Wednesday afternoon was frustrating. I decided to start my tractor and drive it a bit as I hadn't done so in a while. It is my habit before starting a vehicle is to step on the clutch pedal to make sure the tractor isn't in gear when I start it. There was no resistance when I stepped on the clutch pedal. Hmmm? I started the tractor. When I re-stepped on the clutch - nothing - I couldn't put the tractor into gear.
I opened the steering column panel to look at the clutch lever and hose. I found the cable that moved the clutch was completely broken. Since I have a cab I had to figure out where the clutch hose and cable went under the cab. The tractor doesn't have lots of space as everything was designed to fit close together. So I had trouble seeing or reaching what may or may not be the clutch cable. YouTube is a help as I found a video of a guy replacing his clutch cable on his John Deere tractor.
On my tractor I had to loosen and move another hose so I could reach up to the clutch cable. Even then it was hard to work on things as my hand and arm filled the space and it was hard to see things. How to unhook the cable connector from the clutch lever? Again I re-watched the YouTube video and they showed how it was done. Eventually I unhooked the clutch cable and pulled it out.
I had to get the part from the John Deere dealership as other parts suppliers didn't carry the cable I needed for my tractor. I called and after some back-and-forth and dropped calls they eventually told me they had the part I needed. I took my cable along in case they were wrong about the part - like that never happened with them. 
They did have the correct cable. It also came with the hose. Due to the cable end attachments, the hose is required as I wouldn't be able to pull the new cable through the old hose.
Back at home I had a big problem removing the cable hose from the tractor cab. I took the lock ring off but the hose would not slide out of the metal holder in the cab. I tried and tried to pry it out. No success. Eventually I used a hammer to pound the hose down out of the metal holder. It appears the metal holder was designed whereby the hose comes up from the bottom to install and remove, and one cannot slide it out sideways. Why a lock ring is needed? Who knows? The YouTube video didn't show them removing the hose, and anyway the video was for a different model of John Deere tractor.
After some effort of sliding the hose down through the cab, it then took effort to reach and fit the hose into the metal holder under the cab. Then some effort to thread the connector onto the end of the cable's threaded end. Then to attach the connector back onto the clutch lever. That done I went to attach the hose into the cab. The trouble I had removing the hose... I had more trouble reinstalling the new hose into the metal holder. I knew I had to slide the hose in from the bottom of the holder but the hose seemed a quarter inch too long and the hose was rigid and had no room to move. Over and over I went. Finally - somehow - I got the hose into the metal holder. Then to attach the cable's connector to the pedal's arm connector... I had to unthread and rethread the connectors to each other so I could move the top connector into position to I could install the bolt to hold it in place.
Finally done. Hours later. My afternoon was shot. Now to start the tractor. Again no resistance on the clutch's pedal. I couldn't disengage the clutch arm to put the tractor into gear. I checked. The cable was fine. What is going on? When I rethreaded all the connectors, did I not get them exactly right? My neighbor Curtis wasn't around so I didn't have anyone to push the clutch's pedal while I watched under the tractor to see how the cable and clutch bar moved. Or had experience with fixing clutches. It was starting to get dark so I quit for the day.
When I had my head injury several years ago sometimes I think when I came back from the dead I came to another world from which I was born in. Odd things happen now. I've almost always have driven clutch vehicles over the many decades and never had a clutch cable break before. My head injury did not cause the clutch cable to break.
Thursday morning. I got my neighbor Curtis to come over and help me with the tractor clutch problem. While waiting for Curtis to arrive I re-adjusted the top part of the clutch cable connections and the clutch seemed to work a little bit better. When Curtis arrived he adjusted the top more and it got even better. Then I went underneath the tractor and adjusted the bottom connections to the max limit. Curtis made some temporary adjustments from the top so I could fully adjust the bottom. Then he readjusted the top when I was done on the bottom. It worked! The clutch now works. I was able to put the tractor in gear and drive a foot forward, then in reverse gear to drive back.
I finished reassembling everything. Then I went in the house and ate breakfast and then cleaned my wood stove. Now it was early afternoon and it started raining. And was wet and cold all day. So I didn't go out and drive the tractor around the pastures to re-test the clutch work. Tomorrow I will as the rain is suppose to stop tomorrow.
Photos.
Broken cable and new cable and hose. You can see where the cable had broken. And for the new cable you can see how the cable thread attachments on each end prevents one from sliding the cable through the hose. The extra connector on the right side of the broken cable is what attaches the cable to the clutch's arm on the bottom under the cab.
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