Well, there is that question of whether or not you have the proper spring. There are many to choose from. Did you have the old one to match up? Any question that the spring is hooked up in the proper places? It goes from the tension arm then to the frame rail or some have a extra nutted bolt it hooks to rather than directly in the frame. If it drove fine w/ the temporary set up you had, it would indicate that the rest is Ok. In theory if it is hooked up properly, the VS pulley sticking is the next likely cause. Try running the pedal through the motions whilst still in neutral first, then with it in gear.

If the battery is more than 3 years old--buy a new one! Then, clean up all of the connections, such as ends of battery cables, and especially the ground wire where it bolts to ground, i.e.tractor frame, or body of tractor. Use new bolts, nuts, and lock washers to connect the new battery! This will make sure you have a good electrical connection in the starting circuit! there is also, usually, a fuse in the line somewhere. It will be one of those new style flat fuses, and easy to find. See if it has blown. You'll be able to tell easily. The little curved piece of metal in it should look to be in one piece. If it has blown, there will be a gap in it, and a burnt look. Also, the bolted connections to the starter solenoid are known to get corroded and cut off current to the starter solenoid! And, any battery cables with a green powder coming out of the covering are ripe for replacement. The seat switch wires should be connected, to avoid hurting anybody who might manage to tamper with the mower if you aren't on it! Especially little kids!

The Styleline was totaled so he bought a brand new 1957 turquoise and white Chevy to replace it. * That was a great car. -Deerslayer ================ * He should have kept it. 57 Chevys are worth a mint. The most valuable cars I've ever owned are the ones I didn't keep. When I was in high school a guy I went to school with bought a brand new green and white 1957 Chevy Bel Air hard top. He still has it in mint condition just like new. He is a collector of 57 Chevys. Last I heard he had 7 or 8 of them including a convertible or two.

Well, that is definitely a "grounding switch" for some kind of interlock. I'm not 100% convinced that it is a neutral switch at this point because the switch does not appear to be bent out of its intended shape. The shape it has does not look like it could be influenced by the F&R lever. What kind of PTO is used to drive the deck? Is it an electric clutch? or is it a manual lever? If it is a manual lever type, look closely at how the linkage moves when you move the deck engagement into and out of engagement to see if there is a rod or lever involved in that which can operate the spring arm of the switch. If this was intended to inhibit the starter from engaging when the deck is engaged, it would have required either a relay in the starter solenoid control circuit, or it would have required the starter solenoid have 2 small control posts instead of just one. It is possible that a solenoid having only 1 small post was used as a replacement for the original starter solenoid, which would defeat the interlock design and allow the starter to engage whether the deck was engaged or not so long as the clutch pedal was pushed down. Look around under the hood, behind dash, or wherever some electrical components and wires converge or meet. See if there is any kind of relay (similar to the standard Bosch 5 blade relay you find in everything these days) and if you do find a relay, does it have a "yellow with black tracer stripe" wire going to it? And look at the starter solenoid, if it has just 1 small post, look around there to see if there is an unused wire end that may have at one time been conected to a "4 post" solenoid.