Good job. But, are you saying you turned the mower upside down? That's pretty extreme - you need to check the air filter to make sure oil didn't run back into the intake tract. Did the mower run okay after that? Did you have much of a gas leak? Usually its sufficient to turn it up on the RH side wheels, with the carburetor on the high side. The plastic tank shroud is easily damaged and could crack from the weight of the mower, but perhaps with the handle in place the shroud wouldn't touch. I have never seen or heard of a 4-cycle mower being turned upside-down with oil and gas in it. Certainly a novel approach!

I just replaced my cable. It broke at the top and despite attempts to jury rig the cable, the mower was too difficult to operate. I followed your directions, but ended up dissembling the housing surrounding the transmission. I could not get the new cable spring hook seated into the transmission hole. From start to finish (not counting trip to Toro shop for $12 cable), 2 hours. I now have to figure out how to adjust the tension. If you can seat the hook with taking apart the housing, go for it. It was a bit tricky inserting the rear handle support bracket washer and screws. Thanks for the original post as it convinced me to put in a new cable.

I want to thank floridalandscapeman for helping me going in the right direction concerning where you attach the cable on the handle side. Effectively the most obvious location (symetrical to the right side) isn't correct and the effect of pushing the handle will stop the traction instead of engaging it.
The key is to attach the cable (like described by floridalandscapeman) to the platic part which is moved clock-wise by the spring loaded lever (undernief the handle) when you push the handle.
You just have to adjust the tension of the cable and test it by raising the back wheels and while holding the middle bar (halfway down) push the handle and observe the wheels rotation. If they don't turn it means that you need more tension. At this point it is common sense and you have won!

Thanks for your posting. This was really helpful. I had tried turning the mower on its RH side and found it hard to see the hole where the spring goes. After reading this post I tried turning it over and could see much better, but still I had to bend the spring tip slightly to get it in the hole. Other than that it went pretty smooth.

Thanks.

Thanks for the help. Mine is a different Model, but your information helped alot
Thanks,
Tony

My cable is attached at both ends but it is too slack.
How do I fix this condition?

There are two screws on the underside that come off very easily and will let you take the black plastic piece off. One screw is near the front wheel and the other is a little harder to see at first. It is located in the corner just past where the blade would reach to (near the black plastic guard). I had to use a needle nose plier to get it off and on. Once the screws were off, the black plastic (top) piece came off with ease. I put the lawn mower on its side to get them off.

This post was helpful. MIne was not broken but needed adjustment. For the adjustment i loosened the screw on the handle that is about midway and looks like it only there to hold the cable against the handle, slid the cable down some, tightened it back and she rolls again.

Thanks for the advice, floridalandscapeman, I wished I would have read the part where you said "On the left side, you'll see a similar hole. Don't hook the self propel cable into that hole! If you do that, the self propel will engage when you pull up NOT when you push down." I spent 2 hours thinking that the cable went into the hole! This job was not bad, I did not have to even take the plastic part off, I could finally got the main spring onto the pully, but it wasn't easy....

Thanks for the info on changing out the cable, very helpful. I have messed with the cable for over an hour just trying to hook the new cable spring to the lever. I have the model 20017 too and I simply can't get the hook end into the hole, there doesn't seem to be enough room for your fingers to angle the spring into the hole. What am I doing wrong here?
Thanks for any help.
Don

how do I get a replacement cable.I am thinking of splicing the one i have because i can not find it. I can discard the tubing and use bicycle cable.??

"how do I get a replacement cable."
Your best source is to call the manufacturer.

"I am thinking of splicing the one i have because i can not find it. I can discard the tubing and use bicycle cable.??"

Splicing a broken cable is difficult to do properly. The joint will have to be both strong as well as smooth to slide without hanging in the sheath. Bicycle cable might work if it is the right diameter and you can get the end proper end connectors.

I have the same model, now laying there apart. I specified the exact part # for the traction cable at a dealer, got the parts manual for my serial # online. But the old cable had a ball at the end that retained it in the spring. The new one has like an "S" curve at the end of the cable, at both ends really. I see how to insert it at the handle assembly. But there is no way it will go into the spring. It looks like the one I got is made to insert into the bracket at the transmission end rather than through the spring. I sent an email to Toro, maybe they will tell me I was sold the wrong part. Oh, and there is no way that black plastic part at the housing was going to come off by sliding it through the slot into the bigger hole. I had to chisel it off, no matter because the cable was broken anyway and the new one comes with this plastic part. If this works the photo at the link shows the old cable and spring at bottom, new one at top.

Here is a link that might be useful: photo

Ok, I found a repair video someone posted, it's a newer model (mine is a 2003) but same cable. I was trying to install the wrong cable. What I call an "S" they call a "Z-end" and that is only supposed to be at the top end. The new one is supposed to come with the spring already attached. And the black plastic thing I broke, you depress the 2 tabs from the underside to remove it, I had seen these but could not do it. Odd thing is the cable shown which looks like what I need is part # 115-8435. I had looked my unit up on the Toro interactive website, using the actual serial number of my mower, and it gave a part # of 105-1844.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cable replacement video

Thank you for the helpful instruction. It took about 40 minutes after reading these posts. I found using locking forceps extremely helpful hooking the spring hook end on the cable into the hole in the lever arm. Licking forceps are use by fisherman to remove hooks from their catch. Cost about $5 in the fishing equipment area at Walmart. They look like scissors, but have a clamping feature at the tip and a quick locking feature in the handle. Locking forceps have multiple uses. They are used by hobbyist and doctors.

I would like to know if someone can help me tighten the tension on the drive cable on a Walmart Brute rear wheel drive. Thanx For any help.

THANK YOU ALL! Done in 20 minutes. Happened to have an old cable in the garage. No gas or oil spilled while the mower was on its side. Would not start after, in my joy and celebration ha, forgot to hook the spark plug wire up..

Very glad you took the time to post this one!