I assume a snowthrower? with regular drive wheels and not tracks? Model #s/ type of equipment would be great. Regarding the recoil, is it actually engaging and pulling the engine over? If it is pulling the engine over, and it truly has no compression, it would possibly be a stuck valve- or worse a broken rod. Internal anyways.If not, maybe it is frozen and can't engage. Has the machine been sitting out in the snow or possibly re- frozen?

I assume a snowthrower? with regular drive wheels and not tracks? Model #s/ type of equipment would be great. Regarding the recoil, is it actually engaging and pulling the engine over? If it is pulling the engine over, and it truly has no compression, it would possibly be a stuck valve- or worse a broken rod. Internal anyways.If not, maybe it is frozen and can't engage. Has the machine been sitting out in the snow or possibly re- frozen?

It is a snowthrower..sorry....it is gear driven not chain. the model number is 31AS6BCE752...It has been left out after snow blowing. a friend was here and we got it started....the wheels were turning and it was working fine then we shut it off and restarted it and the wheels are not moving and it will engage the blower but will not move...the rubber drive wheel is not up against the drive disk... it seems to be something mechanical.we used wd40 and made sure everything is freed up..or it wouldn't have worked for a few minutes.

There is a spring which attaches to the bracket ahead of the friction disc that may have snapped. I suppose that it is possible that the assy is frozen up as well. The back of your owners manual should have an illustrated parts list or ut is available on line as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: mtd parts

the spring was not broke and not froze up so any other dvice would be appreciated...sorry my mom got very sick and had to have open heart surgery and has been a long hard spring and summer but now I need it fixed with winter coming and have no clue....help please

Hey sorry about your Mom. I fixed a bunch of these last season, both MTD and Craftsman (same thing). Apparently the drive trains in these machines are shipped dry, there isn't a drop of oil on the gears or bearings or bushings.
Flip the machine up on it's nose, the auger end and remove four 3/8" hex bolts on the bottom cover. With a good penetrating oil (PB Blaster) lube the gears that you see to your right, the axle bushings where the axle goes out to each wheel, and the hex shaped shaft above it. Be careful not to get any oil on the friction disc, that's the round rubber wheel you see which drives the wheels. Go fix your Mom lunch. Now back at the machine, start to work the wheels back and forth until everything rotates freely.
Now grease all of these areas with lithium grease, white lithium in an aerosol is fine. Replace the cover and you'll be good to go.

I am so glad to have some information to try again and will get to it this weekend. Thank you for all your help and will let you know what we find...

We tried that and it did not work so we will have to get someone to fix it that knows how to do it.
thank you very much though

Hopefully this will help someone else out.
Two of the gears on the shafts have needle bearings inside. Mine were rusty and frozen up. I had to remove the two shafts after getting the wheels off in order to clean and lubricate the bearings. The drive mechanism works great now!

My wheels just locked up after snow blowing my driveway. I dragged my Sears machine to the shed and put it away for the day. Today I went out to attack the problem. I drained the gas, turned the machine up onto the Auger housing, and removed the bottom panel. When I removed the bottom panel I found the whole area inside was packed with grass and two dead mice. There was also some small stripes of cloth wrapped around the gear on the left side that was causing the wheels to jam in its current position. After removing everything the wheels moved freely and I was back in action. I have no idea how long this stuff was in there, I used the machine a couple of times this winter, so I'm guessing that the cloth didn't make its way to the gears until my last use.

When you put yer machines away for winter storage, just lay, or stuff, some clothes dryer sheets in around the engine cooling covers, and any other place where mice can build a nest. Makes the machines smell really nice, and keeps the critters out of the works. Works fer me! RJ