Hogan - your machine has safety interlocks that are designed to shut off the PTO automatically if the tractor is moved in reverse... and there is no override feature on that machine. Also, your foot pedal that controls forward/reverse motion is like a rocker - and if you even MOMENTARILY rock that pedal back into it's reverse function (or if it bounces into same when you quickly pull your foot off), the PTO will cut off... and you will have to push in and re-pull out the PTO switch to get the deck blades going again. Try paying attention to how you are treating that foot pedal while operating the tractor and see if it helps. As to defeating that safety feature, I for one will not provide any advice/instructions on how to do so. This is a public forum and there are too many legal sharks about, imho.

followup.... Put two new drive belts on, took the rear transaxle apart to see if there were any broken gears. Gears and everything looked good. Put everything back together and tried it out. Went up a paved road with about a 15 degree hill. I had it one speed one, no foot on the pedal and could smell something that smelled like a clutch burning. got to the top of the hill and on the way down had it on speed one. Got about 1/3rd the way down and lightly touched the pedal. It started to slip once again into what "feels" like neutral then as I continue to push the pedal I stopped but not until it was all the way pushed. When I let the pedal out it wouldn't move. I had to play with the forward/reverse to get it to move and after a few feet it started to slow again. had to play around like this until I got on flat ground then it seemed to work fine yet again. Getting frustrated. So I have new belts, all springs intact, brake cleaned, no gears broke in the transaxle. Could this be a transmission problem?

So far as I know, there are no band/clutch adjustments accessible from outside this transmission. Apparently, you have the 3.0 L, V6, Mitisubishi engine with Chrysler's A604 4 speed transaxle. I once had the same engine and tranny in a Dodge Dynasty. I have the shop manuals for this car. The only external adjustment mentioned is the one for the shifter cable and links. 1989 was the first year for this tranny and it proved troublesome for serveral owners. The concept was good, but the execution was lacking. This tranny was designed with with long stroke hydraulic actuators (compared to the comventional automatic tranny). These actuators were controlled by servo-valves that were operated by electronics. Since these valve were pulse width modulated, they could make a raspy, buzzing sound which was normal but generated concerns by owners. The valve box was loaded with sound deadners to reduce the problem, but the valves were still audible. My experience with my transmision was that when the clutch facings wore down to the point where the actuators run out of stroke, it is replace/ rebuild time. Since the timing of actuator operation is constantly monitored and adjusted, the driver does not get a clue that his tranny is nearing its end until a few miles before comlete failure, in my case, it was about 100 miles from first glitch to failure. My '89 tranny lasted about 80,000 miles which included considerable commuting; I had a '92 that went over 110,000 miles.

Thanks Tom. OK, I got my new lift and raised it up where I could see. It kind of looks like part of the clutch spun a little, or it may have been the way the wire was originally routed. It went behind the locator and around it, then doubled back to the plug for it. Which doesn't look right to me. I marked where the wire was and spliced it again. I tried it for about 5 minutes in the garage. When the rain stops I will try mulching my leaves again. I have a feeling I will be buying a new clutch. I only have 350 hours on this 3 year old lemon! I have had to replace 2 of the blade spindles, all of the safety switches, put tubes in all 4 tires, and replace the sway bar on the deck!