Mower deck does not always engage

I don’t think or I don’t know for sure if there actually is any dedicated manuals for decks. Routine maintenance like deck leveling, belt changes, etc. are usually in the user manual. What is helpful to have along with the user manual is the IPB illustrated parts breakdown. If you have these most things can be dealt with.

So specifics are important. You’re saying that the mower blades do not engage right away after sitting all winter. I would say there is different levels of severity of this problem. The worst being the type that does the last cut of the season and leaves the mower wherever! Only to deal with sometimes very serious issues later. This owner will be found laying down on the ground trying to figure out why the blade won’t engage. Everything looks pretty good after cleaning all the dead grass probably wet and eating the metal off the deck. But looking good and functioning are 2 different things. When examining it closely, discovers that the springs do not seem to extend and/or retract properly. Must be because rusty grew on it. After lubing various linkage points he’s thinking “I’m just about ready to take a ride”. Ah but NO not yet because he discovers the pulley’s which turn the blades are not moving at all. After all that deck cleaning, lubing laying on the ground wasn’t a complete waste but it would have been much easier with the deck removed since that’s what he needs to do now. After deck removal it’s soon apparent that there is more going on with this pos. And he realizes that he won’t be cutting no grass anytime soon. First he’s got a lot of scraping work to do. Then discovers the parts holding the blades don’t look right. That’s because it’s broke! This is when the 2nd beer turns into the 4th, etc. It will be 2 weeks before he’s cutting his grass with ole Betsy. Hehe