My girlfriend's grandpa gave me a riding mower he had sittin around. Its a Murray, prolly like 5 years old but it looks like it's in mint condition. The original owners bought it and shortly after they decided to have someone else mow their lawn.

ANYWAYS..

He never could get it running before. I brought it home, drained all the old fuel out the carborator and tank, put fresh fuel in. I jumped it off with my other ridin mower and after a second it fired right up. The problem is that it will only run on Full Choke. When it's fully Choked it runs really good, almost new. The second you let in on the choke it dies. I have a feeling it's carb. related but am not 100% sure. Seems like the engine is gettin a lot more air than fuel right? Also when I put it in gear it won't go anywheres. It uses 2 belts, 1 for the deck and 1 for the transaxle. The belt for the transaxle is installed correctly and when you put it in gear it turns as it should, but the mower doesn't even try to go. Any help would be appreciated

 

If you lift the wheels off the ground do they spin? Seems like the choke isnt working right. Been a few years since I worked on a mower though

 

No the axle wont engage at all

 

Never seen one with a busted axle, might want to check the linkages.

For the choke, when it is on full, does the engine run like its rich? If not then it could just be out of adjustment.

 

Sounds to me like its flooding out, do a cab rebuild. axle is not broke check the belts again, remember its a murry aka MTD. How many HP is it?


Get one of these, oh wait its a MTD (Kinda)also

 

If it's been sitting up for a while, it's a good bet there's trash and varnish built up in the carb. The first thing I'd do is disassemble and clean/rebuild the carburetor.

 

Oops, missed the first paragraph. Ya, they are right tear that carb apart. I was thinking of my uncles old one. Im gonna stay outta of the technical stuff tonight I think.

 

look under the seat or on the back of the mower for a lever that puts the transaxle in neutral. We have a murray and a husqvarna and they both have it. I know if you have a hydromatic transaxle you should have this lever. It allows you to put it in neutral so you can push it around easier. As for the carb I would take it apart and clean it. Hope this helps.

 

Lol its only 8hp. Its one of those rear-engine ones. It looks really goofy. I have a 20hp Craftsman for normal use, this one was just to fix up and use on a few lawns I do during the summer that my Craftsman is too big to maneuver around.

 

I know what youre talking about as far as the neutral thing. My craftsman has it(i love that mower), it also has the hydrostatic transmission(another love). This little Murray p.o.s does not have a hydro transmission, do you thing it has one of those little levers hidden somewehres? I didn't see one anywheres obvious.

 

No trans axles do not have a neutral lever except on the gear shift...... I would say the clutch isn't fully engaging. The belt turns all the time even when it's in neutral. If the motor is running then it is truning. With the clutch depressed it will loosen the belt so wont turn the pulley but often still turns the belt some.

With the engine off, release the clutch, look for the ideler pully. Make sure it is moving in and out...... Should have a pretty good swing of movement to it. Next would be to check the belt tension with the clutch engaged.

It could be one of 2 things, either idelr pully is rusted in the disengage position or the clutch tension spring has come off, it's gone or it's lost it's tension.

Next thing to check, with engine off, take the drive belt off, put the transmision in gear and try to turn the pully by hand. If it spins freely then your transaxle is the culprit, likely just an E clip that has come off, or maybe a sheared key way, but you wont know until you tear into it.

 

Im gonna look at all that as soon as I get home. Thanks for the info

 

So Ive been messin with the carb for a while tryin to get it runnin. Today I was trying to start it and it started shooting pure gasoline out of the Muffler. What's goin on here? Im not an expert but that can't be good. It has a new spark plug as well.

 

sounds like the float is stuck open on the carb. You need to clean and rebuild it. Try shooting a dab of ether in the carb and see if it fires up. Place a shut off valve on the gas line first and shut it off the use the ether.

 

me n my dad were lookin to get that model cub.

instead we got this.



50'' cut.