My ancient rider 30 stopped running and when we tried to tow it back to the garage we found that the rear wheels were turning in opposite directions. The mower was out of gear and the cutter was disengaged so I assume there must be a fault somewhere in the transmission. Has anyone come accross this problem before?

Adrian, September 2008

Adrian did you sort this problem out because exactly the same has happened to mine!

Dave, September 2008

If the transmission input shaft is jammed in some way - either because of an internal transmisson fault, or because the brake (which acts on the transmission) is locked on, then if you tow the mower, the tyre with the least grip will counter-rotate due to the action of the differential.

If the brake is NOT stuck on, then yes, you have a gearbox fault - but NOT because of the strange wheel behaviour!

phil_saunders@bigfoot.com

Phil Saunders, September 2008