My 129 had lived a really brutal life before I got it, lots of stuf could getf had been cobbled up to keep it mowing, Dad found out the prior owner ran a lawn service mowing quite a few lawns every day. Sure, wouldn't EVERYBODY use a 20 year old Cub Cadet if you were going to mow 6, maybe 8, or 12 lawns everyday! He ground a slot in the footrest and bolted a bar about 1/4" thk, maybe 3/8" that fit into slot to hold the deck up, and a short bar welded to the first one to hold the first bar off the footrest to lower the deck. I ordered all the guts for the lift lever my dealer could get, but the center rod was NLA, so I bought some steel rod and made one, I've got a crude print or dimensioned drawing of it. You could not tell it was home made!