The keel drops by gravity. That pulley system is mainly to raise it. If it doesn’t drop, something is binding. Either the line is wore out and binding, or something else is binding. Mine did not go down either. In my case, someone replaced the big stainless steel bolt that holds the keel assembly to the bottom of the boat with a bolt that was too long. if that bolt is too long, it won’t let the keel drop. I ended up taking it out and cutting it. Also if the line was replaced with a bigger size line, it will also cause it to bind. The only way to check the operation of it is to either raise the boat off the ground, or put it in the water and go under it by holding your breath. Next time I go to my boat, I’ll take a picture of those pulleys for you.