I recently purchased a vintage 1981 Troy-Bilt Pony tiller that needs some work. Besides the usual and expected issues on a piece of equipment this old, there is one major problem that I am trying to fix: the transmission will not shift from neutral into gear.

This is a one speed tranny, and from what I can tell looking on the MTD site, what turning the lever to shift into gear does is slide the "clutch" gear over into the driven gear; the clutch gear has fingers which mesh with holes in the driven gear. When the clutch fingers are in the holes of the driven gear, you are in drive, when not you're in neutral.

What I am seeing is when I turn the lever, there is a bit of movement on the axle, but the clutch gear won't slide over all the way. Bearings all seem fine, and there is gear oil in the tranny (although it is low).

Since the wheel axle will turn just fine (can wheel it all over) I don't think any gears are broken or jammed. Perhaps the clutch gear is stuck or rusted on the wheel shaft?

Before I start taking the tranny apart, I thought I would ask here if these symptoms sound familiar, and if there is any way of accessing the wheel gears or inspecting them short of pulling the end plate off.