Ariens 46" 20 hp riding mower with auto trans. problems.

Well, purchased a new Ariens 46" 20 hp riding mower back which was manufactured in march of 2015 and bought in the late summer of 2015. Mower has auto transmission. Cut fine in 2015, put it away for the winter and left it in neutral. Few days ago went to get it going and it started up and ran fine, but had a little trouble getting the mower in 'gear'. This mower has what they call a free wheel control lever, it allows the transmission to be put in neutral to push or put in gear to operate and move. I got the mower back in gear by reaching underneath where the lever is attached to the transmission and moved it manually. Lubed up the area, now goes in and out of gear like it use to.

Problem is, the mower wont move now ether direction, but motor and blades operate fine as well as getting in and out of neutral. The mower utilizes a pedal to move forward or back. Things I have noticed and worth mentioning.

1. area has been cleaned of all grass clippings.
2. pedal lever seems to operate on the transmission just fine. nothing binding etc.
3 free wheel lever ( long stiff metal bar ) operates freely with some resistance ( I believe as it should)
4. this mower has a cut in reverse feature that in order to use, the ignition key is turned to a particular position. this still works, if I push the pedal without the key being in the correct position, the motor will cut out. ( like it is suppose to.)
5. everything seems to operate, except the pedals allowing the mower to move.

Any help would be appreciated.

Ariens 46" 20 hp riding mower with auto trans. problems.