It always comes down to the same thing- confirm there are no external causes 1st. Are there signs that some of the oil had leaked out? Hydro release lever in place and seems to function? Are the wheel keys in place? Does it push easily w/ both tires on the ground? Brake releasing and the disc spins freely? Any cracks in the case? These are the basics you should cover- but it doesn't sound good...

***" can push the brake padel with it jacked up and the tires still spin by hand."***
That line right there is what we need to expand on just a bit. "tires still spin by hand". OK, when you spin the left wheel clockwise, does the right wheel spin counterclockwise? If you spin either wheel by hand, the opposite wheel should spin in the opposite direction of rotation. Try this also. Be very careful doing this. With both drive wheels firmly resting on the ground, have someone sit in the seat and with the engine running, try to operate the transmission. When the transmission is operating, look at the axle shafts that come out of the transmission. If you see one of the axle shafts turning, the axle key is sheared out of the wheel hub on that side.

Did you let it set out in the rain while you wasn't using it? IMO when I put anything back in service (especially with automatic transmissions) I jack the rear end up or the end that does the pushing or pulling and warm the transmission up. This lubricates the seals, bands, and clutch disc so when you put a load on it it don't break immediately upon movement. does this need to be done on LT's? Well, IMO it won't hurt?

when its jacked up and i spin one of the tires it does spin the other in a diffrent direction.I can push the brake pedal and where it goes into the rear it dont move much at all.How much movement should the brake part move on the rear from non pushed to fully pushed this one only looks like it moves about a half inch.Its under a carport but if the rain blows sideways it can wet the right side some not to mention the moisture that can rust up things under it.I did notice a very very slight tire movement when i had it lifted up and running.I will check the axle next

I'd think your brake arm is binding.

Yes, give the brake assembly a good shot of "PB Blaster", and let it soak for several hours. That product is great for breaking rusted joints back to full operation.
As for the grinding sound, maybe the shifter handle and its accompanying pieces need a couple shots of PB too. By your description, i'd say the shifting mechanism is probably rusted, too.
Some things you will have to learn about the tractors and other things we use:
"THEY ARE NOT BUILT LIKE CARS AND TRUCKS!"
You shouldn't allow them to sit outside in the weather for very long, as the works will rust, and stop working.
If the hood on your tractor has louvers (slots) in the top flat area, you should not allow it to sit out in the rain, as the ignition parts will soon rust, and the machine won't start. And, the shifter and brake mechanisms will not operate correctly, not to mention letting the rain run down into the ignition parts!
Might i suggest getting a large plastic sheet that will cover the entire machine, and keeping it in place with bricks, or even tying it in place. Rain water or snow are the biggest contributors to bad operating machines!
That said--give the brake mechanism a liberal shot of PB Blaster, and let it sit a while, then try it.
And, above all----always check the oil before starting it, if it has set over night. And, do a double stick of the dip-stick, with a wipe in between. Congealed oil will stay up on the dip-stick and give a false reading! And, if the second stick shows too much oil, smell it for a gasoline smell. If present, then your carburetor needs attention, for a bad float or sticking float. A sticking float may allow gasoline to rise and flow into the engine sump, diluting the oil, and making the engine go "BANG"!

ok i took the axle covers off and ran it thru foward and rev and the tires started to turn alil with the lever pushed all the way forward but the mower was jacked up.I took my hand and stopped the tire and in the front of the trans you could hear it makeing a noise like splines kinda slipping but its not like a bad metal to metal grind

What? Can you put the tractor on the ground, have somebody operate from the driver's seat while you watch the axle shafts (exposed rods between transaxle assy. and wheels)? I don't see where you have done that, so we have no confirmation YET, whether you have a sheared key, or not. But from the way you describe a grinding sound "up front", the splines on the trasmission input shaft and pulley hub may be "shelled off".

when on the ground there is no axle movment but you hear the noise but but with it free wheeling there is no noise and the tires turn till you put under load then they stop easy and the noise starts.Is that shaft hard to replace if its replaceable for someone who dont know about mower parts

***"Is that shaft hard to replace if its replaceable for someone who dont know about mower parts."***
Maybe! Do you have any mechanical experience or aptitude? What kind of tools do you own? The shaft itself may not need replacement. If the belt pulley is made of aluminum. it might be "trashed", but the shaft may be usable, being made of steel. Have you been able to identify the pulley that is suspect? Can you get to the pulley and put a hand on it? The pulley will have a plastic cooling fan attached to it with the drive belt looped around the pulley. Do this with the engine OFF. Place a hand on the fan/pulley assembly and try to move the fan/pulley in every direction you can imagine. The pulley should be very solidly in place with almost no wobble or looseness.

yeah i can work on most things but beins i never had to fix something like this i didnt know.I have most auto tools.I'll try what you said.Wheres the best place to find the parts to buy if i need to.I priced the hydro axle assembley and about passed out $1799.00

If you get to the point of taking things apart, please use a digital camera and take plenty of pictures of your disassembly process. This is a serious suggestion, you could write a big book of the horror stories where people have taken something apart in haste without recording their actions.
You might be able to order the needed parts at websites like partstree, or sites that use the empart look-up system. If the pulley has stripped its splines and wobbled on the input shaft, it may have gouged the input shaft seal also. That is not a difficult swap, but you do want to pry the old seal out carefully so you don't skin up the seal bore or the shaft where the seal touches it. Damage to the shaft or bore in either of those sections and the seal can leak. Proceed cautiously and work safely. Good luck. Keep us posted.

You do realize that the likely hood of a shaft breaking is slim. You depress the clutch to crank it over, which engages the brake, so it is more probable that the brake arm is binding. Things don't break from just sitting. If you do have internal issues, the parts are serviceable from a Hydrogear dealer. The breakdown is in your owners manual or in the om online.

Mownies warning about keeping track of where everything goes is so true!
I had a Chrysler Mini-van that needed a timing belt changed, so i set about doing the job.
Now, if you have never done one of them, don't start! Why? Well, even though i worked in a Chrysler Body shop, and watched the mechanics doing that job, and had the help and advice, i still ran into trouble, reassembling everything, as there weren't two bolts alike, and no one bolt would fit anywhere else. I finally got it all back together, and found out it was a tooth off in the timing department, and wouldn't get out of its own way, not to mention two left over bolts!
So, i had to take it all back apart, but this time, i had cigar boxes labelled with where the different bolts went, and had the shop mechanic come out to time it. That time it was ok, but i could of saved lots of time by having an experienced guy fix it!

If it was working fine one time, and now, all of sudden its not, well, it can't be serious, has to be something fairly simple.

Have you checked the axle's to make sure the key ways are not seared?

Always check the simple stuff..........

I tell you I can be so durn picky sometimes when I am working on something 'strange" or "exotic" for the first time, but it's worth the effort ten times over when going back up with it. rustyj, funny you should mention about the unlike bolts. I have a method for that too. As I have often suggested people take pictures, and lots of them, sometimes, even pictures will not address the issue surounding bolts of different length you will find in a cover or something similar to that. For those mix & match bolt length configurations, this is what I do. DRAW a sketch of the cover or component on a large sheet of paper or cardboard. Map out the location of each bolt hole and give it an ID (number or alpha letter). Now, remove each bolt one at a time. After you remove a bolt from its hole, lay that bolt down on the cardboard next to the sketch of that hole and mark the length of the bolt by drawing a pen mark at the head and the other end of bolt. If there is anything else peculiar about a bolt (such as washers or spacers) note that on the drawing next to that hole also. Then when you go back up with the assembly, all you gotta do is lay a bolt across the length marks you made and you can tell for sure if that bolt is the correct length, or not. This is something a lot of folks would do well to practice as even a lot of service manuals never explain which length bolt goes where. Of course, there is also another way to reason out where a bolt goes by how much of the bolt protrudes outside the hole before the threads are started, but I know for a fact that lots of folks are oblivious to that. Too many times over the years, I have followed somebody else's repair job and found where too long a bolt was put into a hole (they rest uselessly above the surface) and other bolt holes had a bolt just holding on with about 3 threads. Oil leak specials sometimes, depending on the application.

Well, I got into something today, the dual climate controls on my GM car didn't want to heat on one side. In fact it was blowing A/C air, not only was it counter acting the heat on the passenger side I was getting poor gas mileage with the A/C running.

Done alitte googling (an't today's web great, you can find out about anything on the web!!!) Found out that dual climate controls has three flapper door elect actuators and mine took a crap when I flipped it from cold to heat, but it didn't go to heat it stay in cold.

Got a genuine GM actuator off the net and today it came in. Today was a nice day so I figure I need to replace it before really cold weather set in. The Drivers side is reall buried and very hard to get to Plus you had to index it. I used my battery charger to move the elect. motor getting the motor index so I could get the bolts in.

After laying upside down on the foor board for an hour the job was done and luckily it worked. I plugged my A/C back in at the compressor and now I have climate control on the drivers side again. Anybody with GM product may have to do this if they keep it long enough or pay 250 at the dealer for a 30 dollar part. Let me tell you the 200 so so in labor maybe worth it if you have no patience and money to burn. I don't have either, but I some how managed to get-R-done.

i have been looking at the simple things first and the brake stuff has me puzzeled.Where the brake arm hooks to the trans theres a braket.The braket slides on a shaft and there is a smooth round disk and out to the side there is two smooth nipples.Looks like to me it dont really move enough to do nothing to me.But with the motor running and in gear and mower lifted off the ground the smooth disk tries to turn and i can lay a screw driver against it and stop it with very very lil pressure.I hate to keep asking all these ? but i really love to get it fixed beins it was my dads and he just passed away and it has very low hrs on it

The braking system on your tractor is the modern version of "Disc brakes"! A simplified type of braking the tractor. the little disc turns when the tractor is moving. Therefore, when you push the brake pedal in, the little "wavy" looking disc must be moving/rotating a small amount, which in turn, pushes in the two small nubbins, and they push in on the brake pad, and it clamps against the small rotating disc. That makes that disc stop rotating, and that makes the tractor stop!
So, if the machine sets out in the rain or snow, and water or condensation, or any form of wetness is allowed to get into the brake parts, they will become inoperative from rust and corrosion, and dirt can be a problem, too.
Best bet, after or if you get the brake working again, is to oil the works liberally, then drive it around some, to wear the oil from the brake pad! And keep it lubricated. Use the tractor occasionally, so it doesn't rust up. And, indoor storage is far better than outside storage, especially in periods of being unused. An occasional drive around is mighty helpful!

Turn on the fans. Clear the air. This is a hydrostatic drive transmission. The primary braking system where a hydrostatic drive is used.........is the hydrostatic drive system itself. The itty bitty mechanical disc brake set up is there to serve as a parking brake.
Let's go over some facts we have learned about this machine so far. The following observations were made with the drive wheels raised off the ground.
(1) With the drive wheels raised off the ground, when the transmission control is operated, the drive wheels attempt to turn.
That point alone indicates the brake disc and pucks are not rusted or fused together.
(2) If you grab one of the drive wheels with your hands while it is spinning, the tire stops and suddenly a "grinding noise" begins that seems to be somewhere in the front of the trasmission.
(3) With the transmission operating, the brake disc is seen to be turning, here again, can't do that if brake disc & pucks are bound or fused. Pressing lightly against the brake disc with a screwdriver is all it takes to stop the disc from turning.
What can we deduce from all this?
The brake is not frozen or binding keeping the brake disc from turning.
That the wheels are attempting to turn when the transmission control is operated says that the hydrostatic drive unit is at least trying to do what it is supposed to do.
Now if we could just determine whether the splines have been stripped off of the input pulley, or not stripped, then we can add that info to the equation and figure out where to go from there.

guess my next thing to do is go ahead and drop the rear out and go into it slow and see what i can find.I sure hope its something simple to fix.Would there happen to be maybe a shear pin in there.I looked at the parts list but maybe i missed it.Ill be back one day thru the week and give a update on her

Does the input shaft pulley have any splines left on it? We are trying to give you a step by step of things to check.

this might post two times but we will see.I got it tore apart and found the brake shaft splines and coupler splines was stripped.Looks like water had got to them and rusted them up and it couldnt handle it.Now im waiting to see how much a brake assembley will cost from the web

***"brake shaft and coupler"***
Could you please post the part numbers for both those items?

Here is a link that might be useful: 917.273321 Owner's Manual

62877 brake shaft assembly found it for under a $100.Shaft 2 bearings gear and the coupler

OK. Good luck. Keep us posted please.

Not to hijack this thread but I have the same issue. I think mine might be loss of trans fluid through the wheel/axle seal. Not sure how to add trans fluid...... any ideas?

Started when I used the transmission 'release' on the back so I could push the tractor. Since then its never been the same. Tries to move, kind of grinds and sometimes moves a little. Suggestions?

Suggest posting the brand and model number of the tractor. If it is a Craftsman, we need the full technical model number (begins with 917. followed by 6 digits). With a full model number, we might get a free Owners Manual online. This number may be found under, or near, the seat. If the problem only appeared after you used "free wheel" mode, the pump & motor in the transmission probably swallowed some air in the process of moving, this air needs to be purged or "burped" out.

My model is 917.272021 its a 46"........ and how do I 'burp' this baby ?

You might be right on cuz thats when it started acting funny.

Thanks !

Just found the manual and purge procedure... thanks. For anyone who needs it I attached a link to the manual.

Here is a link that might be useful: Craftsman manual 917.272021

Good job. Did the purging clear up the issue? I suggest you might want to save a copy of the free manual to your computer so you can access it offline.

Too cold today (30) to purge it.... will do it next week.... also..... if I am leaking at the wheel seals, how do I add trans fluid ? and what kind do I add ?

Thanks !

The latest spec is 20w50. You add oil on these either through the breather or some will have a plug on top. If a person wants to exchange the oil, the transaxle comes out. Take extra care to keep debris out or you'll put a new transaxle on your list from santa...