Repairs blades not engaging.

bugnutz

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lol. Well. I touched it, so it broke. Finally got new blades put on it, and another new belt, and got three passes around the house and the blades stopped engaging. The engagement lever was really difficult to operate this time, but when they stopped engaging, it was easier to operate the lever. The belt seems loose, and one of the blades is much more difficult to turn manually than the other. That one seems to be scraping the deck. :-/ Is it supposed to turn freely when the mower is off?

So what havoc has my magic touch wreaked this time, do you think?

MTD Yard Man, 42" lawn tractor.
Model: 13AX615G055
Serial: 1C048H20457

I would be thrilled to death if someone could hook me up with the service manual. The operator manual doesn't give me enough information, and the parts diagrams that I was able to find also don't seem to be a perfect match. And... I am not finding a whole lot of love in the youtubes, either.

IMAG1761.jpg
 

ILENGINE

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I suspect the deck engagement cable is broke. Look under at cable and see if came loose there or at the engagement end. Most break the bend off the spring, or the Z at the engagement lever end. The scraping noise is most likely the spindle brake engaged which will make it turn hard.
 

bugnutz

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I suspect the deck engagement cable is broke. Look under at cable and see if came loose there or at the engagement end. Most break the bend off the spring, or the Z at the engagement lever end. The scraping noise is most likely the spindle brake engaged which will make it turn hard.

k. I will go check that cable more carefully again, thanks. I looked at it initially, before I posted my question and the cable itself didn't seem to be broken, but I had had some difficulty putting one of the support brackets back on just before this happened. And one of the springs on that cable doesn't look quite right, but I don't remember what it looked like before. I have wondered somewhat if I routed the cable incorrectly when I put it back on? Kicking myself now for not taking pictures of it as I was taking it apart. That helps me remember how things go back together, when I actually do it. But I looked at this thing and thought "it's only 2 bolts, how hard can it be?" Uh huh. You know it took me half a day to figure out where I removed those 2 bolts from the week before? There was more than one possibility with perfectly aligned holes lol. Of course, I didn't see those BEFORE I took the cable off...

Also I almost forgot until you said "spindle break"...my friend who helped me change the blades (because he had an impact wrench and I do not) told me also that I should be "thinking about" replacing one of the spindles. He said it "should be ok for a while" but it had a little bit of wiggle and would need to be replaced "before the next season". Is it possible that he overestimated it's life expectancy?

I'm just trying to understand, so I can shop for all the correct parts.

Thanks again for your response!
 

bugnutz

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FFS. :laughing: I swear this thing is the bane of two of my existences lol.

Well now I know what the spindle brake is, because it made sense when I saw it. When I was looking at the cable. When I discovered that down there by the spindle brake, under the shield where I didn't see it previously, the belt had come off the pulley there and gotten itself lodged under the spindle brake. At first I couldn't figure out HOW the heck it even got under there, until I learned the movement of that brake mechanism. Handle to engaged position allowed me to release the belt. The belt is probably toast, I guess, but I am going to go try to run it anyway.
 
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