Suzy, I don't have to wait until sixty to suffer for that quirk... I've been in and out of physical therapy because my shoulder sockets are so loose that my doctor could put his finger in the socket while the shoulder is also there. Turns out being a "loose (jointed) woman" isn't much fun at all! Jan, I am on Steve's computer while he's in the shower. We're in DC on that very somber trip right now. We went out for dinner last night, and without explaining why, I told him he couldn't probably even skip any more and he showed me by skipping through the parking deck to the car. He turned around and defiantly said "Ha! I can too skip!" And we both had a good laugh... though I never got around to explaining this thread to him. So if any other GP'ers were in DC last night and saw the crazed, grown-a$$ man skipping past you with an "I-told-you-so" attitude: that's the deal!

Suggest posting the brand and model number of the tractor. If it is a Craftsman, we need the full technical model number (begins with 917. followed by 6 digits). With a full model number, we might get a free Owners Manual online. This number may be found under, or near, the seat. If the problem only appeared after you used "free wheel" mode, the pump & motor in the transmission probably swallowed some air in the process of moving, this air needs to be purged or "burped" out.

***My husband has two business degrees. When he got out of college, he worked in management for a large corporation. What does he do now? He is a truck driver. Why? The money is good and there is a LOT less BS involved.*** My bro's college pal makes $50K a year and drives all over the country and is only home two days a week. My cousin who just got his CDL and is making $35,000 a year living in NYC and is working locally. His friend (operator of truck company) makes $100K a year but he also has to make payment to his $100,000 truck, pay his own insurance, his own fuel, etc. I agree that the national average for truck trucking is shabby, not to mention time away from home and the stress dealing w/ safety on the roads and the hazards. If you get several tickets, you get suspended so I am not sure how that is not stressful. You have to be alert all the time and deal with the BS on the roads. I drive 14 miles to and from work and I can fully understand why road rages occur. People drive like idiots!

**Did the '61 Ford get 30 miles per gallon, start easily and be instantly ready to drive smoothly in sub zero weather, and protect you with advanced safety systems in a high speed collision? Some have different ideas of progress than others.** Your talking about technology. Iggie's talking about serviceability. IMO, there is no reason other than cost and ease of assembly at the time of construction for manufactures to bundle required components together and bury them where it takes a day's labor to get at them. In this example, they could have mounted the electric fuel pump anywhere. Why put it in the gas tank strapped to the underside of the car, access cover sandwiched between the car body and the tank? They could often times at least put an access panel through the car body so one could get to it without tearing the whole car apart. What it would take to replace it wasn't a consideration of the design team. One of my pet peeves is heater cores. They often times put that thing right against the fire wall on the inside of the car. Then pile layers of crap, the duct work, evaporator, the computer module, wiring, air bags, steering column, and dash in front of it. They could put an access panel on the firewall or inside the ac housing so one could get to it from the outside. Sometimes they do. Most of the time they don't. One way costs $60 for the part and an hours labor (20 minutes actual repair time) tops to replace. The other way is $60 for the part and a days labor. As long as the product makes it out of the warranty period which is a fraction of the life of the car, the manufacturer could care less how expensive it is to repair. GM opti-spark is a good example. Pretty much your basic electronic ignition system, only mount the distributor in front of the engine under the water pump which is under the ac compressor and air pump. Water pump fails, it takes the distributer with it. Need to replace the plug wires, cap or rotor there's a day's labor. Need to replace a $2 rotor up there you might as well replace it all since you're already paying for a days labor just replacing any one thing. Engine sure LOOKS cool though, and it's loaded with all that marvelous technology. Costs $1000 every time you need a tune up, but it does get 5 mpg more than the old school engine did. Guess that's all that matters.