try a commercial snapper with a kawasaki engine. heavy mowers but built to last and the drive sytem is very serviceable should something happen to it. many of the lawnboy/toros and other cheap mower have too much plastic in the drive train. they are designed to be replaced in a short time as we have become a disposable nation. that has caused us to think gee why but a $700-1000 mower when i can get 3 or 3 $200-300 mowers. surely 3 cheapies will outlast one good one and i can eat out more on what i save. buy a good one and it will last 25 or more years instead of buying 10 cheapies in that same timeframe. think about it 10 cheapies now $200/300 = $2000/3000 and in 10 years they will be $400/500. invest in a good mower and it will pay back.

I'm currently in the middle of this repair. In my case, I found a hole in the lower half of the case (rock?), the case full of grass clippings, and the gear stripped. Ordered the gear and the lower case from searspartsdirect.com (very reasonable). The specified sealant (Dow Corning 709) doesn't seem to exist. Sears service advised that they'd have to "look into" the matter of the sealant and what lubricant to use. When the parts arrive, I intend to use 85W-140 gear oil and seal the case with Permatex Blue RTV - unless I hear otherwise from Sears Service...

HRR2162TDA, will not drive. Belt is good, cable engages transmission but wheels do not turn. Wheel gears are good. Seems like transmission is bad? Any thoughts?

Just a bit more information: Last night I discovered that the right rear wheel is also a drive wheel, but did not work. I found that where the pawl plate attached to the plastic wheel it was damaged causing the pawl not to align with the ratchet wheel (I had to lookup these part names). I was able to drill a new hole in the wheel and attach the pawl plate in a different spot on the wheel. So what I would like to understand more is how the rear wheel drive is suppose to work, When I manually turn the pulley clockwise, the wheels turn one directiosn. When I turn the pully counter-clockwise, the rear wheels turn in the opposite direction. This seems logical and seems to all work. WHen I let go of the drive bail I am able to push the mower forward and the wheels move freely as the pawl skips over the ratchet wheel. However, when I pull the mower backward, the pawl will engauge the ratchet wheel and thus takes some effort to pull in reverse. Is this the way the mower is suppose to work? Or when pulling in reverse is it suppose to disengauge from the gears somehow so the wheels spin freely?