Question
I have a mtd 12.5hp 38' cut riding lawn mower 1994 model sold by Lowes[home repair store].I have been 2 lowes and mtd home pages and i can't find illustrated repair manuals mtd has a close one but it does come close 2 a good repair manual.I suppose it would not help their industry 2 be that helpful.I once found a site that had one but,I can't remember what site it was and I 'm at wits end trying 2 find it again.Please help if you can I'm specificaly looking for how to replace belts. Thank you 4 your time. Ed Marshall  

Answer
Ed, it looks like you're in luck.  Send a note to [email protected] and tell him you were asking about this manual.  He is checking to make sure he has the manual - it is up for auction on Ebay for a very reasonable price, but maybe he will sell it to you individually.  The one on eBay is a series of several.

Good luck, my friend. Let me know how it goes.

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The Motorbook Store (http://www.themotorbookstore.com/ridlawmowser.html) posts a pre-1991 manual that may solve your problem even though your Modern Tool & Die "MTD" model is a little newer. That particular manual lists belt replacement in its list of contents.  It is worth looking into, as is another page at Motorbook (http://www.themotorbookstore.com/smallengine.html) on small engine repair manuals for lawnmowers and other machinery.

But if you can be just a little patient, I GUARANTEE this manual will be up on eBay at some point.  You would not believe some of the things you can get on that website.  Most of the Sellers are legit and the things they carry on their "eBay store" or put up for auction are incredible.  Somewhere out there, I bet there are 25-50 of the exact manuals you are looking for.  And one of them is going to go up on ebay for auction.  Just keep checking.

Type in the Search Box: MTD repair OR MTD manual.  Then go through what you find.

Don't type "1994" in because you may miss a manual for that year just because the seller didn't include that in the description, or maybe he included "'94" or "1993-94" etc.  

I emailed one seller with an undated MTD manual to see what year he is selling, but it looks pretty new, not like it's been sitting around in the garage for 10 years.  I'll let you know if I get some good results.

Another option here is Jack's Small Engines website (http://www.jackssmallengines.com/sales.cfm).  Jack's sells replacement parts for the diy crowd and they carry parts for MTD mowers.  If you contact them, I would not be surprised if they could sell you not only a manual, but just the right belts, too.

Let me know how things go and I'll keep my eyes peeled for you.