Greetings, I have a 26 hp 54 in. cut tractor

Check under the deck blades first see if something caught in the blades? if not try to spin the pullies on the deck with the blade off make sore that there are no bearing prblems ? you can buy a new key at sears for like $3.00 there all same? if it runs i doubt you shorted anything but it is possible ? have you checked your fuel and are filters etc, repost if it still acts up will send you more help

Now being a mechanic by trade and knowing new machinary i would have to say that only part of the tractor is going , by that i mean that if you dont have ....lets say the lighting curciut or the safety cut out curcuit in the loop by hot wiring it then yes that would be the problem, not correct power or earth to the coils/magnetos/inductive pick-ups engine will run but not enough spark under load, remembering that a lot more power is needed to ignite the plug under compression than in at atmospheric pressure, reality bites and says to me to get the ignition barrel re-keyed and try it the way they designed it to be run and see if this makes a difference if not then maybe a blocked exhaust , you can check that by just removing the air filter and idle the engine, if more noise comes out of the induction than the exhaust that would be the prob, hope this has helped ,geoff