a front wheel drive transmission
check your linkage follow it fron the fire wall to the tranny and if it is all in tacked check your fluid level when the car is running and in neutral i just went through this it could be the front pump shaft they break off My torque converter mounting flanges sheared off -- defective torque converter as the vehicle only had 62k miles of easy driving and proper transmission maintenance (fluid and filter changes). This was on a 1995 Taurus -- AODE transaxle. Cost me just under $800 to have the stealership replace same. My bad on the above response; the center tube, which is sleeved in order to receive the transaxle first gear motion shaft, had sheared at the welds to the torque converter body. Not a pretty site. Stealership said that he has seen a number of there. Note: Ford changed suppliers at least once on these torque converters for the AODE transxle.
With lots of time and patience. This may not be the easy way or only way but here is what I did: 1. remove mower deck 2. placed jack stands under each of the 4 corners of the mower 3. removed side fenders 4. removed wheels 5. removed transaxle sub-assembly 6. removed engine to jack-shaft belt 7. removed electric PTO clutch 8. removed transaxle drive belt tension spring 9. removed and replaced transmission drive belt 10. replaced electric PTO clutch 11. replaced engine to jack shaft belt (after all this work I replaced all 3 belts) 12. reinstalled transxle sub-assembly, wheels, fenders and mower deck. DONE, purrs like a kitten.