I'm stumped on this and hoping for some help. My mower suddenly decided one morning that the drive didn't want to engage. It had been running fine and started as normal but after releasing the brake pressing the pedal to move forward/reverse had no effect. I dropped the deck and started to check out the linkage and I found a spring that one end had broken off. I also noticed that the parking brake has no tension, and that the idler pulley isn't moving into position to take up the slack on the drive belt which is likely why the mower isn't moving.
I identified the broken extension spring as part 165X98MA from the parts diagram and received the replacement yesterday. It matches the broken part exactly.
The problem is, I cannot for the life of me figure out where to attach the "short" end to. The parts diagram only shows one connection for the spring, and that's the longer unbroken side which is inserted into the idler pulley bracket. From looking at the limited options of where I could connect the spring to given how I found it, I just don't see anything that would put the right amount of tension on the pulley assembly to keep it in place while the drive was engage.
Hopefully I've put enough detail in here to make sense. Any advice would be appreciated.
Haven’t worked on one of those in many years. Look for a hole or post with a wear mark which will be at least one to two inches away from the length of the spring. When installed the spring will be stretched.
