None of grandma's fresh baked cookies until this gets fixed! Does it seem as though the brake pedal comes all the way back up? Like maybe the pedal hasn't fully returned after disengaging the park brake? If it does at least roll, best guess is maybe the traction belt hopped off a pulley. If it does not actually roll- maybe the brake caliper or caliper arm is stuck. If you lift one rear corner and turn the tire, it shouldn't freewheel. If it does, you may have a missing /damaged wheel key as shown above. Best of luck.

Exactly what I meant it to be. The idea that the current Sears Repair Agreement is either an extended warranty or a waste of money is a concept held onto by those who either want the service departments to profit or are overwhemingly ignorant. It wasn't that long ago that a lady who visited my store got upset with me for offering to send a contract home with her so that she could read it and make an informed decision rather than relying on what she had heard. The basis of her anger- she claimed to have sold the same contract when she worked for Montgomery Ward. I'm sorry, but thinking that a currently offered contract has no difference from a contract offered 5 or 10 years in the past is ignorant enough, why add to it by confusing two different companies. Part of my job so far has been to research what offers are made by my competitors to "enhance" the manufacturer's warranty. I have found that, for the most part, what rcbe says is true- extended warranties are a waste of time and not worth considering. I have also found (both by reading about the differences and buying the contracts) that the Sears contracts offer enough added protection to be at least considered. Sears had a reputation in the past for service after the sale. Those of us now in the company would like to get that reputation back, but a lawsuit happy America has made it so that we have to have a written contract to override the manufacturer's warranty. The only other option is to increase all the prices to include the coverage whether you like it or not. If we did that, we may as well close our doors, because we want you to have a choice and not become like so many tire shops that advertise "free flat repair" when they should say "road hazard warranty included in price- live with it." I only advise that every person considering a purchase also consider the coverage. Read it, make yourself informed, and make your own choice. Just don't take your product back to the store five months after following ignorant advice trying to demand a refund. It's not gonna happen, because you decided to cut the retailer loose from all responsibility at the ninety day mark.

Hey folks, so I'm posting this follow up in my original thread because I think I have a related problem. Last year, I replaced the PTO drive belt and the mower blade drive belts on my inherited JD STX 38 Yellow Deck. Today I took the mower out (NOT the first time this season) and had some serious issues. First of all, the grass is tall - 18-24 inches. I had the mower height set to the tallest height. The grass may have also been slightly damp - although not wet. I was able to cut basically one path, then I realized that although the PTO was engaged, the blades weren't cutting the grass. I was going at the slowest speed (first gear) and even tried cutting using only 1/2 of the mower deck width at a time - no help. I took the mower back to my driveway, cleared out lots of old clumped grass from the blades, and started the mower and the PTO. The blades were definitely turning. I turned off the mower again, and noticed that the PTO drive belt is looking terrible - it's all pitted and slack - it's not tight around the PTO shaft! So, my theory is this: the PTO drive belt is shot again (Although not broken yet) - so the blade spin when I'm not trying to cut anything, but when I come in contact with any sort of grass of substance, the slack belt is "slipping" and resulting in the blades not cutting? Does this make sense? Solution: replace the belt AGAIN???? A few more things to note: 1) I tried cutting shorter grass and drier grass and had very little luck. 2) why would my PTO drive belt, just replaced a year ago, be so shredded already? That's worrisome... any advice would be appreciated. thanks.

If it plowed through the 6" stuff without the engine acting underpowered, the governor and fuel system are probably functioning OK. I looked at the IPL and the PTO clutch certainly appears to be the type that has the integral blade brake. I think you should discuss the issue with the dealer and let the staff there see what happens when the PTO is engaged. At least you will have established a "time and date stamp" of when the problem was first noticed. As to cutting the quack grass, unless that was something on your agenda already, I don't want to advise you to do that. I noted in reading through the Owner's Manual that MTD declares the tractor is meant for cutting LAWNS, so if you do cut anything that might not be considered "lawn", keep that information to yourself! No point in your divulging something which might constitute owner abuse of product should a warrant dispute ever arise. My suggestion to cut some "heavy grass" or climb a significant grade was just to see if the engine reacted poorly when influenced by some other kind of loading too. It appears that the engine handles the other load well. So, there might in fact be a problem with this PTO, or it may be that the inertial loading of the engine when summoned to get the deck going from a dead standstill exceeds any other loading that can occur during normal use. I know there are some forum members who own similar tractors............maybe it would help if some of you guys toss in your observations/opinions of how your PTO engages.