I bought a used 42" MTD Yard Machine Mower last year from a guy that used to live a few streets away. I'd seen him using it on several occasions and when he put his house up for sale, he was selling alot of his lawn equipment. I went and spoke with him about the mower and it cranked and ran great, so I bought it for $150.00. The rt toe rod was broken and he had it rigged up so that it would ride in reverse. So I rode it home, about a mile or mile and a half in reverse. The first thing I did was order and replace the tie rod end. That fixed the problem of having to ride/ cut in reverse. I tried to cut my yard, about 2 1/2 acres, with a few very steep inclines/declines. The mower started making a loud popping noise upon trying to go up an incline. I'm very limited on my experience with riders, but I decides to jack it up and take a look. I noticed that the reverse cutting interlock wire was removed, which made me have to assume that he'd been cutting in reverse for at least a little while, I thought maybe due to the broken tie rod end. The belts all looked glazed over. I tried to adjust the throw length on the F-N-R lever to see if maybe it just was engaging into fwd gear enough. That did nothing. So for the last cut of last season, I cut my lawn in reverse.

Yesterday, I started the mower and it started and ran great. I tried the fwd gear, nothing, not even a slipping sound, so I was just going to cut the yard in reverse and after, wash it down, clean it up and try trouble shooting some more.

Yesterday however, I started hearing the same loud grinding/slipping noise in reverse, even on flat ground. So, I need some help. I've read alot of the articles that have similar situations and noticed alot of people who have the same type of problem, no one has mentions the grinding noise though. I took my deck off and removed the gear box to see if there was a broken gear, metal shavings or signs of the slippage. I found nothing that would indicate that the gears are damaged in any way.

I also noticed that alot of people said that they were having to go into a lower gear to pull the same area, my mower has three gears, F-N-R, the engine speed control is on the rt side of the dash, increasing from turtle to rabbit and then to choke. I am looking for some help on this please. I'm a disabled vet with a broken back and neck, I don't have a huge amount of money and I can't work on things as well as I used too, so any and all advise or information would be greatly appreciated.

Very Respectfully,

Busted MTD...