New Guy having an issue with PTO cable

I'm new to the forum so hey! everyone. I have been struggling with this issue and I'm looking for a little insight/advise/secret sauce... on how to get my mower running right. So the details.. 2006 Troy Bilt Super Bronco, 13AX60TG766. I had a pulley split in half so I decided to replace both of the two middle pulleys cuz they were the same type. While I was disconnecting the mowing deck I did notice the PTO cable was fraying and getting close to snapping. So I added that to the list of never ending replacement parts. So parts came in I double checked to make sure I had the correct parts and even matched the new PTO to the one. All good. I replaced the pulleys and attached the PTO with no issues. I reattached the mowing deck and cranked it up... All good so far... I then attempted to engage the blades and killed the motor. That caught me off guard a bit so I cranked it again and tried to re-engage the blades and killed the engine again. I did notice each time I engaged the blades the lever took the strength of a mule team to get it to go from off to engaged.
Now was a good time to go over my work and triple check everything (this would also include following the belt routing diagram on the mowing deck). I couldn't find anything wrong. I know I forgot something but I'm stumped. Can I get some help with this? Thanks in advance.

Mike

did you make sure after the deck work that all pulley spin easy. I always make sure when replacing the pto cable the pivot point for the blade engagement has a small amount of lubricant at the base.

NorthBama said:

did you make sure after the deck work that all pulley spin easy. I always make sure when replacing the pto cable the pivot point for the blade engagement has a small amount of lubricant at the base.

Click to expand...

That's a very good point... I did not add any grease. If that doesn't do you have a plan "B" recommendation?

Plan B
Check the belt run and in particular that the belt is between the pulleys and their keepers.
Your description sounds exactly what happens when a belt is running on the outside of a belt keeper ( or 2 ) or even a brake pad.
I am not familiar with your exact deck but this is a common problem I come across when customers replace their own deck belts.

The other is belts running the wrong way around the pulleys.
When you have the belt on, pull the spark plug leads or better still both plugs, engage the blades then try turning the blades by hand ( turn the actual blade for better leverage ) .

Bad news, if you have run the belt outside a keeper or outside the brake pads this belt is now ruined.
It will fail is a shorter time than it should so get a second new belt and keep it handy cause as sure as poo aint pretty, the weekend before the mother in law is coming down to inspect the barracks is exactly when it will break.