I have an older murray riding mower.. it starts great. But now won't go forward or backward. The belts are OK. But when I try to put it in forward or reverse, nothing happens.. in gear the pulley on the bottom of the mower doesn't turn.. any ideas? Thanks

Does the shaft inside that pulley turn, your may have a broken key.

I didn't check that... I had someone else looking from underneath as I started it.
Thanks for the tip will try

You can do that more safely by pulling the spark plug wire and just crank the engine. If the shaft turns but not the pulley you are in the market for a $ .25 key

Thanks I will try that tomorrow night after work

OK, so not sounding to stupid.. where abouts is the key? Hey I sell building materials am not a mechanic :-)

Hi,
If it has an actual key, it fits half in the crankshaft and half in the stack pulley. It is rare that the key shears unless the bolt comes loose as it is a 1/4" key. The pulley itself may have a place where a machine stamped the equivalent of a key in it. Far more common to have it strip.
Peace,
Clarke