Only Cub Cadets - How to remove deck off 1430?

38" deck and still new to working on these riding mowers. Anyway I looked up a couple videos and see J-hooks and removing the belt off the pto pulley. Great this looks easy. So I get under this bad boy and I don't see any J-hooks or anything obvious to quickly remove it.

I see where it's connected by four hooks that have cotter pins wedged up against the deck links. That looks like a pain in the ass so go to the bottom of the hooks and unbolt them. Great that works for 3 but the last one in the right rear corner of the tractor is rotated opposite and the nut faces inward toward the deck and there's little room between it and the pulley. It looks like there's a cotter pin half way up the pin and I figure this must be the way to get this hook loose. So I spend 45 minutes wrestling in this tight spot to pull the cotter pin and it turns out it goes to a nut that holds the link in and does nothing for me.

To top that off I managed to bend a pulley in my frustrated state with the pliers. This is not my tractor either so I didn't have the tools I needed and I feel like a complete jack ass. So I called it a night and plan to remove that hidden away nut tomorrow with a proper wrench that could fit in it because I don't see any alternative. I can't seem to find any online manual either that describes the removal procedure and this seems like the most idiotic way to remove it.

Any tips?