deck lever hard to push and idler pulley not engag

[Coolbreeze]

Hi

I have a craftsman riding mower with a kholer engine. Model 917.272056 my lever to engage the blades is hard to push and the idler pulley does not engage. When I push the lever its pretty tough. I can put it all the way up to its position where its held but the pulley that engages the blades and belt barely moves. The pulley tries to engage but looks like its stuck. I tried lubricating under the pulley being careful not to get some on the belt. I can somewhat push it back and forth by hand but still feels tough. When I push the lever up I feel its stretching the cable. Its tough to push but not where it could easily snap it. Is the pulley tighten too much. It does spin freely. What should i do? Thank you plz help

 

[sciphi]

Sounds like the cable is binding up somewhere. I'd give both ends of it a few squirts of a penetrating oil like PB Blaster.

 

[Donald]

Being a 917 its made by Husqvarna. With the engine off, rotate all the pulleys involved by hand and see if any are binding. I would assume any bearings are sealed unless there is a zerk. Probably not going to help much by trying to apply grease on the outside of the bearing.

If something is binding I would replace it. You can get the parts at a Husqvarna dealer if thats convenient. The shipping when ordering parts from Sears is high. Or partstree.com/

 

[bubbatime]

Take the deck off. Super easy, only takes a few minutes. Than you can get a good look and can work the pulleys on the deck and see what is binding. Should be a pretty simple fix.

 

[Dallas69]

Check under the deck with engine off for grass build up.
Once the grass dries out it is like concrete and a piece can break off and fall down on top of the blade and bind it up.
This happened to my mom's mower.

 

[Coolbreeze]

I just recently installed it on. I had took it out for the spring cleaned it up and painted it. When engage the lever you can see the spring grabbing the pulley but not enough. Kinda pulling it from its head but the bottom won't budge.
Thanks for the replys

 

[Coolbreeze]

I just recently installed it on. I had took it out for the spring cleaned it up and painted it. When engage the lever you can see the spring grabbing the pulley but not enough. Kinda pulling it from its head but the bottom won't budge.
Thanks for the replys

 

[Coolbreeze]

I just recently installed it on. I had took it out for the spring cleaned it up and painted it. When engage the lever you can see the spring grabbing the pulley but not enough. Kinda pulling it from its head but the bottom won't budge.
Thanks for the replys

 

[JTK]

You can say that again... (kidding)

Are you 100% sure the deck is installed correctly given you just took it off? Did the blade engage work prior to removing/replacing the deck?

One thing that I recommend to anyone with a typical riding mower is, avoid letting the deck ride on the ground when you mow/drive. Always keep the deck and gauge wheels set so the deck 'hangs' and the gauge wheels only contact the ground on high/uneven spots.

Letting the deck bounce around and beat itself up bends and breaks the linkages, etc.

 

[Coolbreeze]

Yes I'm sure it is installed the correct way and it engaged fine before this happened. That's is very true, I never mower with the lowest level. I usually go cut with my deck at the level 2 or 3. Any suggestions on why the pulley would be getting grabbed on top instead of the whole thing be moved. Should I replace it or investigate further.

Thanks