Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Front Propelled Wheels Don't Turn

When I press the propel drive bar on my Toro mower and lift the mower a little, the front wheels turn sporadically. Sometimes it spins at max speed and times it jerks on and off. Toro had me readjust the cable connected to the propel bar to make sure it is tight but it still does not spin consistantly. What could be wrong?

I noticed my oil is low. I plan to change my oil this weekend but I dont know if that could cause the wheels not to spin.

The maintenance section of the manual says to lubricate the front wheel gears. Is WD40 OK to use? Could that be the problem?

Any advice or if someone else experienced this same thing I would appreciate some help!

You may want to remove the front drive wheels and inspect the gear teeth in the wheels, they are plastic and may be worn or stripped.

Another possibility is that the gears in the transmission are worn out or the bearing on the input shaft is bad. There are spring loaded drive keys on each side of the drive axle that drive the front wheels, if the keys are stuck in the shaft they may not be engaging the gears. WD40 will work as a lubricant on these drive gears.

You can go to the Toro website and look at a parts breakdown of your unit to get a better idea of how it's set up.

Post back with what you find and we can go from there.

Best of Luck...

This lawn mower in only a little over a year old. Can it be worn out and stripped so fast. Would this be covered under their warranty?

As long as you have only been using the mower in a non commercial application, then there is a good possibility that it could be covered by warranty.