I have a Sears front wheel drive lawn mower, 21 inch 6.75HP, model #
917376551, that is about 6 years old. Today while mowing, when I
engaged the front wheels by squeezing the lever on the handle, I heard
something “POP” and then the wheels froze up. The drive wheels had
been making a “slipping- as if a gear inside wheels was slipping and
then re-engaging” noise periodically for the past few months. I took
the plastic cover off the drive assembly area and the cable from the
handle lever is not broke, it stills seems to move the lever that is
attached to what appears to be a gear box. Both wheels are frozen and
will not turn by hand. I read some of the previous posts in the forum,
but still getting educated on mower repair. Any ideas on further
troubleshooting to see 1) what problem might be 2) is it something I
could repair(reasonably handy) 3) not cost effective to repair 4) or
any other things I failed to think of ? thanks in advance for your
help.

On 11/29/2011 02:49 PM, Paul wrote:
I have a Sears front wheel drive lawn mower, 21 inch 6.75HP, model #
917376551, that is about 6 years old. Today while mowing, when I
engaged the front wheels by squeezing the lever on the handle, I heard
something “POP” and then the wheels froze up. The drive wheels had
been making a “slipping- as if a gear inside wheels was slipping and
then re-engaging” noise periodically for the past few months. I took
the plastic cover off the drive assembly area and the cable from the
handle lever is not broke, it stills seems to move the lever that is
attached to what appears to be a gear box. Both wheels are frozen and
will not turn by hand. I read some of the previous posts in the forum,
but still getting educated on mower repair. Any ideas on further
troubleshooting to see 1) what problem might be 2) is it something I
could repair(reasonably handy) 3) not cost effective to repair 4) or
any other things I failed to think of ? thanks in advance for your
help.
You'll probably get better replies by going to
alt.home.repair


--

I've always found out if it's broke it won't hurt to take it apart to
see what happened ! Might need a new gear box but hay they aren't that
hard to replace ! You can't hurt it. Even if you can't fix it you can
take the gears off the wheels & just push it !

Jerry

http://community.webtv.net/Grandmother300/Urn2011

Grandmother300webtv.net wrote:

I've always found out if it's broke it won't hurt to take it apart to
see what happened ! Might need a new gear box but hay they aren't that
hard to replace ! You can't hurt it. Even if you can't fix it you can
take the gears off the wheels & just push it !

Except that self propelled mowers are heavy and cumbersome to push. If
the engine is running well then it pays to bring it to a Sears repair
shop and get a free estimate. Mowers are pricey nowadays, it may pay
to have it repaired and serviced... if you diy by the time you buy the
necessary parts it may cost less to have Sears make the repair. Might
cost $100 to repair but a new one can easily cost over $400. That
said I don't like self propelled mowers, if your lawn is of such a
nature that you need self propelled (hilly) I'd choose a riding mower,
otherwise I'd choose the lightest weight push mower I can find... 18"
push mowers used to be common, were light weight, were very
manueverable, and were capable of getting into small spaces, but now
20" is the smallest. I have a 20" Sears push mower, been running fine
for 15 years and I've only had it serviced once just recently, last
year, they couldn't figure out how it was able to run with how clogged
the air filter was... I have on occasion sharpened the blade and
changed the oil 2-3 times, that's it... it starts on the first pull
every time... I use it to do the edges, around trees, and the small
spaces where my tractors won't fit. My previous Sears mower was self
propelled, nothing but trouble and I hated that it was so heavy. I
would never buy a self propelled mower again.