Does it harm a self propelled mower to be pulled back with the drive disengaged?

I am looking at buying a self propelled lawnmower and was a store today and the clerk said that is hard on the mower when you pull it back. So if I cut forward into a tight area I would need to pull it back also. He showed my on a model he had, don't recall the brand, and there was resistance felt and what felt like a gear click. I went to Sears and ask this question and they had not heard of that being a problem. Once the drive lever is released there didn't appear to be any resistance.

Is there merrit in the first clerks comment about the reverse thing?

Brian

Reply to
amyotte
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I would imagine it depends on the design of the mower. I personally have never heard of such a problem, after all, what are you supposed to do when you want to pull out of a tight area or rework a bad section.

Reply to
EXT

As long as the drive is released there should be no problem. I've used a self-propelled Toro for years and never had a problem going backwards once the drive was released. By the way....I highly recommend Toro. Good luck.

Reply to
Remi

Hi,

I have a Honda HRC216 HXA. When I release the clutch, the mower is in "freewheel" mode. Hence you can pull and push it. The drive is disconnected. Again it depends on the mower I guess.

I like my mower and recomend it. The only bad thing about it is the price, I think about $US 1,129 and only availabe at honda dealers, not at home depot ....

Warmest regards, Mike.

Reply to
hobbes

Why would you even want to pull it back with teh drive engaged? I've seen several variations on drives and don't recall any that make it a big deal to disengage the drive.

Harry K

Reply to
Harry K

When you pull it back, you must disengage the drive unit or it will be trying to go away from you. If you have a lot of tight areas, a lot of shrubs or trees to go around, get a standard push mower. I hated my self propelled on my lawn as it was just awkward to hand in tight spots. If you have lots of straight cutting, they are fine.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

That seems strange. I pull the mower back all the time when doing around bushes, etc. and when I had a self-propelled Motor-Mower (1958 to 1964) I did the same thing with no problem.

How can one live with a mower that can't be pulled backwards?

I have seen but not used mowers that had front-wheel drive. Perhaps some of them can't disengage and depend on the user to push the handle down if he wants to back up. Was this mower front or rear drive?

Front or rear drive?

Reply to
mm

No merritt or merit either!

Reply to
Larry W

As long as the drive is released --

I have a Sears Craftsman, self-propelled rear drive unit with the easy walk feature - adjustable speed lever on the push bar. It is possible to prevent the ratchets in the drive wheel gears from releasing if you pull the mower backward before releasing the drive. Then one of the drive wheels will lock and make for a hard backward pull. This only happens when I make a panic stop -- like when I suddenly see a sprinkler head that is extended.

Maybe I need to go back to mower driving school.

SJF

Reply to
SJF

In view of the OP's question, I should add -- it releases when you go forward again. No damage to the machine.

SJF

Reply to
SJF

To be clear: I had to disengage the drive of course, but it was easy on that model to go back and forth.

Reply to
mm

I didn't say that.

The clerk said and showed me that the gears on the mower were still engaged enough to resist backward pulling. Will have to go back and see what model he showed me.

Brian

Reply to
amyotte

My rrr key stutterrrs. :)

Brian

Reply to
amyotte

How hard is it on a drive train to spin tires? VERY HARD! Look for front drive where you can just lift the front wheels off the ground and pull it back. Otherwise simply disengage the drive before you need to go into and out of tight spaces.

Reply to
Mike Dobony

replying to amyotte, P Thomas Hanlon wrote: WIth my Sears Craftsman, it's a safety feature, so the mower won't slide back on you by accident. The wheels will freewheel if you rock it back and forth with the drive disengaged. Note that on my old (15 plus years or so), it doesn't freewheel very dependably. I'm not sure it was ever easy to do, but that's the deal.

Reply to
P Thomas Hanlon

Well, after 11 years I hope the OP hasn't been waiting for this latest response....

Reply to
hrhofmann

why is it my toro is hard to pull backwards? The self propelled is no engaged but sometime the wheels will not roll just slide on the grass?

Reply to
bob

Probably something is starting to fail in the drivetrain. Try supporting the deck and turning the wheels by hand in both directions. Examine what you can of the drivetrain. There are various designs, the ones i've seen rely on a belt to drive the tranny. With it disengaged, the belt is loose so the tranny pulley is free. Then if you move the wheels you should see the tranny pulley turn in either direction. If it only moves in one direction, most likely culprit is probably a failing tranny.

Reply to
trader_4

The thing I have seen fail is the bushing on the input shaft. That affects the gear engagement. It is an oilite bronze thing and they had one in the bins at Ace hardware that I could make fit.

Reply to
gfretwell

What about the cable from the handlebar to the trans? Broken? needs adjustment? Best to look at easy repairs first.

Reply to
micky

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