Does it seem like the engine is being shut off? Typically the seat switch can cause this condition or the no mow in reverse wire is shorting to ground. A stuck blade/ blade spindle or a deck belt that has rusted to the pulleys will physically stop an engine as well. A full model # from under the seat could help should you report your findings.

yeah - ill bet a can of spray paint would make that shroud work look official. I do it all the time, makes the new component (wherever its going) look official - just stick with the color theme. I would also raise the point that a bag solution is letting the air out in all directions(except when the bag gets fuller). its not as if any debris will be directed to you - from the coarse bag. But I dont think the dust is an issue - as the bag solution is roughly speaking "a filter". The hard shell solution has a baffle with no filtering what so ever... blowing (and debris) out in a fixed direction. To a bags advantage - they are light (except when full), AND best part, they store nicely away at the end of the year (flat-requiring no floor space). My problem with the bags (having had them) is that they eventually wear and become kinda fragile. (about 7-10 years life i estimate - more if well cared for i suppose). I dont really know about the hard shell solution - never had one. btw - ive not needed to build myself a shroud. I was mostly driving away from what was going on behind me ... So I never found myself complaining. Now if you like to mow your lawn in reverse (the bag is now in front of you) you may wish to move forward with custom shroud. :) have you considered a used machine ? There are some nice buys out there - if you know what to look for. Good luck with your purchase - Dave

I finally got things undone. Had to pry off the belts. Put on new ones & guess what--as soon as I put the tiller in forward, the new belts jumped off the pulley. On close inspection, the pully is out of allingment with where it should be & needs to be shimmed. I took it to the dealer. They ground down the pulley and shimmed it and now all is supposed to be well, although I haven't tried it yet. It took them all of ten minutes to fix. & cost me $50. Where oh were did my little horse go? All I would have had to do is get a $ worthe of shims, and I could fix the problems myself. Funny thing is I called Troy Bilt (MTD). They said they found me in their computer and that my lifetime warranty was changed by them to a ten year warranty. I had two years left in the ten. However, when I took the tiller in to be fixed, I was told it has NO warranty and whoever told me it did (which was more than one person) was wrong. they said they called troy-bilt to confirm that there was no warranty. Troy bilt that they spoke to said that is right. Funny the stories you get. I'm a bit peeved at TB (MTD). To be told my lifetime warranty from the original troy-bilt was no good, but they put a ten year warranty on those tillers, then I try to get my tiller fixed, under the warranty, and am told I have no warranty. I hope I'll never have to do business with this company again.

There is an MTD OEM part number for a set of rear-mounted deck wheels for all of their entry level tractors. I've always felt that deck wheels helped on bigger deck and the bigger lawns they are used on. Smaller deck...smaller lawn...owner more likely to fill the holes in...just a theory. The uncut strips should mostly disappear with deck leveling but can still appear on sharper right hand turns as the 2 blade deck system does not overlap well except when turning left (all 2 blades have this problem in my experience--3 blade decks have a blade to 'cover' that strip of grass no matter which direction you turn the tractor. I'll try to remember to look up the part number later today... "OEM-190-183" is correct number I think.