Point taken.
Was having a bad hair day with a Yard Machine type C deck that has been butchers, buggered, modified & mutilated.
And naturally the model number do not match anything I can find, any one know what a type 9 MTD hood is supposed to look like ?
The owner loaned to to the mother in law who had the fuel lines replaced with neoprene tubing and was using E 10.
So if I am not my usual helpful happy self, apologies , Ignorant Idiot moron was for some reason sitting on top of the brain, most of the day.
SO yes it is possible to bend one out of shape and no they do not stretch in service.
And yes I make my fair share of mistakes.
So Turtletom if you have bent it taking it off, yes they can be bent. but it ain't easy and no offense intended.
However the rest was good.
The most common problem is the front anchor plate being bent backwards , some still low shrub branches will do the job.
next is one of the springs missing closely followed by the ends of the springs being badly bent out of shape, usually stretching the spring a bit in the process.
Now more to he point,
What is the mower doing to make you think the link is stretched ?