It took 10 years for my mower to begin having this problem. I have the exact same model that you are showing. Anyone with a little mechanical skill can fix this. Just take several pictures along the way so that you can put it all back together again.
Ariens 42" mower-blades not disengaging- Watched your vid- took 4" grinder and smoothed out worn cavity without having to remove any parts from tractor- good as new now/ Thanks!
Have the same identical 17.5HP Ariens mower, about 10 years old...same problem, although my issue began after I installed a new deck belt. I still have my return spring and do not have as large of a divot in my bracket. I believe my issue is more or less related to the new belt being on the tight side. Those idler pulleys need to be replaced...it's tough to find the correct parts online, took me awhile to pin them down and had to order multiple pulleys before I finally received the correct parts. Also replaced both of the spindles (mandrels). The newer spindles have grease zerks on them which I'm betting prolongs their life, though I didn't have to replace any of the deck parts until last year (deck was 9 yrs old). Edit: in my case it was the belt being too short, but I have noticed some wear on that same bracket. I grease/lube up that area of the bracket so the metal on metal doesn't wear it as quickly.
I have the LT3000 and found that plate had wear on the bottom from contact with the mower deck. Under that plate (at the bolt) is a large but thin washer. I added a large slightly thicker washer to insure it was not riding on the deck. Along with filing out the divot spots, my situation fixed.
I have a craftsman 3000 21 HP rider mower I borrowed 😢 and there is a safety lever that lifts the blades up when you want to reverse and then pull the opposite down when you want to drive. It is a safety thing. Anyways it came disconnected at some point. Can no longer lower. Do you have a video on how to fix or what is happening? I am dressing the call to tell him I broke it
No, the safety interlock switch for the blade engagement works off of the engagement handle. When the engagement handle is in the off position the machine will start.
I have a question, when I shut the blade off they disengage all the way. Until I raise the mower deck up and then it tensions the pulley again and turns, do you think that the new belt was too short?
So I believe I'm having the same issue. I cannot find a part called blade engagement bracket in my parts diagram. I think it is called an idler arm based on the diagram. I am just looking for the correct part number to order. Do you think this is correct?
Put your part number into a online search engine and look up images. The part number should show up the image of the bracket and then you should be able to tell if it’s the correct one.
I have a video on how to repair it and the part number is in the video. It is 0.58 seconds into the video for the part number. Click this link. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TxMZTnqwuBk.html
