My Lawn Mower Deck Belt Won’t Engage

There are 2 types of engagement methods on a riding lawn mower. One is a manual lever and the other is a PTO or Power Take Off.

Depending on which one you have, they are completely different methods to engage your lawn mower blades.

The manual lever uses mechanical action to move a cable that is connected to a lever on the deck. This cable can break, bind or freeze up if it becomes rusted. The lever on the deck can also become stuck and not allow the deck belt to move to its taught position.

The PTO is an electrically activated device. You pull the knob and it provides power to the PTO assembly that is located at the bottom of the crankshaft. All of the safety devices must be in their proper positions for it to operate. For example, the operator must be seated, the mower must be in neutral or a forward gear. When the conditions are correct, the PTO engages a large magnet and then the belt will begin to spin the deck belt.

If either of these two systems are not working properly, contact a lawn mower repair technician in your area on our Locations page.

When I Turn on The Lawn Mower Blades Nothing Happens

On a riding lawn mower, you normally either pull on a knob to engage the blades or you pull or push a lever to get them to operate.

Let’s start with the knob type first. It is a PTO switch and its function is to engage the lawn mower blades and then disengage them. It is wired into several safety switches to prevent it from operating unless the conditions of those switches is met. You can test the switch in most cases by sitting in the seat, turning the key to the on position and pulling up on the knob. you should hear a metallic clicking sound indicating the PTO clutch is working. Check the belt as well to be sure it is in working order.

If you do not hear this, one of the safety switches could be bad or the associated wiring, a blown fuse or the PTO switch or PTO clutch is bad.

If you have a lever type blade engagement, make sure that it is not binding, the cable is not broken or the belt is not off the pulley or broken.

Those are pretty common problems with lawn mower blades not working. If you need a lawn mower repair professional in your area, visit our locations page.