[sirmummy43]

Thanks for the replies;
I have the deck off, but have the idler cable attached. I agree there is something going on with the cable. I could eat tomorrow's breakfast off the deck; it is that clean, no crud blocking anything. With the belt off I can push the idler pulley by hand to where it almost touches the fixed pulley with no obstructions in it's swing. With the cable/spring hooked on the idler arm, I engage the PTO lever all the way down and locked and the pulley swings towards the fixed pulley but there is still about 1" of cable wire exposed at the containment bracket. At this point I can still push the idler another inch or so towards the fixed pulley even though the lever is all of the way down and locked. If I remove the spring from the idler pulley arm and push the lever down and locked (with no load) the entire cable wire is drawn into the cable sleeve; no 1" of wire shows.
Is there any kind of adjustment I can make that will tighten up the cable between the attachment to the engagement lever and the attachment to the idler arm? I'm starting to think ironman is on the right track, that the cable has stretched to the point that the return spring is overpowering the engagement spring. There is a little slack in the engagement arm at the top of it's retracted position. Sorry, I'm having a hard time describing what I'm looking at. Other thoughts?
Mike