A mower spindle brake disengagement mechanism 101 includes belt 110 driven pulleys 106, 108 on vertical spindles supported by a rotary mower deck 100, brakes adjacent the pulleys, each of the brakes on a pivot arm 126 biased to a brake engaged position, and a plurality of cables, which may be Bowden cables, each cable connected between one of the pivot arms and a single lever that may be pivoted to retract the cables to move the brakes on the pivot arms to a brake disengaged position. There is a grass clippings discharge and collection chute between the spindles. There may also be a coil spring between each cable and pivot arm, and the lever may retract each cable a different amount.
