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Every time I engage the PTO belt drive it throws the belt. What's weird is it's only the first or maybe 2nd time. I put the belt back on and it works fine until I shut it down for several minutes or overnight, then it throws it again. I put a new spring on it but that didn't help. Any ideas?

I have seen bearings to seize while sitting under tension. I know sounds dumb a bad place in a bearing may only show up on the initial startup. I have seen this to snap Kevlar belts on Husqvarna where the customer lost several belts before I found the idler pulley that was causing. I have learned to check these bearings by feel. If I feel even the slight catch I replace them.

I have to agree with Star on this one. I’ve seen this more than once where the spindle bearing start out tight, but after they warm up no problems.

Agree on the worn parts. Replace all the bearings, idlers and spindles you have. If one is going the rest are not far away. Also use the OEM belt/s.

Very

StarTech said:

I have seen bearings to seize while sitting under tension. I know sounds dumb a bad place in a bearing may only show up on the initial startup. I have seen this to snap Kevlar belts on Husqvarna where the customer lost several belts before I found the idler pulley that was causing. I have learned to check these bearings by feel. If I feel even the slight catch I replace them.

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Very good! I never thought of that, I will check all the bearings! Thank you!

Rivets said:

I have to agree with Star on this one. I’ve seen this more than once where the spindle bearing start out tight, but after they warm up no problems.

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Excellent, thanks!

slomo said:

Agree on the worn parts. Replace all the bearings, idlers and spindles you have. If one is going the rest are not far away. Also use the OEM belt/s.

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The engine shroud has been pulled, everything cleaned, thanks. It has a new OEM belt and spring.

jarbalojim said:

The engine shroud has been pulled, everything cleaned, thanks. It has a new OEM belt and spring.

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The blade head splindles are $100- a piece if not more, I know for sure the outside 2 are fine but will check the tension pulley and inside spindle.

jarbalojim said:

The blade head splindles are $100- a piece if not more, I know for sure the outside 2 are fine but will check the tension pulley and inside spindle.

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$100 each? That is less than a half tank of gas these days. Get all of them and a couple spares.

When I have one of these mystery problems , I grab the Go-Pro knock off camera , clamp it to the mower frame then go mow or in your case turn the PTO on & off till the belt comes off
then pop the memory card in the computer & play it back full speed to find where the belt jumped off , then rewind just that section and go through it a 1/2 speed
Don't be tempted to do it in single frame mode as 15 minutes in single frame takes about 10 hours to step through.
Some times I need to make a couple of videos if it looks like the problem was out of frame the first time.

Of course an assistant can be used to man the mower & in that case just be careful around the discharge side of the deck .

slomo said:

$100 each? That is less than a half tank of gas these days. Get all of them and a couple spares.

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Idk, I fill my vehicles all the time and it's less than $70 a fill up, anywho from what I can tell it's not the spindles, they all spin freely as do the tension pulleys. I made sure everything was spinning freely before I started today and it still threw the belt. Thanks for you input however.

jarbalojim said:

Every time I engage the PTO belt drive it throws the belt. What's weird is it's only the first or maybe 2nd time. I put the belt back on and it works fine until I shut it down for several minutes or overnight, then it throws it again. I put a new spring on it but that didn't help. Any ideas?

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Before I started today I made sure everything was spinning freely and it still threw the belt. I put it back on and mowed pretty much non stop for 4hours. I'll pull the deck soon and double check every spindle and tension pulley but I don't think that's the problem. I put a new OEM belt and spring on, nothing helps. It might just be something I will have to live with until I buy a new mower. I do appreciate your input and help!

I have a 1054. After replacing worn belt, the new one would occasionally come off
on engagement. After putting up with this a couple months, went looking. Discovered a belt
guard on an idler pulley was put on incorrectly. Put in correct place and has not came off sense.
By the way , had no one blame but me.

Something is foul because a new machine doesn't do this. Difference is your machine has wear and tear right?

Like the other guys stated, you need to listen and feel the bearings. Get a stethoscope if you have to and listen to each bearing. A visual glance is not sufficient.

Either something is not installed proper, missing parts or you have Chinese parts not working like OEM parts.......

V-belts - You can buy 6 of the same size and brand. Six supposed identical belts. Don't care what brand you buy. Put them on your pulleys. None of them are the same length/size. Little smidge here and a little there. Belt sizing makes a difference.

Are you mowing with a belt cover installed? If yours has one? Maybe grass and junk are getting inside the pulleys and tossing a belt? Are you cutting tall pasture grass or a manicured lawn? Do you have a ton of clippings on top of the deck all the time? If so you need to cut more often.

I had a friend watch while I engaged the PTO, he said it looked like it jumped from the tensioner pulley. We noticed the bracket seemed to be loose. I removed the deck, took the bracket off, found stripped threads where it went thru the deck. I put a couple of washers to keep the nut away from the stripped threads, tighten it up, reinstalled and no more problems! Thanks guys for all you input!