My blade adjustment lever is stuck in the highest position

With the mower turned off and the deck at its lowest setting, check the top of the deck for any debris like rocks or sticks. Then watch the top of the deck while you move the engage lever. If nothing is moving, you either need to adjust the cable, reattach the cable, or install a new cable. If you see the lever with the pulley on it moving, when the engage lever is locked on, check the tightness of the belt. If it's loose, that is your problem and it could be a stretched belt.

Your lawn tractor will have a lever that raises and lowers the mower deck which houses the two cutting blades. By lowering your mower deck to the desired cutting height, the blades should automatically engage. By raising the deck back to it's highest position, the blades will automatically disengage. Should be simple enough. You can consult your mower manual. If you don't have one, you can easily find it online using the make, model and year of the lawn tractor.

On ALL Deere riding lawn mowers, 1st, position the deck under the tractor. Depending on the belt drive: either PTO (the yellow button on the dash panel), or tension engaged-(a lever on the right side of the operator\'s seat), you loop the drive belt from the front of the deck to the pulley, always in the lower front area of the tractor\'s engine. If it has "beltguards" too close to the pulley, you must loosen the retaining bolt for the guard, it will allow the belt to squeeze by and onto the pulley. Then, 2nd but don\'t forget to retighten after slipping the belt on, push the "Deck heighth" lever fwd to drop the deck "hangars" at the rear of the deck into position to "pin" the eyelets with the supplied pins, washers and keepers: usually a cotter pin or a lynchpin that inserts thru a hole on the smooth bolt-pin. The easy part\'s over, but don\'t panic. 3rd, lift the front of the deck onto a block, allowing a heighth to apply the "adjusting rod" into the front of the mower chassis. Screw the retaining nut onto the threaded (long bolt) and remove the block. You\'re done. Next, and very important, RAISE & LOWER the deck, engage the belt tension, (here you may have to clear the area and start the engine to engage the PTO drive, if it\'s electronically controlled belt-drive), this assures nothing is "misaligned" or improperly positioned. Now, if the machine is on a flat surface, lower the deck to a point just above the ground and measure the distance in four (4) corners of the deck and record the ht. Make the adjustments to LEVEL the deck. Now you\'re ready to start the engine from the operator\'s seat, slightly increase the engine from idle to 1/4 throttle speed so that engaging the drive belt won\'t kill the engine. Ensure the belts run smoothly, the blades turn, and the engine doesn\'t "bog". Lower the deck to a desired cutting ht., now MOW the grass!

If your blades won't engage when you raise the lever to engage them AND that lever moves freely without the normally expected resistance, then you've lost the cotter pin that connects the lever rod to the mower deck assembly. Very easy fix! Using the mower deck raise/lower lever, lower the mower deck to "down" position. Now, lay on your side along the right side of the mower and look up (use a flashlight) under the mower at the top of the mower deck while moving the blade engagement lever "up" (which pushes the connected rod down). At the end of the rod, you will see a hole where the mower deck and rod connect. Align the hole at the end of the rod with the matching "pin" on the mower deck (you'll see it) and insert a new cotter pin to secure them together. Use a nail if you don't have a cotter pin. Voila! you are done. The blade engagement lever will now engage/disengage your mower blades successfully. Just remember that mower deck must be down, or lowered, before you engage the blades!

Place your mower on a hard flat surface ... your garage floor if possible. lift the deck to the transport position. Get a tape measure - two if you can. With the engine OFF and the KEY out of the ignition, and the SPARK PLUG WIREs disconnected, move the blades 90 degrees from the fore aft axis of your tractor. Measure the distance from the floor to the outside tip of the blade. Make the deck level by adjusting the hanger.

Next, move the blades to the fore and aft position and measure again. Adjust fore and aft until the blades are level.

Double check aide to side ...

Double check front to back.

Lower the deck and check again both directions ...

You shuld be able to get your blades to with in one sixteenth of an inch of being level.

Of course, your tires should all be properly inflated BEFORE you start any of this adjustment process.

I hope this helps you ... it is laborous ... but you can do it. I did!

Thanks for your interest in FixYa.com

did you check blade belt and check to see if blade is bent if not you have a broke blade houseing

sounds like you have some bent blades or spindle shafts.If not then the lift bracket on the front of the deck may be bent or the weld broken or cracked.

the lowerer the deck the more your working the mower. either mow more often or reduce speed

When you put it in the highest setting can you see the deck actually moving in an upward direction? If not the linkage might be broken or damaged. When you raise the deck up or down with the lever it should move, a deck setting in the full up position is a pretty high setting you have to have some long grass to be cutting in the full up position and still think its to short. You might be able to reposition the deck, if when you look under the unit you see a bracket that controls the deck height setting that has a number of holes in it(maybe even 2 brackets), there should be a pin(s) in one of the holes this could be set in a low position and therefore you can change position to change height of deck.

Park the tractor on a firm, level surface. . .
At the lower end of the lift/lower travel slot, there should be a plastic cover which you pop up so that your blade lift handle goes all the way down (it should say something about blade level on there somewhere. . . . .
After you have the handle in this position, look at the front lift arms of the mower deck and find the 2 large wing nuts, one on each side. . . . .
Loosen these while the deck is down and then retighten them Your deck is now level and will lift to its highest recommended position when you raise the lever