Working on another mtd single speed transaxle

[38racing]

This one is a bit older. On a 700 series. 13a3761g500.
Has reverse but jerks in forward . If I try to push forward or back when in reverse it holds , no movement. In forward it only hlds one direction and ot the other. Sorry I stupidly didnote which direction. As I disassembled I noticed slip up/down play on drive shaft. On inspection I found c-clip was above its groove. Hence shaft could go down a bit and of course back up. Clip just seemed too big or sprung open a bit? I replaced with new clip. Play is gone. However I proceeded to open the transaxle up. I found no internal issues. Shift clutch and bevel gears and pinion gear all fine. I'm struggling to believe that bit of play in drive shaft was at fault plus I'm annoyed that I didn't to my push test with the shift lever detached and just manually place the shifer in/out right on the transaxle to make sure original problem was it not being fully engaged in forward. Anyways, it's together with wheels on but not re-installed. If I hold drive pulley it won't move now in any direction in either shift position. I'm going to bolt it back on and test again. There are issues with the drive pulley but not such that only forward would be affected.

[KE4AVB]

Not in one direction usually indicates worn clutch dog and bevel gear in direction affected. Input shaft end play usually cause gear whine.

Not seen much on the three point clutch dog system but they wear just the same but had those multiple tooth ones to give problems. The solution was to install the 618-04079 drive shaft assy. The bevel gears are not compatible with the new drive shaft. See the RH Brake Supplement sheet in the MTD Download Supplement directory. I had scan the sheet to a PDF file for my own future reference.