wheel above the transmission are both moving. So I decided to take the transmission off. I was going to open it but it is a sealed unit and extremely hard to open as I have found out lol. Once it was out I held one axle and spun the pulley and the other axle turns (either side). If I turn both axles in opposite directions the pulley sits still. If I turn both axles in the same direction, the pulley spins. So then I clamped down each axle and try spinning the pulley. When I spin the pulley and both axles are clamped then pulley will not spin and/or at least one side (right side predominantly) will spin with the clamp on it. Is the transmission bad? The belt seems fine. Everything engages properly, I feel like maybe the belt could bit a bit tighter but even then the belt and the pulley both spun when it was on the mower. Any thoughts?