Thanks for your suggestions grumpy. I have made a little progress, a bit unorthodox but you get that. Played around trying to lever the notch bar forward for ages, was moving it past 3 or 4 notches minimum and it would still just slide back to the original notch. So I took it apart and took to the notches with the angle grinder to increase the depth of each notch. This worked a treat. The belts tighter, the mower goes up the inclines it used to stop on, the clutch plate wasn't hot at all. It does still seem to have more go in reverse than forward so maybe the pedal might need adjustment or the lining still needs to be replaced?
As for the steering problem it looks as though a previous owner might have done a bit of work on it judging by some welding. I would like to upload some pics grumpy, is there any way that I can upload from my iPad, my computer is a little temperamental at the moment.
I think this forum is great guys, have spent hours reading up on all sorts of greenfield problems and have a greater understanding thanks to everyone's posts and photos. If I can sort the steering and electric start I'll be very happy! $50 bucks is what I paid for it, it cost me $90 to get my block mowed by the lawn mower man last time, so far I'm in front $130 in my logic as I've gone over the block twice!
So like I said before grumpy if there's a way to upload straight from my iPad I'd love to put some pictures up! Cheers
