Thanks for the reply, The kickback problem was my stupidity! Didn't tighten it down enough just like you said. Sheered the key in half. Thank god I reused the old one for testing - had the new one just waiting to be inserted, and torqued it down good. Lawn tractor runs better then before. Also adjusted the timing when it was apart earlier. Able to cut my lawn finally!!! And with the new flywheel gear no more aligning the flywheel to catch a few good teeth to start :) Also I haven't pulled apart the head, I installed a new oil dipstick seal - will see if it helps the old one was shot. Wasn't burning too much oil just little over time. I'm hoping it was just too much air getting past the old seal. Within a couple of weeks I'm going to revisit the one behind the shed. I need a new starter for it but I think I can resurrect it now. Thanks for the info Walt, may email you when I tackle the other one. Curtis Reno

1976 Ford Pinto, didn't blow up on me, but I was never rear-ended 1976 Honda CVCC--my friends called this a beer can. Because it looked like one to them. Could reach over and roll down the window on the passenger side while driving, without leaning over. Small! 1988 Pontiac LeMans-the car they brought back from the 60s only uglier and less durable. The first car I ever ever bought. 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse-At this time, Mitsubishi, Dodge, and Eagle (remember them?!) were in collusion, I mean had agreements, in place and Eagle made the Talon. Daddy liked my Eclipse so much he bought a Talon. 1990 Mazda Miata--you know how I feel about that one!!!! 2011-1990=21 years old. Still running strong. After bankruptcy, foreclosure, and divorce... AND it got flooded, there is no A/C (I don't care), no heater (I don't care), the driver's window doesn't crank up or down, I can pull it instead, and the radio just went out. I might fix that. I did just get a brand new convertible top and it'll likely work another three or so years. My parents owned, during my lifetime, and I rode in: '67 Jaguar XKE (CHECK THIS CAR OUT!!!!) Late 70s Grand Torino Ford, Pinto (the same one) A really huge and old Oldsmobile that I learned to drive on. Ugh. Cars my boyfriends/husbands have owned, and I drove/owned: 196? VW Bug (two of them) 198? Honda CRX (two of them) 1986 1/2 yes, a half year??? Toyota Celica, Supra (two of them) Oldsmobile Cutlass Nissan pickup Mazda 626 Mazda Protege Isuzu Rodeo The weird thing is, the two bugs, two Hondas, and the two Supras are the same two guys. Both guys onwed all those cars in succession. Where they deviate? After I broke up with boyfriend of eight years, he bought a Nissan Pathfinder. The one I married and stayed married to for 11 years, owned an ordinary Nissan pickup. Weird!!!!!

ollieduke, John Deere has been using composite hoods in one form or another since the seventies. If the public wasn't accepting of them, then Deere would have gone to steel. Back in the seventies, I bought a new MTD lawn tractor with a steel hood that began cracking within 2 weeks. I returned it to the dealer and he replaced it with another MTD. Two weeks later, that hood began cracking too. This time....I left the store with a full refund and bought my first Case GT. Three-bladed mowing decks normally don't use expensive "timing belts" to keep their blades synchronized. Many of the two-bladed decks do use these belts. Give me a three-bladed deck any day of the week, thank you very much. If your land is flat, then the hydro is pretty much a non-issue. Why are you not going to see your buddy with the Deere dealership? On one hand you seem overly concerned about the quality of components but you continue to look at low end MTD product. Having a top-notch dealer is very important. He's the guy who will be there for you when you need parts fast or service. As I said earlier, an X-320 or higher will likely suit you to a T. Low cost tractors come with low-cost hydros and low-cost engines and low cost everything else. That's why you see 8" rear tires and 6" front tires on these tractors. These tractors are made this way so they can sell for an amount of money that is acceptable to a large number of people. If you want higher quality, then be prepared to spend more to get it. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

I did finally get my tractor running the way it should again. It took a lot of patience and persistence. Once I was consistently shifting between forward and reverse, I put it back together and gave it a try. I wasnÂt sure how fast the axle should be spinning, but while it was on the jack and the wheel was off I did note it was up to about 1 revolution per second. When I tested it with the wheels on the ground, the tractor barely moved. I popped the wheel off and opened the vent again. This time I had more trouble getting the "O" rings out, so I left them in place. The vent still had some play and this seemed to work fine. I let the tractor run on the jack in forward for 10 minutes. The axle revolutions gradually increased to about 60 revolutions in 20 - 25 seconds. This rate didnÂt change after another 5 minutes, so I put it back together. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND checking the fluid level again at this point (especially if your test route is down hill from your work area). Since my filler cap is under the battery, and a pain to get at, I went for a "quick" test drive first. Initially, my speed was actually faster than it had been for the last five years (since the last time I changed the fluid) and the shifting was also tighter. It had been so long, I had forgotten the tractor had lost a step the last time I changed the transmission fluid. As it turned out my fluid was now low, and I didnÂt make it back to the garage. Topping off the transmission fluid where the tractor now sat, wasnÂt quite enough to get it to move under its own power again. Thankfully I had made it up the steepest part of the lawn before it stopped completely, and I was able to push it the rest of the way back to the pavement where I could jack it up, pull the wheel, loosen the vent, and let it run for another 15 minutes. This time I made sure to check the fluid before going any further. I would also recommend that you avoid over filling your unit. I had a bit of a mess when I popped the cap off this time. Once I replaced most of the fluid that was now on the outside of my transmission, I tested it one more time, reassembled, and it was good. I would say the speed of the tractor is close to what it was when it left the factory and my mowing time was reduced by 25%. Thanks for everyoneÂs help! Armstrr, I hope this gets you back to full speed!