Yep, it should propel itself as the handle is pushed forward. You should be able to hold back on the metal bar and push ahead on the handle and the wheels should spin. If not, could be a variety of things- simplest of which is a cable adjustment. 7/16 wrench will turn the nut that retains the cable. Loosen 2 turns and tug the cable lower by a 1/4 inch - resecure and see what that does. report back your findings ideally w/ the model #.

Thanks very much, tomplum! I'll check into that later this week and report the results. If I can get this thing working like that, it would be outstanding!

Cheers.

good god...it should move as fast as you walk with no effort! Try the adjustment...is it a dealer model or HD model...if a dealer...stop over...should still be under 5 year warranty...they will likely adjust it for free.

Good tip, andrelaplume2! I'm hoping to get to this tomorrow, and I'm very hopeful that I'll finally have the self-propelled mower I thought I was getting!

All,

Thanks so much for your advice! I adjusted the cable as tomplum described and it's an absolute epiphany! It now works as designed and I understand what they really mean by "Personal Pace" (not the "as fast as you want to push it" that I thought it was). Wish I'd found the forum three years ago!

Thanks again,
MichiganDave

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This post was edited by MichiganDave on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 13:17

Oh my, you've been pushing it for almost 3 years, lots of energy wasted there. I suspect it was purchased in a big box store and not assembeled properly. Happy to hear you've corrected the issue.

My Personal Pace Toro is into its 13th season and still always starts on the first pull. Th only thing I don't like about it is that it has poor pickup when using the bag.

itzbinnice: You are certainly correct! After the first season, I was so frustrated that I bought a Husqvarna to replace it and let the Toro sit in the shed. However, after the Husky stopped working, I had to bring the Toro back out to finish mowing, which got me to wondering if there was any adjustment available. Thankfully, the answer is yes!

Dave; you may have gotten lucky and made exactly the right adjustment, but if it's a little too 'tight' it will be hard to disengage the drive for the pull-back. Under the best of conditions you have to keep your arms stiff, stop walking and let the mower coast ahead about a foot or so (the sliding handle returns to the top of it's travel at that time) and the drive clutches-out so you can pull it back if needed. Two things to check; you need at least an inch of free-play on the handle, and the rear wheels should not be driven if you pick up the back end off the surface with the engine running, without pushing the handle down. Another test is to tie down the engine control bail, and with the mower on a smooth, flat surface, it must not 'creep' with the engine running and all hands off the mower.
I also found that some 'dry-lube' was very useful on the sliding handle and the handle-tension spring assembly.

I too am a new member to this site but, I've read some postings, from Sept. 2006, regarding a grinding noise and drive failure. I have a model 20332 with these problems. A post from "torowrench" described this issue, the probable cause (rear wheels toe in, causing misalignment of gears) and a fix, involving the insertion of shims between the deck and the HOC plate that, he said, works. Yesterday, I replaced both rear wheels and pinion gears but, found that installing the shims moved the entire HOC plate out and did not correct the toe in issue. Am I missing something?

Well, should you shim behind the plate- it can only change so much. Pivot arms may be needed.