i1042 engine runs fine but tractor won't move.
 

I have an i1042 tractor. It was mowing fine when I noticed a lot of play in the steering wheel. So I started to drive it back to the garage to take a look. About 10 feet from the garage the wheels stopped spinning. Now it won't move at all. The engine is running great. It's just that the wheels won't turn.

I don't know anything about lawn mowers except what I learned from this one but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty and and doesn't look like anyone will be open until Tuesday.

Is this a common problem with this tractor? It's only 2 years old and I think I've followed the maintenance schedule pretty closely.

take the deck off and look up underneath and see if the main drive belt is broken. You may be able to see if it's bad by looking at the PTO and see if it is still in the belt groove.

I took off the deck and looked at the belt. Looks ok to me. I attached pics.

That looks awfully loose though. I could be mistaken though but i thought soon as the engine is running it moves the main drive belt.

That pic was taken while it wasn't running. I'll take a look today while it's running.

Doh! I forgot I'd put it in push mode. Now it's back to the point where the wheels turn but not very forceful and it pulls hard to one side like the wheels on the left side are pulling harder than the wheels on the right.

I discovered the drive belt is broken. Now I'm trying to remove it. I can't figure out what I need to do to get the belt to go over the 'lip' on the pulley that's under the motor. I figured it would be to take that assembly off but it spins and I don't see how to get it loose.

You will have to remove the bolt that is holding the PTO on it, Make sure you use an impact as it will spin the motor over. On mine,I could also get a big wrench or adjustable on the washer between the bolt and PTO.Once the bolt is removed,make sure you watch the sequence of the parts that come off and reinstall them in the reverse order. Also,make sure that you put the metal U shaped guard that keeps the PTO from spinning back in correctly. If not,it will spin and tear the wires out of the plug.I lived and learned that lesson my first time.

Thanks, I got that off now I'm having trouble with the two transmission pulleys. I even paid the $25 for the service manual. It helped with the pto pulley but my the guards on transmission pulleys are fastened differently on my mower compared to those in the service manual I bought. Looks like I have to take those pulleys off too. But I'm not sure I'm up to the task for that.

About to give up on the transmission pulleys. The belt guard connects under the pulley and I you have to take off the pulley to get at it. But I can't get the pulley off.

Got to the point I can get the belt around the transmission pulleys. The local mechanic told me to just bend the tabs out a little. Worked good enough. But to get to position enough to be able to do that I had to take the body off. He also told me to spray some lubricant on the brakes. Said in his experience they lock up at about 50 hours which is about how many hours I have on this things. Said I'll probably need to do that every 20 hours.

Time to put it all back together and see how many parts I have left over.

Got it all put back together and I think I'm in the same boat, only this time without a nearly split into belt.

The right wheel(if you're sitting on the tractor) spins great, but the left one doesn't. It barely moves. The effect is I can mow nicely in circles. But both wheels spin nicely when in push mode.

I've read that these mowers are famous for locking up but usually lubricating the brakes usually takes care of that. I've lubed them as far as I can tell but doesn't seem to have helped.

Does this sound like a transmission issue or is there something with the brake being stuck afterall?

roostin
 

Mine does this all the time. From the rear of the machine crouch down and look between the transmissions. you will see a lever on either side with a rod that goes towards the front. Make sure both levers are in the same position. On mine the left one is usually in the forward (brake position) it should snap back to the center with a gentle pull. Make sure the steering wheel is centered when you do this as that is what controls the rods that you see going towards the front. Hope this helps. I have found that if I do not dump the clutch after a stop or using the parking break the left side lever gets stuck in the brake postition.