Hand Throttle Lever Stuck

Just purchased a one owner, 1999 L3010 with 495 hours. Great tractor... barn kept and actually looks brand spanking new. The previous owner always used the foot throttle and says he never really remembers adjusting the hand throttle even once.

I try to move the lever and it feels really tight like it's jammed, but it does move slightly. I don't want to break anything in there and before I remove covers to look for obvious issues, I was wondering if anyone here knows of issues or if the lack of movement over it's life has caused it to become stuck and just needs to be worked so it can loosen up?

Any help will be great...

Thanks.

Thanks, guys. I will not snatch on it, I do have to hold the rod (where it bends) with one hand and pull the handle with the other just to get it to move. It is just too tight to pull on and make it move. It acts like it wants to bend when I just pull on it...

Someone, another Kubota owner, told me, on the bottom of the lever where it bolts to the bracket underneath the dash, are two nuts, one to tighten the lever against a spring type adjustment apparatus and the second nut to lock the first nut in place. ???-Is there any truth to this?

I think I will remove dash to gain access to the linkage behind there to see if there is any noticeable and/or obvious problems. I think it's like you said, it's tight by design, and not using it at all in 500 hours just makes it, a, not broken in part.

The previous owner thought it was Hydrostatic, he said that he only use the foot pedal for his throttle and that's what you do with hydrostatic. He's not thinking, he had to put it into forward/reverse before the "foot pedal" would work. LOL I think he got in over his head when he bought an L3010 tractor just to pull a rotary finish mower just to cut two acres of grass. He now has a zero turn and that may also be out of his league.

Thanks, again for the help.

-Mike

Country Friends Farm

Thank you, North Idaho Wolfman, for the diagram. This will be done today. Headed to the shop now...

Mike

Update:

I removed the cover just below the steering column, (three screws) and located behind it, was the bottom end of the throttle lever linkage rod. I loosened the two nuts and sprayed the entire joint with lithium grease and wiped off any extra that remained, as to not attract too much dirt. I put everything back to the spot in which it was, as close as I could. I worked the lever for about three minutes and it is smooth, but firm, and moves easily with one hand.

Thanks, to all that opined in this thread. A few minutes help from you guys was all I needed.

Mike

I guess he always held it to the floor. I really don't know. I think he did the right thing by letting me get it.