"Craftsman 17.5hp 42" LT1000 Lawn Tractor. I changed the deck belt and the first time I used it the blades engaged fine. The second time I cut the grass, it took about 30 seconds for the blades to engage. Now the blades will not engage at all. I checked to see if any springs or parts were missing or bad. I do not see any. The cable moves the pulley and puts it in the engage position, but nothing happens. Also the new belt seems to loose to me. I don't know if it is suppose to be that way or not. I bought the right belt from Sears."

rj, August 2013

I've had this problem on a number of Craftsman machines. The 'right' way to fix it is to move the entire deck back on it's mounts. It's been a while, and I can't remember if there's any 'official' adjustment. There's no way to adjust the cable, but a 'quick' fix is to disconnect the cable at the lever end and physically tie a knot in it. This makes it about 1" shorter, which is enough.

Phil Saunders, August 2013