LT1000 42 inch deck engagement lever cannot engage

[joea99]

Older Lt1000 with 42 inch deck and manual lever to engage blade drive. Short story is, after sitting for some time and getting it running again, cannot force the lever to engage the deck drive.

Removed deck to check things. The brake levers, etc. seem to operate normally, by hand. I replaced the belts as it was cracked, and one idler pulley as it had a rough bearing and the blades. Re-installed deck and tried again. No joy.

Decided to "show it who's boss" and it showed me. While waiting for a new cable to arrive, thought I would ask here as to what I should look for, this time.

Longer story is, I don't need this mower as I have an older Deere 240 that I now use and figured I'd sell this one to some needy soul. I advertised it and got some interest, so went to start it and give it a once over. Of course it would not start, so I dropped the ad.

Turns it it had no spark. Replaced the magneto and had a blue arc. At the plug. Still no start except on starter fluid. Got an Amazon wonder carb (Ebay actually) and got it running. Figured to mow a little (and raise the asking price . . . ) and found I could not engaged the drive lever, it simply refused to go up far enough to even hint at latching in position.

Clearly I have not yet learned my lesson and want to get it going, rather than scrap it or part out. Suggestions as to what to look at on the deck?

 

[Cusser]

I've got a LT1000 2005 model.

There's an idler pulley (145) in a bracket which rides a slot on the deck, gets pulled by the manual cable that attaches to the lever. Dirt gets into the channel for the pulley, and must be cleaned out periodically, maybe lubed with a stick lubricant such as Door Ease. There's also a spring (148) involved.

 

[Studley]

I play with riding mowers as a retirement hobby, not as a business
Over the last 2 months I have had 3 Craftsman riders with 42" decks with the same problem.
( Manual blade engagement is same as the above pictured one.)

To engage blades I have to use both hands on the lever and it still won't go into the slot
I've put new belts ( 95-1/2 x 1/2 ) 144595 on all 3 along with new cables.
Deck was removed & inspected. put new pivot arm ( NUMBER 55 IN THE ABOVE PIC ) on one & made no difference
Cleaned & anti-siezed all parts
I made sure cable routing was installed correctly and not binding

I've read here about belt sizes being off, and other things that might cause the problem, but the problem persists.
The only thing I can figure is the belt being too short, but not 3 of them from different makers.
ANY input would be greatly appreciated

 

[joea99]

Recently had similar issues. At the end here I will show a way to measure belt length.

A first question is, did this start "out of the blue", maybe after sitting for a season or two or after changing something else?

I replaced the pivot plate (55) as you did and also the two "brake arms" (53). Those can rust and bind as well.

After doing that, it was very easy to engage the clutch, but I found the blades spun right after starting the engine with the clutch disengaged. That's when I thought the belts were too short as I had replace it and tossed the old one. Turns out I was wrong. After measuring the belts and seeing they were all the same length, I decided to adjust the front link arms "shorter" to move the deck forward and "shorten" the belt path. Now it works fine. I guess it is always possible I had the belt misrouted in some way, but, water over the dam now.

To check the belt length, a quick and dirty an pretty accurate way is to find a flat surface around 100 inches long.
Make a mark on the v side of the belt. Or wrap some tape and mark on that.
Lay the belt outside edge flat on the flat surface and make a mark to match the belt mark. Carefully toll the belt along the flat surface till you come back around to the mark and mark on the table surface. Measure between the marks. Both of my new belts measured 94 1/4 or so. Too short, I thought. But seems to be working fine.

With new belts, the Kevlar belt is noticeably harder to engage than the polyester belt, even though they are exactly the same length, as measured above.

 

[dawgn86]

is there an adjustment bracket mounted on the deck where the cable ( part 152 ) attaches?

 

[joea99]

is there an adjustment bracket mounted on the deck where the cable ( part 152 ) attaches?

No. Just snaps in.

 

[Studley]

The mowers I'm talking about are like the ones Joea99 has
No adjust, they just snap in place, on the bracket that has the anti-sway bar attached Part #4

 

[bertsmobile1]

You can get a lot of wear in the brake arms to the point that they jam when there is a load on them but not when the deck is there between your knees
Their pivot points can also wear oval and that again can jam up the mechanism when there is weight on it
Also part 185 the actual lever can wear on it's pivot point so it moves freely till there is weight on it .
On some of them the brake arms can also be put on wrong