KEITH Duvall - re: NF lift lever button replacement. I went thru this about 7-8 yrs ago with my 72. If your talking about the top button, yes, it screws onto the rod inside the lift lever. But because of the hard life many of these CC's have led when someone removed the top nob I suspect the rod twisted off. The rod itself is "NLA" and for good reason. If you try installing it from the "bottom" the rockshaft gets in the way, bending the rod and making the latch so it won't work. You have to install the rod from "above" then heat & bend the rod to engage the quadrant at the bottom.
The little "float button" is simply pressed into the hole on the frt of the lift lever.
I know when I was working on my 72's lift lever all the small parts, the spring, washers, float button, top button were all still available at my local dealer. Not sure about now since many NF parts have gone "NLA. I suspect our sponsors above would have them if anybody would. Only thing I couldn't get was the long rod, which I bought the steel, 5/16" round rod from a loal hardware store and cut threads on for the top button, installed then bent.
QUESTION - Can a 7 HP CC even run a mower deck AND pull itself in 3rd gear?
I suspect it could if the creeper was in low range, that's about 1-3/4 MPH right?
And it may cut SOME foot tall grass/weeds, a strip about six inches wide... Another thing it would have in it's favor would be about all the mower would do is knock the weeds down, not actually cut them...