Mower is stuck in neutral gear

"You may try to purge the transaxle.

To purge the transaxle follow these steps:

1. Place tractor on an open level surface, clear of objects.

2. Turn engine off and apply parking brake.

3. Disengage transaxle by placing freewheel control in disengaged position.

4. Sitting in the tractor seat, start engine.

CAUTION: At any time during step 5 there may be movement of the drive wheels.

5. While the engine is running, move the throttle control to the slow position.

6. With motion control lever in neutral position, slowly disengage clutch/brake pedal (lifting foot off of the pedal).

7. Move motion control lever to full FORWARD position and hold for five (5) seconds.

8. Move motion control lever to full REVERSE position and hold for five (5) seconds.

9. Repeat steps 5 through 7, three (3) times.

10. Move motion control lever to neutral position.

11. Shut off engine and set parking brake.

13. Engage transaxle by placing freewheel control in engaged position.

14. Sitting in the tractor seat, start engine.

15. While engine is running, move throttle control to half (1/2) speed.

16. With motion control lever in neutral position, slowly disengage clutch/brake pedal.

17. Slowly move motion control lever forward, after the tractor moves approximately five (5) feet, slowly move motion control lever to reverse position.

18. After the tractor moves approximately five (5) feet return the motion control lever to the neutral position.

19. Repeat steps 14-16, with the motion control lever three (3) times.

20. The transaxle is now purged and ready for normal operation."

None of that worked for me. the only thing I noticed, when I had the mower elevated with my 1.5 ton jack, the wheels did move forward and backward, just slowly, and not with much vigor when I had the freewheel control in the ENGAGE position.

"I have same problem except lever wont go fwd OR rvs like stuck in park AND reverse. HELP ITS MY WIFES MOWER!!!

Update (09/14/2019)

VERY hard to push… hold on. oh? the linkage you say? I will give it a try!"

"Sounds like some of you may be having a different problem than what I experienced - I was ready to pull the axle/drive apart but realized my drive belt had not broken but had stretched to the point where it wasn’t getting good friction on the huge drive/clutch(?) pulley under the seat that’s attached to the main drive unit. Replacing that belt worked for me. Also, there’s a metal tang/guide toward the middle bottom of the tractor that helps keep that belt on the pulley - I recall I have to bend that to get the belt on…but then also be sure to bend it back so that the belt runs nice and clear and can’t pop out of there. You don’t want it to wear by contacting that metal - but it also has to do its job and keep the belt on the pulley when clutching and there’s slack in the belt.

Hope this helps - but for those who obviously have drive/gear/bearing issues - man I wish you the best of luck, you’re braver than I am doing a rebuild. I find I can usually locate one of these tractors used for a couple hundred bucks or less - and I use the old one(s) for parts."

"Doh, added this as a comment not answer, I’ll try again.

I had the same issue after removing one of the rear wheels. I tried purging the transmission but to no avail. I downloaded the manual for my mower - a Husqvarna CTH150XP. It ends up there is a 'square key' on the back wheels, that is easily missed when you remove the wheel. It will sometimes drop off onto the ground - often the lawn - and be lost or hard to find. You then replace the wheel with the circlip / washer etc. and the wheels don't turn. This is because the axle on the changed wheel is turning inside the wheel, and without the square key, the wheel is not turning when on the ground - note: both wheels will turn if you lift the mower as there is no resistance.

Search the internet for Husqvarna (or your make) square key to see what it looks like. Could this be your problem too?"