# Husqvarna goes in reverse but not forward



## Country Boy

Have a Husqvarna tractor in the shop at work that is acting up. The customer used it to mow one time, and it worked perfectly fine. He said it made no noise and didn't slip at all. The next time he went to use it, he backed it out of his shed, and it wouldn't go forward. Its a late 90's early 2000's model, but I forgot to grab the model number before I left. It has a Hydro Gear hydrostatic transmission and the oil level appears to be fine. The brake isn't dragging, and the dump valve is all the way in for driving. Reverse has plenty of power as I backed it up the ramps on our loading dock to get it into the shop. When driving in reverse, it is smooth and quiet. When you put the lever into forward, it does absolutely nothing. No whining or grinding, no lugging the engine, just nothing. The linkage moves as it should, and everything appears to be connected. I checked to see if the keys were still in the rear wheels and they were. I even jacked up the back end and tried to run it with the weight off to purge the system and it still did nothing in forward. With the dump valve in the drive mode, the unit is hard to push as it should be, and it gets easy to push with the valve in the push mode as it should be. Before I tear into this further, has anyone had an issue like this or know what it might be? I'm swamped with work right now, so some insight would be much appreciated.

I'll probably call tech support on the transmission tomorrow if I get time, so if no one has an idea by then, I'll just call in. I've been working on lawn and garden equipment for over 12 years now, and I've never seen one do this before. They usually either grind or whine when trying to engage the trans or they simply don't move at all. This one goes fine backwards but not in forwards.


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## jhngardner367

Rich, it sounds like the forward valve is bypassing. This could be due to an internal leak at the selector valve,a bad seal/gasket, or a stuck relief valve .


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## Country Boy

That's sort of what I was thinking, that it was bypassing somewhere internally. Well, I guess its time to yank the trans and disassemble. Was hoping I'd not have to do that. I'll post up what I find.


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## Cublover

I have a Cub that does the other thing! It will start out easy going forward, then jump and almost throw you off. But when you try to back up, very little or nothing.

I decided to put the engine on another Cub that I know has a good trans.


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## Country Boy

Well, I finally got around to tearing into this thing the other day. Found that the one check valve that sits inside of the oil filter had backed out and fallen out of its hole. I ordered a new center section due to the threads being a bit messed up at the top and there being a few scratches on the mating surface between the pump and the center section. Should have the parts today, hopefully will get the orange beast out of the shop and out of my way finally!


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## Wildman1269

Country Boy said:


> Well, I finally got around to tearing into this thing the other day. Found that the one check valve that sits inside of the oil filter had backed out and fallen out of its hole. I ordered a new center section due to the threads being a bit messed up at the top and there being a few scratches on the mating surface between the pump and the center section. Should have the parts today, hopefully will get the orange beast out of the shop and out of my way finally!


Check valve “inside “ the oil filter ? Is if obvious when you take the filter off ? Mine has all power in reverse and barely any power goin forward except every once in a while it will bounce up to full speed and then go back to about 2 mph . Any ideas


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## Sigs45

Country Boy said:


> Well, I finally got around to tearing into this thing the other day. Found that the one check valve that sits inside of the oil filter had backed out and fallen out of its hole. I ordered a new center section due to the threads being a bit messed up at the top and there being a few scratches on the mating surface between the pump and the center section. Should have the parts today, hopefully will get the orange beast out of the shop and out of my way finally!


I have the exact problem you were having. I can move forward slowly as it slows to a stop. I can reverse no problem. I took my tranny apart and pulled the filter screen off just as you did. Both of my valves are tighten down. I am at a loss. Any other ideas why I might be losing power going forward but not in reverse?


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