Only Cub Cadets - gt2554 drive/reverse issues

Hi, I have a new to me gt2544. Initially it just needed a carb and pump to get running but now am faced with another issue which I think the seller hid by selling as non running so I couldn't check out the transaxle.

Am pretty familiar with the belt drive and the older 100s just not these 2000s era shaft drives.

The issue I am having is the forward/reverse is off. At low throttle it tends to work mostly properly going forward and stopping but higher throttle it sticks going forward and if I press just the reverse it very slowly comes up with engine off and testing the pedals. I also have to hit reverse to get it to stop.

Initially I thought it just needed a linkage/bushing/spring/cleaned that sort of stuff. So far all that looks ok.

So I have two things of note and also fixing the actual issues.

I read the shock/lift mechanism back by the transaxle linkage might wear out so I went to remove it to test.

The bolt on the one end that attaches to the frame just spins but never comes off. Its so tight in there by frame I cant even get a wrench in there to see if there is a nut for some reason (or a spinning insert perhaps (?) and the other end I try to take the nut off and it also just spins. I seems like there is a flange/nut that is spinning but its so narrow there is no way to get anything in there I have.

The other issue is the transaxle release bar. While under there I noticed the goldish bracket was broken where the bar attaches to frame. Not sure if it was correct from start.

So I pulled it off and rewelded it. Then I looked and it literally does nothing how he had left it. The bracket was just bolted to the frame with zero pivot. It seems like there should be a hinge or something there perhaps so that gold bracket presses on what looks like a little button (?) I tried looking at some exploded parts diagrams but all are really bad quality for some reason.

What should it look like where the transaxle release bar presses the release on transaxle. An actual picture would be awesome if anyone has one.

And how to get the shock/lift cylinder off? Do I have to take the body off? I wanted to remove it and see if the linkage returns work better.

Also, any other ideas of things to check once I get the shock/lift off?

So irritated since I spent a lot of time so far getting it running, repainting, new deck belts, mounting nightmare to seat ag tires, etc etc.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!