# 521 Goes Forward Very Well But Won't Reverse



## lo2e (Jan 24, 2015)

Hi all, title says it all pretty much. My old 521 (38052, 6xxxxxx serial) drives very, very well in any gear forward, but does not go well in reverse at all unless it is on absolutely bare pavement/ground. I replaced the friction wheel last year and this has been a problem ever since then (and actually I think it was at least starting to become a problem before I replaced the friction wheel too).

When I put it in reverse, the friction wheel lines up pretty close to the center of the friction plate (just to the left of center from my vantage point), should it be going further away from the center? Or any other ideas of things to look for?

Thanks as always, you all are great.


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Friction wheel.*must* cross centerline of drive plate for your machine to have reverse. Think about it for a minute and you will figure it out. Adjust your linkage to make the rubber wheel cross centerline.
Something else, wipe off the hex shaft and reapply a very, very thin coat of light grease. I use light lithium. Make sure the wheel has free movement clear across the shaft.


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

lo2e said:


> Hi all, title says it all pretty much. My old 521 (38052, 6xxxxxx serial) drives very, very well in any gear forward, but does not go well in reverse at all unless it is on absolutely bare pavement/ground. I replaced the friction wheel last year and this has been a problem ever since then (and actually I think it was at least starting to become a problem before I replaced the friction wheel too).
> 
> When I put it in reverse, the friction wheel lines up pretty close to the center of the friction plate (just to the left of center from my vantage point), should it be going further away from the center? Or any other ideas of things to look for?
> 
> Thanks as always, you all are great.


Check to make sure you got the friction wheel back on in the correct orientation after you changed it last year. if you got it on 180 degrees backward, that might be why its not getting much past the center of the drive disk. There might be some adjustment available with the shift linkage which will allow you go get the wheel past the centre point into reverse territory. Since you say the problem started after replacing the rubber wheel, I would check its on the right way first. Are you finding that the highest speed forward setting on the shift has the rubber wheel running almost off the edge of the drive disk?


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## lo2e (Jan 24, 2015)

Thank you both for the responses so far. I've taken some pictures of the friction wheel and disk to more accurately depict what it looks like (and I went ahead and put some grease in there - didn't work I'm afraid).

In the first picture, that is what it looks like in 3rd gear forward.

In the second and third pictures, it shows it in reverse. The second picture is from the underneath of the machine, the third picture is from the back side of the machine (not good quality, unfortunately).

Thanks again for any help on this.



micah68kj said:


> Friction wheel.*must* cross centerline of drive plate for your machine to have reverse. Think about it for a minute and you will figure it out. Adjust your linkage to make the rubber wheel cross centerline.
> Something else, wipe off the hex shaft and reapply a very, very thin coat of light grease. I use light lithium. Make sure the wheel has free movement clear across the shaft.





skutflut said:


> Check to make sure you got the friction wheel back on in the correct orientation after you changed it last year. if you got it on 180 degrees backward, that might be why its not getting much past the center of the drive disk. There might be some adjustment available with the shift linkage which will allow you go get the wheel past the centre point into reverse territory. Since you say the problem started after replacing the rubber wheel, I would check its on the right way first. Are you finding that the highest speed forward setting on the shift has the rubber wheel running almost off the edge of the drive disk?


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

Did you say you replaced that rubber friction material last year? It looks pretty worn for less than a year old. 

What is the full model number of your machine and the year? I will try looking up a parts list to see if I can get a better idea of the mechanical setup.

I'm afraid I cannot see much from these photos, having trouble orienting things with the angle of the photos.


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

I am on a small, old tablet and can't really make much from those pics. All I can.tell you is that where you are saying 3rd is, the rubber wheel has to be over on the opposite side of the drive platter for the machine to have reverse. It has to cross the center line in order to make the rubber drive wheel spin the opposite direction.


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## tadawson (Jan 3, 2018)

Looks like that is the case here, but is not always true on older Toro's. I have an, iirc, 1979 724 that has two friction disks, and only the one rubber wheel. It moves to contact one disk for forward, and the other for reverse, never crossing the centerline. On that guy, if the linkage is wrong, you get great contact in one direction, but little to none in the other. 



As noted, it doesn't look like this Toro is setup that way, but the vintage is correct, so never assume . . .


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

I just took a couple pics of my 521..notice the orientation.


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

This last picture shows it in 3rd gear position.


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## lo2e (Jan 24, 2015)

skutflut said:


> Did you say you replaced that rubber friction material last year? It looks pretty worn for less than a year old.
> 
> What is the full model number of your machine and the year? I will try looking up a parts list to see if I can get a better idea of the mechanical setup.
> 
> I'm afraid I cannot see much from these photos, having trouble orienting things with the angle of the photos.


Yep, replaced it last year. Since I've been trying to troubleshoot the reverse since last year, I've been operating it a lot without the bottom cover attached, so that might be why the rubber wheel is worn already.

Model 38052, Serial No. 6,000,000+ (which I believe puts it in a 1986 vintage)

Pictures 1 and 3 are from where the operator stands looking horizontally into the underneath area. Picture 2 is from the underneath looking vertically up at the friction wheel and plate (and the left side is the left of the machine in that picture). It is in 3rd gear in picture 1 and reverse in pictures 2 and 3.



tadawson said:


> Looks like that is the case here, but is not always true on older Toro's. I have an, iirc, 1979 724 that has two friction disks, and only the one rubber wheel. It moves to contact one disk for forward, and the other for reverse, never crossing the centerline. On that guy, if the linkage is wrong, you get great contact in one direction, but little to none in the other.
> As noted, it doesn't look like this Toro is setup that way, but the vintage is correct, so never assume . . .


There is definitely only one disk and one rubber wheel on this one.


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