I put a new(used) transmission in my John Deere 14sb and I am now having a problem with the drive cable. I am positive I put it back exactly as it came out but it seems too short. I tried the old trans and got the same thing, so I must be missing something.

The spring is hooked to the L shaped piece on the transmission, the tension nuts are screwed all the way to the top so they are as loose as possible. The cable has a metal piece that slides into the shifter and throttle mechanism and that all seems great but when I try to hook the cable to the handle it seems like it is 1-2" short. Any ideas?