I have ordered a new pto spring cable. Will see if that does the job.
Check everything
When I took over the service run all sorts of "interesting" repairs by the previous owner became apparent.
He worked like a night shift factory fitter so it was a case o making it run now with whatever is on hand.
One such "interesting" fix was a 42" Craftsman where he had fitted smaller spindle pulleys & larger idlers to sort of compensate for it .
Thus the blades were spinning around 4500 rpm in place of 3000 rpm and it would pick up rocks and toss then clear across the neighbours yard into their neighbours yard .
It would go through blades at an alarming rate , ate spindle bearings for breakfast and followed by deck belts for afternoon tea .
And of course the belt sizes that worked were nothing like the factory specification.
Being new to mower repairs it took me 3 years to sort this one out .