OK. I have the belt ordered. I found out why the trans selector returns to Neutral when you let go of the lever. There is a mechanism that White calls a "scissors assembly" that operates exactly like scissors (the motion, not the cutting) to force the selector to Neutral when the brake pedal is pushed. The scissors assembly on my machine is lacking some crucial parts (they were there once but not now). The missing items can be viewed by going to your favorite website that has a link to Empart web. Choose White Outdoor > 1993 Garden Tractors > model 143U836H190 GT 185. Go to transaxle drive. Look for the inset that features item # 108 ("scissors mounting bracket"). My machine is missing: item 100 "compression spring", 2 of item 101 friction washers, 2 of item 102 bell washers, and the 5/16" nut and flat washer to secure all the other items onto item 112. Without this "friction grip" action to maintain the selected position, the "spring loaded to center" character of the tranny itself returns the selector to Neutral. I'm thinking of trying to come up with some substitue components to replace the missing items. I feel pretty certain that some shock absorber cup washers (of the right I.D. & O.D. of course) would serve as the "bell" washers. I"m thinking that some thick rubber flat washers with nylon or poly washers to actually "grip" the scissors bracket ( cause I think rubber alone would wear too quickly) A suitable compression spring could be had from a parts house (even Lowe's or Home Depot has a selection). If anybody on this forum is familiar with this topic and would like to throw in......please do.

Machiem, I'm very politely going to ask you to go back and read all the other threads I posted on this Hydrostat from the beginning. Reason I ask that is cause I don't want to repeat everything I put in them. For crying out loud, I ain't no typist, I'm a one fingered hunter & pecker. Having said that, this GT has linkage hooked to the foot pedal to move the forward/reverse lever toward neutral when you step on it. The further down you push the pedal, the closer it moves the "shift lever toward neutral. Push it ALL the way down and it is in neutral......but at that point is when it seems like the brakes go away. Now that I have "practiced" a little driving....... aw, what the heck. Now that I have been using it yesterday and today pulling cart loads of dirt, I can say that it DOES HAVE good dynamic braking when you step on the pedal just a little, or move the trans selector toward neutral (but not into neutral). However poor my description of the brakes was when I started THIS thread yesterday, I am a lot more satisfied with the machine today. But....and that's a big but.......I DO NOT HAVE a working parking brake. If you set the parking brake on any incline, the machine starts creeping (engine on or off). So I guess my big question for today is: How do I get a parking brake to function on this machine?

Whenever this happens to me, I've usually bumped the two speed axle lever on the right side slightly. Move it firmly into the high (or low) speed and you should be back to normal. Backfire unfortunately is common on these. Suggest you adopt a shutdown policy of: idle the engine to let temp stabilize,, make sure you have the clutch in and keep it in until engine is totally stopped and silent,, then turn off key and at the same time advance the throttle to about halfway. Be sure to keep the clutch in till after shutdown is complete. The smoke at start up is common also and means nothing as long as it clears quickly once running. Be aware that the right cylinder if your engine is unmodified will have a tendency to blow a head gasket. If this happens it will dump its oil very quickly. Check with your dealer as Kohler was fixing this under warranty using new head bolts. Don't give up on your GT5K, get the engine glitches (if any) repaired and it will go for many, many more years.

Please use March 2007 Rose list. Thank You, Ron S