I just pulled my John Deere out to do my first cut of the season and when I flip the blade handle up the flywheel under the engine turns, but the belts above the mowing deck don't tighten to spin the blades. I thought maybe there were grass clippings or something stopping them from moving into place so I cleaned the deck and made sure there was nothing under the deck stopping the blades. Can someone please tell me what the issue may be? I sprayed the top of the deck off to make sure that it is completely debris free and noticed that there is a lot of play in the cable that leads from the lever that activates the blade also.

I am really in need here and since my wife got sick I work two jobs and won't have anymore time off for a while and my grass is about 7 inches long now.

I am not that familiar with riding mowers, but am relatively handy w/walk behinds etc and minor auto repair. Also if there is an online diagram that will help I would appreciate an address on that.

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks