OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Victa Lawn Mower Frames Victa 550 Self Drive having trouble

Hi everyone. I was cutting long grass but suddenly felt the mower driving speed dropped rapidly, the self propelled part seems to having trouble.I lifted up rear wheels and engaged self propell cable and both wheels spin, but as soon as I put wheels on lawns, it does not drive mower forward, I had to push mower to finish off rest of mowing.

Anyone familiar with this kind of problem for this Victa 550 single speed drive?

Thanks

Hi mate,

Have you checked the quality of the drive belt? May be stretched and slipping. Drive dogs on the rear wheels may be worn and slipping when under load.

Thanks,
Pete

G'day Bond, take the black cover off and check the condition of the belt, that's where i'd start.

Moneypenny thinks the boys are right there james . drive belt and check the tentioner while your in there , cable slipped out of its holder a tad maybe (only the black cover holds it )
if its still a problem , put a washer under the screw closest the cable to hold it in place , then check its operation as then you can have a looksee what IS slipping

Thanks. I have not got a chance to start mower up because its evening time here. The belt seems all right to me and the cable looks good too.

When I engaged self drive cable, I was able to pull rear wheels backwards, which should not be happening. What could go wrong? Anyway I will update when I get chance to start mower up.

Hi I started the mower today, took black cover off and replaced a new drive belt, but it was still doing the same thing. Everything seems to work fine, I lifed up rear wheels, they both turns but as soon as they are in contact with ground, they slow down(very very slow), looks like the self drive unit was producing enough power to drive mower forward? Im thinking problem could be in the gearbox?

Or could it be the pulley? I was able to move it up and down, Im not sure if it supposed to be fixed or not?

ok then , did you adjust the cable ? could be a little slack .

correct drive belt is it ? does the tensioner pully have its spring ? you adjust the cable up on handle with slotted mounting holes .
these are the easy things to check otherwise its a teardown for a look inside the 'box , could also be clutch cone is worn or got grease on it , did you repack might have over filled it
if you can chuck up a photo of it as is now cover off and see whats doing in there

Hi yes I have ajusted the cable, I can feel the tension on cable, it may brake if too tight.

Drive belt is correct, genuine Victa belt. Tensioner pully has its spring. I have attached two photos, one without cable engaged, one with cable engaged.

Is there anything ajustment I can do to the drive pulley? I found if I lift it up a lillte bit, then with cable engaged, it stops rear wheels pulling backwards as they should.

i've never had them apart, but one or both the of the clutch springs may have broken, they are under the drive gears, i have one that pulls to one side when i engage the s/p and i rekon that might be my problem to??

Hi where does clutch springs locate? Do you mean the springs inside drive cog? I have checked both of them, they are fine.

so what was the origional problem there 007 , those wheels look new too they aftermarket ? you sure they mesh with gears correctly, and couldnt make out a spring on the tensioner does it have one or just hard to make it out old eyes. did you add grease to the 'box might have been too much now clutch is slipping .

a tad hard really need to know what went wrong at 1st , whats been done , why its doing it now or if its different to before

The S/P was in good working order, until last Monday the drive speed dropped during process of mowing. So I would not suspect manually wrong setup of gear or spring. Something must be worn to cause the drive speed slowing down.

ok , goodo , some questions answered ! then seems it might be time to pull it apart , check inside for wear so why did you pull it down ?
might be something as simple as its broken the keyway for the drive pulley on PTO shaft

Hi I had the mower S/P unit apart today. It turned out the small pin that connects drive pulley and shaft of gearbox is broken(this explains why I was able to move drive pulley up and down). Now the mower is back into working order.

Thanks for your help.

great to hear it mate , goodonya ..... always nice to have a good outcome

good work mate.