The routing looks correct, but the belt should be tight and wrapped around the lower center sheave.

 

Yeah his belt tensioner link is disconnected from the lever! Lol


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Thanks! I don't have the tensioning rod engaged in the top of the deck yet so the belt is loose. I didn't want to put it back under the tractor and reinstall the engine to deck drive belt unless I had this one routed right. The tensioning rod looks like it will be a bear with the new belt installed.

 

Thanks! I don't have the tensioning rod engaged in the top of the deck yet so the belt is loose. I didn't want to put it back under the tractor and reinstall the engine to deck drive belt unless I had this one routed right. The tensioning rod looks like it will be a bear with the new belt installed.

It should be fine. You may have to pull the tension lever the wrong way to get the engine belt on


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okay, a little more help please. If I position the deck in place with the engine to deck drive belt on, pulling the tensioner rod to engage it in the deck bracket actually loosens the engine belt to the point that it is too loose and the spring for the idler is stretched all of the way across the deck. Leaving the tension rod alone allows belt belt tension and idler spring to be what I'll call normal.

A few things to note - I installed new idler pulleys and took the fixed double pulley assembly at the back of the deck apart to get the belt on. There are small locators on the tensioner rod bracket to make sure it locates properly to the double pulley bracket and I've made sure that is all lined back up properly, it looks like it can really go only one way for the rod to reach the deck.

Also note that the deck was not fully engaged in the front loop by the axle but engaging it would have pulled the deck further forward and made the situation worse. the rear brackets were aligned so the deck was located side to side.

Below are photos of the position of the rod with the belts properly tensioned. I've jacked something up but I can't figure what it is.

It doesn't help when you take something apart on a saturday, come down with what was thought to be covid that scares the crap out of you, and try to put it back together afterwards

 

You need to mount the deck with the front loop and both rear draft arms before trying to install the engine belt. Also need to attach the tensioner lever to the tensioner rod. Does the arm that the double stack pulley mounts to, pivot? Or is it frozen.


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Thanks, it just came apart however was easiest for me to get it out of there, didn't know there was a specific reassembly sequence.
All my other JD's that I've had apart have the 38" deck and they are way different.

Everything seems to move freely on the double stack pulley arm. I replaced the bushings on that idler arm bracket as well.

I will try doing it the correct way and see how it goes.

 

Well with the engine belt pulling the deck towards the front of the tractor, it may end up being too loose and/or keep you from installing the rear arms to the deck. So belt needs to be first off last on.


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I had the belt routed wrong around the post by the double idler, it moved when I took the double pulleys back apart to check the orientation of the tensioner rod bracket.

I also didn't pick up on the function of the larger diameter arm and the pivot point on the tensioner rod assembly until after a few unsuccessful attempts at reconnecting the tensioner rod.

I cut for an hour last night and it seems fine, thanks for the help. I'll know next time, looks like the LX188 48" deck is similar.

 

Well, it's been a year and I'm back to having some problems with this deck on the 345. I was never completely happy with how it sounded compared to the 48" deck on the LX188, which purrs like a kitten. This one has always had a bit of a growl or rumble to it, even after the new idlers etc were installed above.
Finally, the rumble became more of a vibration or a clatter like something was out of balance or had play so I shut it down and pulled the deck off.

I found a little bit of play in the back idler stack assembly so I took that apart and found there was wear in the OD of the shaft that the idlers mount to. Spindle bearings and everything else seems fine, the blades turn freely by hand via the belt.
While waiting for the new shaft to come in, I removed the blades, and hit them with a polycarbonate wheel to take off all of the debris and resharpened them with my Dremel.

NOTE - The only balancer I have is one of those cheap plastic pyramidal types but it's always done okay on the 38" 2 blade decks, should I get something better?

The shaft came in, and I reassembled the idler stack, putting a small smear of bearing grease on the OD of the shaft. I also put a small amount on the washer above the snap ring and a little on the inside protective cap. There is very little vertical play on the idlers when installed on the shaft, but there is a tiny bit, which I thought was best case. The idlers do pivot freely.

I put the deck back on and I still had the vibration/clatter, it takes maybe 10 seconds to show up and fluctuates a little. I thought maybe the spindle covers were rubbing (not really but I didn't want to face reality) so I took them off. It sounded better so I let it run a minute and it quieted down so I decided to cut a little. I cut maybe 50 yards and the vibration came back for 10 seconds and I shut the blades down. I restarted them, they were quiet and I cut maybe 100 yards and the vibration started again with more intensity so I shut it down and went back to the barn.

I can see the belt fairly well when it's cutting and nothing appears to be vibrating, other than the belt in the span between the spindle and the idler, which doesn't appear to be abnormal, but I could be wrong.

So I'm stumped. It can cut well and quietly for 50 yards or 100 yards at a time with intermittent stretches of vibration and clatter. It almost seems like the blades are intermittently losing balance but that's just a WAG,

I'm thinking of throwing a new set of blades on it tomorrow. What's on there is fairly old and while they didn't seem bent and I haven't hit anything that I recall, it seems like the right thing to do. I'm open to suggestion on anything else.

I did check the pulleys for the main drive belt and they do not appear to have play.

Since I struggled mightily with belt routing last time, I'll post a photo of how I've got it routed. It looks like the attachment above with the exception of the idler spring orientation but I could easily have it wrong, but I would think it wouldn't work.

Thanks.

 

Did you install new jacksheave bushings? Here’s what old looks like next to new…

 

Yes, those have been replaced.

 

I'm going with bad spindle bearings that aren't noticeable until they heat up. If you haven't, I would try greasing the spindles to see if there is any difference in the vibration, such as a longer duration before it really starts to vibrate from a cold start.

You could also run it till it gets hot, shut it down, remove the belt then check the spindles for play and/or roughness while hot. I'd also check the double-stack pulley while hot.

 

It doesn't take long for the vibration to start, maybe 10 seconds, I wasn't thinking it had time to heat up but I could be wrong.

I could feel the spindle bearings grinding like any other bearing when they went bad on my 38" decks and I don't feel that so I've been going by that in determining that they are good.

I am going to put new blades on it so I'll check them again during that process.

I greased the spindles (one shot from the grease gun) while it was out and apart this time, I can hit them again.

Thanks

 

Another possibility is the PTO itself. I'd suggest checking that the PTO bolt is tight or potentially has a bad bearing.

 

To sort of close the case on this one in case anyone does a search in the future, I took the deck back off and rechecked everything again. I found the slightest bit of play in two of the spindles when rocking the blades via grabbing the very tips.

I pulled the spindle shafts out of those two assemblies and found a slight bit of wear in the OD of the shafts, the bearings looked and felt fine. The JD parts guy didn't think there was enough wear to create a problem but there was nothing else I could find so I replaced them.

Noticed that the pulleys didn't sit evenly on the top of the spindle shafts due to the shaft swedging a hex shape into the pulley bodies so I used a Dremel and a stone to flatten them out so the pulleys didn't run out of round.

On reassembly, it was quieter but I still had a vibration and it seemed to be in the idler stack.

I took the deck back off and replaced the plastic idler bushings again and made sure the washers were positioned to provide clearance, but not allow the stack to ride up and down on the shaft.

That seemed to help take more of the noise out of it. It's still not as quiet as the 48" deck on my LX188 but they are different ages and different designs.

So I've been cutting for a few weeks without issues and yesterday I had the same noise/vibration for maybe 2 or 3 seconds. I know the deck is mechanically as good as it can be so the only thing I can think of is grass building up on the underside of the deck near the overlapped joint in the radiused area of the deck for one of the outer blades. I noticed that I had to be really careful when tightening down that blade else it would touch the deck right there. I took a polycarbonate wheel to the underside of the deck to get all of the debris off of it and sprayed rust neutralizer on it so I know it's clean.

Anyway, I'm done messing with it unless the vibration comes back and gets horrible. I've gotten really good at getting the deck on and off so I have that going for me now. .

This is a 345 with the early engine and the composite gear with 999 hours so it will probably crap that gear now, haha.

Thanks for the suggestions and input.