Small Engines (Lawn Mowers, etc.): Hydrostatic, john deere lx 172, lawn tractor

Question
I have 1994 John Deere LX 172 lawn tractor. I believe its hydrostatic and i have no reverse and my gears 1 thru 5 appear to slipping and i have to hold the shifter once it gets and stays in gear. Is this possibly an easy problem or very in depth.  Thanks for your time...

Answer
Based on what you described you have a manual transmission, TRANSAXLE MARKED 801-060.  There are a couple of keys, JD part number M82826, that break and cause the problem you described.  It is an easy repair but it takes a lot of time as you have to remove, dis-assemble and replace the key inside the transmission.

I would recommend getting the repair manual before taking the transmission apart.  I had a link but it is no longer working.  Try to Google "Tecumseh motion drive pdf" and see if you can locate the link.

Have you ever rebuilt a standard transmission?

http://jdpc.deere.com/jdpc/servlet/com.deere.u90490.partscatalog.view.servlets.H...

Eric