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I have a John Deere LA 100 mower and I just replaced the head gasket. It sat for a while and now when I put it in gear, it barely moves. More like lunges an inch at a time. Any ideas?

Could be a belt slipping. Did you do anything else to the mower.

hlw49 said:

Could be a belt slipping. Did you do anything else to the mower.

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Just replaced the drive belt as well.

Did you use an OEM Deere belt? some people have issues with Aftermarket belts on deere machinery.

Scrubcadet10 said:

Did you use an OEM Deere belt? some people have issues with Aftermarket belts on deere machinery.
View attachment 58399

Specification
Belt Section	HA
Effective Length	91.913 IN
Width	0.500 IN
Thickness	0.350 IN
Angle	38

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I did. I am thinking that the parking brake might be stuck since I can't get the handle to move.

could be it.

Still can't get the parking brake lever or rod to move. Not sure what's happening. I have sprayed it, hit it with the air chisel, nothing works. The motor is great, not so much the drive assembly. Any more ideas????

That mower should have an external brake which is access by removing the left hand wheel
Clean he area the remove the brake caliper by undoing the bolts at either side. DO NOT TOUCH THE NUT IN THE CENTER
Take a lot of photos because there are small parts like the shim(s) behind one or both pads that can get lost or have their proper place forgotten.
Now tie the rod out of the way, and slide the disc off
Try a test move
Note you will have no way of stopping the mower so be carefull where you point it
Problem solves then clean the brake parts and polish the two small pins
Make sure that the brake rod moves freely when the brake clutch pedal is depressed
It is possible to get the belt run messed up and also possible to have something fouling on the brake rod
Also the return spring that moves the brake pedal back up and tensions the drive belt could have been put back in the wrong place .

Medic151 said:

Still can't get the parking brake lever or rod to move. Not sure what's happening. I have sprayed it, hit it with the air chisel, nothing works. The motor is great, not so much the drive assembly. Any more ideas????

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Follow from the pedal all the way to the brakes and see where it's binding. Was there a tensioner that has to move, when the clutch is pressed? Those have to be a certain way so they can tighten or loosen.
Being that this happened just after replacing the drive belt, I can't see it being anything else.
Make sure the two pulley's on the tensioner spin freely and that they belt is on all the pulley's correctly.<< I don't mean that to sound ugly or mean. Just that we all misstep simple things sometimes.