John Deere won't start after sitting over winter. I hear the carburetor needs to be cleaned but I don't know where it is or where to start in the removal of it from the motor mount

squirt some carburetor cleaner in the carb. if it starts for a few seconds there is a fuel problem. sometimes water or debris will get in the carb and stop fuel from going through. take the bowl off and see if you see any of this in it if so clean it real good and it should run fine.

I'm assuming the motor will crank over, but not start. Remove the air intake cover & filter off the carburetor air intake. Do you smell gas? Is gas dripping out of the carburetor? If not, spray a couple shots of starting fluid or carburetor cleaner into the carburetor air intake throat. Close the choke & crank the engine. If it starts, & stalls, repeat the process. If it won't stay running, your carburetor float jet is gummed up & needs to be cleaned. Check & clean the spark plug. Does the spark plug fire when the engine is cranked? If no, then you have an ignition problem.

It probably needing a good carburetor cleaning.

It test if is a carburetor put a little in the carburetor throat or remove the spark plugs and put a little in each cylinder and replace the plugs and try to start. If starts up and then dies it is your carburetor.

Although not a riding mower, when mine was doing that, dis-assembled, cleaned and then re-assembled the carburetor. Now doesn't shut off when engaging the mower. Also, if you left gas in the mower over the winter, try some of the additive, but that didn't work for mine.

drain the fuel out, get rid of all the fuel additives. take the carburetor off and take apart and clean with spray carburetor cleaner. clean the bolt that goes in to the bottom real good. clean the holes in it good. put it back together and it will be good. it sounds like it has debris in there some where that needs cleaned out.

Indeed, a dirty carburetor can prevent the John Deere JS36 from starting or running correctly. Mine had this problem. A video that helped:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArCAivgAyww

The video is more in depth than you need but basically shows you what to look for inside the unit. Essentially: Remove the air filter assembly from the carburetor (a couple of bolts). Clamp off the fuel line, disconnect it from the carb. Unbolt the carb from the mower (a few bolts). Disconnect the choke and throttle arms from the top of it. Unscrew the cup from the carb, clean everything out. I used compressed air for all the little fuel channels. Reassemble, reattach.

I think you may have a carburetor problem.

the belt fall off?

is the primer working ? have you tried the self primer if fitted ? when you turn over the engine is the bubbles in the fuel viewer or does it just drop. or something else.

There's a lot of safety features on tractors. Your owners manual would be the best place to check. I'll throw out a common spring time start up issue: dead battery. If you didn't have it on a trickle charger over the winter, tractor batteries die in 2 or 3 years. If it has started recently, check for a blown fuse.

For safety features, make sure you're sitting in the seat, brake on, clutch fully depressed, and any attachments (blades) disengaged.