On my Toro Variable Speed boxes (plastic case) i will hand drill a 1/8" hole in a particular spot where it can't hit anything - the bit pulls the plastic cuttings out as you go. Then I take a quart bottle of Sten's #0 semi-fluid grease with the nozzle cap and put some in the box. I seal the hole with a hex-head machine screw that I have shortened. I have done the same on many mowers including a Honda (old, junky but still serviceable). The only time I messed up was on my LB 22271 (2007). This is a premium mower, commercial grade, with Honda GSV 190, aluminum deck and ball-bearing wheels. It also has Variable Speed, and after 14 years, I thought it might need some grease, so I did the same thing. Right off the bat, it didn't want to engage the drive. I went ahead and used it like this because I just had to give it a forward shove and the drive would engage. Finally I had to admit I had put grease either where it shouldn't go, or I used way too much. So, I accessed with the same hole and really shot a lot of Sea Foam 'Deep Creep' penetrant into it, washing out some of the grease. This resulted in immediate improvement but I need to keep working on it in this way. This box is different from the others - there are no clutches or ratchets at the wheels - everything is inside the box. IOW, either or both wheels can drive, and no ratchets at the spur gears, so that means the axle is two piece. This same set-up would have appeared on the Toro 22156 which was the same thing, painted red and white.

I've had 4 self propelled mowers. The first 3 (2 Craftsman & 1 Husqvarna) all had the same lame system where the mower (supposedly) moves itself when you squeeze a handle positioned in front of the bar @ the top of the mower's push handle. This is a belt drive system. I returned all of these mowers very shortly after purchase for failure to "self propel" in tall or wet grass. I understand that mowing is not recommended in tall (I'm talking about 4.5") or wet grass. However, I don't have time to mow 2x/wk. I got fed up with the aforementioned drive system & spent just a little more $ on a Honda HRR216VXA with the Smart Drive Variable Speed system. It is a true work horse (compared to Craftsman & Husky) in tall or wet grass. It plows through where the crappy belt drive system of Craftsman & Husky just quit. By the way, the mulching is also very good with this mower, & the other features you get with it are WAY worth the money compared to Craftsman & Husky.

I have one in the shop with the same problem. You'll have to remove the left and right auger by removing the bearing blocks which are probably bolted externally. Then the whole assy should pull off the shaft. If you're lucky, you can split the case and get repair parts. Otherwise, figure a few hundred for the assy.

Ok, so I got a new cable and installed it. Thanks for all your help. Now the clutch engages but I'm not sure if it is properly adjusted. I tightened the adjust screw until the "arm" in the clutch just started to move, then loosened a little bit to keep it in the rest position (tried with a piece of paper between the arm and the rest). The arm only moves about half of what it could(?). Should I still do something or is it fine now? Images: Clutch disengaged: http://i57.tinypic.com/w0ls7c.jpg Clutch engaged: http://i57.tinypic.com/211t4pf.jpg