Remove spring from lever. Take off retaining clip. The lever should slide right off! Remove and replace plate. Takes about 20 minutes. I paid about $14 for the lever and plate. My dealer decided he was going to charge a $3 shipping fee for this special order even though the JD parts site made no mention of this and I picked the part up. Argghh. I can't get the spring off the lever. It looks like it should be easy. Does the back wheel have to be off?

I don't know how much snow you get and how often but here in the west at 7000 ft we get snowed on regularly and I tried a blade. Unless your tractor/blade combo offers a way to keep the blade slightly off the ground it will dig into the gravel. Skid shoes don't seem to work well on my gravel driveway as they dig in to the gravel. With a gravity controlled blade the gravel gets chewed up and pushed around. Depending on layout of your driveway and how much snow and how the snow lasts between storms using a blade will "narrow" the driveway everytime you plow. If you have room to get the snow far off to the side that won't be a problem but if you don't have the room and the snow lasts then you might have a problem. After one winter I sold the blade and bought the factory snow thrower for my tractor and that has proved to be worth the investment. This last winter the thrower paid big dividends. If you plan on having your tractor for a while and you get enough snow and can afford it you might consider a snowthrower.

***"Mounted in plastic"*** Unless Deere has included some sort of "ring terminal" to the mounting, there is no need to separate the PTO switch from the plastic mounting panel. You said that the brake switch had been defeated before you acquired this mower and now the wires are taped to the brake pedal. OK, I don't see anything in the diagram where a defect in the brake switch could cause a problem in the operation of the engine that that occurs ONLY when the PTO switch is turned ON. By this I mean that any problem in the brake switch that could affect how the engine runs..........would affect the engine even without pulling the PTO switch to the ON position, so we can move on from that and go to the PTO switch itself. After studying this diagram at length/depth.......I believe the problem (engine wants to die when PTO switch is turned ON) can only be due to a defective PTO switch. And I think it must be because the PTO switch is bleeding some voltage into the magneto kill circuit which then upsets the normal spark making function of the ignition system. The way I see it, there are 3 ways you can test this: Option A, disconnect the wire pigtail from the PTO clutch and connect 2 independent, temporary wires to the clutch, be sure to maintain the correct polarity, Blue wire is the hot side, Black wire is the ground side. With the temporary wires in place, and the engine running, touch the temporary wire for the hot side of clutch to the "Battery hot" post of the starter solenoid (safer than the battery hot on battery). If the PTO clutch engages without affecting how the engine runs...........defective PTO switch. Option B, Disconnect (or cut) the White wire lead that serves the PTO switch (if you choose to cut, make sure you cut so it can be restored). With this white wire out of the equation, start the engine and turn the PTO switch ON. If the engine runs OK now, replace the defective PTO switch. Option C, Replace the PTO switch and hope for success.

personally, I would get a machine that was designed/proven to work well in southern climes while being simple to care for and store in off season, Check out the trusty Snapper 30" Rear Engine Rider - there's still a few left at dealers here and there... 2) diff between sw and lever for deck blade engagement is electrical and mechanical. 1.A magnetic clutch assy is switched on and off via a switch on the console. 2. a lever or handle is used to move a series of other levers/cables/links in such a way as to tighten a belt running from the engine crankshaft to the deck blades pulleys. option #1 is much more expensive, much more convenient and less reliable in general option #2 is less expensive, slightly less convenient and more reliable in general with either option, you can engage/disengage at any in general but -as with any piece of powered outdoor equipment, always check your operator's manual for safety instructions