2165 HDS PTO trouble

[Llamafarmer85]

Hello! I was wondering if you know anything about Cub Cadet 2165 HDS lawn tractors? I have one with about 380 hrs on it. I was starting my weekly mowing and it began putting out black smoke and soon the power began going down as well. I stopped and started the mower and soon the running the deck began to "kill" the mower. I was able to limp it back to my garage. I cleaned out the carburetor and clean the spark plugs. This solved the black smoke issue and the rough running issue. But when I went to restart mowing. When I engaged the deck I heard a high pitched squeal and the mower died almost instantly. I opened the hood and started up the mower again. Watched while I tried to engage the deck and the belt didn't move and it did the same thing again. Is this a sign my PTO has gone out? I'm at a loss now as to what it could be. I would appreciate any suggestions you might have.

 

[dross]

You might want to check that all spindles turn freely on the mower deck, or that there might be something stuck around the blades that keep them from turning. After that I would check the PTO.