Joined
·
2 Posts
Hi everyone, I just aquired a used craftsman lawn tractor w/ 42" deck. It's probably ten years old but in good shape. The only problem is the belt keeps coming off the pulley. Any idea's for me to go on?
belt keeps popping off
1 - 13 of 13 Posts
Joined
·
941 Posts
:ditto:
:ditto: Welcome: Also look for the obvious worn or bent idlers, weak or missing springs,etc. I have a GT 500 which every 2 years (give or take) suddenly won't move, drive belt came off, replace it and good to go for another couple of years.
Joined
·
1,076 Posts
I think everyone pretty much covered this one already. Good luck in fixing your problem.
Joined
·
3,547 Posts
If a new belt, the correct size, doesn't solve the problem you might try checking where the back side belt is riding in the idler sheave groove, especially any pulley that's mounted on a flopping mount with spring tension . That area will often be polished and shine from the back side of the belt contact making it relatively easy to see if the belt is running near one edge. My old tractor "OTHER" had a motion belt that jumped at random just as the clutch was engaged and I solved that by adding a flat washer that only moved the pulley an 1/8" or less.
Joined
·
2 Posts
It's not the mower belt. It's the drive belt that keeps getting thrown off the pulley on the trans axle. It ends up getting wedged and burnt up between the pully and the cooling fan on top. I replaced the belt and it happened again desroying the belt. Is there a way to adjust the tension on the belt? Someone suggested I need a new tranny. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I think I can help with the drive belt problem. After four belts and two visits from Sears repair we found the solution. I burned up the first belt at the end of last season. I put a new belt on this spring and probably didn’t go 20 feet until the stupid belt dropped off the transaxle pulley and jammed again. I at least didn’t destroy this belt and I went to all the trouble to reinstall the belt, only to have it jam again. CRAP!!!
Threw up my hands and called Sears repair. He came out, checked out all the pulleys, installed a new belt and drove it around the house once. Looking good. Two days later I go out to cut the quickly growing grass and was able to cut half the yard before the @#%*& belt jammed again. When the Sears guy left he told me I had a 30 day warranty so I called them again. He arrived a few days later, raised up the lawn mower and pondered a bit. He again checked every drive pulley for alignment and made sure the tension pulley spring was working OK. I made some suggestions, one being it looked like there was too much room UNDER the pulley and that was letting the belt drop below the pulley.
He called a fellow repairman for some help. Here was his solution, which has worked (KNOCK ON WOOD) thru 5 cuttings of almost two acres each time. If you look at the transaxle you will see a bracket that sits below the drive pulley. It has two wings bent up around the pulley on each side. The solution was to carefully bend the bracket up closer to the pulley and belt. Make sure it doesn’t rub either the belt or pulley. He used a pair of channel locks to bend the bracket. NOTE: It is easier to get to the transaxle if you remove the deck. He drove it around the yard for almost 20 minutes, going from forward to reverse many time (made me cringe several times how rough he was). It is still working.
Give it a try and let us know.
May God Bless,
Danny
Threw up my hands and called Sears repair. He came out, checked out all the pulleys, installed a new belt and drove it around the house once. Looking good. Two days later I go out to cut the quickly growing grass and was able to cut half the yard before the @#%*& belt jammed again. When the Sears guy left he told me I had a 30 day warranty so I called them again. He arrived a few days later, raised up the lawn mower and pondered a bit. He again checked every drive pulley for alignment and made sure the tension pulley spring was working OK. I made some suggestions, one being it looked like there was too much room UNDER the pulley and that was letting the belt drop below the pulley.
He called a fellow repairman for some help. Here was his solution, which has worked (KNOCK ON WOOD) thru 5 cuttings of almost two acres each time. If you look at the transaxle you will see a bracket that sits below the drive pulley. It has two wings bent up around the pulley on each side. The solution was to carefully bend the bracket up closer to the pulley and belt. Make sure it doesn’t rub either the belt or pulley. He used a pair of channel locks to bend the bracket. NOTE: It is easier to get to the transaxle if you remove the deck. He drove it around the yard for almost 20 minutes, going from forward to reverse many time (made me cringe several times how rough he was). It is still working.
Give it a try and let us know.
May God Bless,
Danny
Joined
·
491 Posts
I was going to mention- put a couple extra belt guides on the pulley ( drill couple holes in the chassis- long mostly unthreaded bolt( about a 1/2" threaded) with a nut underneath and one on top of the chassis- make sure the head of the bolt is lower then the pulley and doesnt touch it either.
1 - 13 of 13 Posts
Join the discussion
