Hello, I have a 13A6699H192 1997 MTD 46" mower, The deck drive belt is slipping. It's designed to get tension as the deck is lowered, that's the PTO engage/disengage. but it doesn't get a enough tension to really mow until the 3rd notch down. I had been mowing all summer at the highest setting, the least tension, then I mowed one notch lower then when I went back up it started slipping. I assumed I stretched the belt so I put a new belt on & didn't change anything. I don't see any other adjustment to gain tension, just curious if anyone ran into a problem like this before or had any suggestions. Thanks!
Belts do not stretch, they wear thin so sit deeper in the pulleys which also wear open so the belt sits even further in the pulley and becomes slack.
None of the pivot points in the lift & tension system have bushes so they all flog out oval over time.
The post on the tensioning arm tends to bend over .
Springs cut into their mounts and so provide less tension.
All of it adds up, little bit by little bit.
It is just plain old wear & tear. Made worse if you have not paid meticilous care in lubing all of the contact points and cleaning the deck very regularly.
The mower is 20 years old and has reached the end of it's design life.
Now if you have the gear you can weld up all of the holes and file, drill them round again, replace all of the rods with groves worn in them, replace all of the pulleys, berings and bushes.
or
fit a belt that is 1/2" shorter to compensate for the wear and squeeze a few more years life out of it.
Occasionally you have to go a full inch shorter, but start with the 1/2 " as too tight is just as bad as too loose.
Before you go chasing belts , just check that all of the pulleys turn freely and quietly.
Same story, a flogged out bearing can also make the belt go slack. So a shorter belt on a buggered bearing will just make matters worse.
It is a downhill slope unfortunately, shorter belts tend to cost more & wear out quicker but if you get away with 3 to 8 short belts over another 5-10 years you are laughing.
The deck belt is 1/2 x 99"
Stens do belts in
98 & 3/4" #265-263
98 & 1/2" # 265-540 & 265-319
98 & 3/8" # 265-572
98 & 1/4" # 265-667 & 265-255
All of which are OEM ( to something) cotton wrapped Kevlar.
You can go to the Stens web site and look all of them up to decide which would be the most suitable.
It will take a bit of time to do.
Usually the cheapest belt will have fewer strands of coarser fiber and the most expensive will have more strands of finer fiber and the latter is best suited to your deck because the belts are highly serpentine in their routing.
But please check first for broken & / unserviceabe parts first.
Thanks for the info!! After I read that, I went & checked the mower again for something bent/broken & the two linkage arms on the back right that hold the deck up had popped off on the top side. I put them back on & it mows great. Those linkages blew the E clips off that hold them in place. It may have something to do with the ditch I mow across . I have new belt though. Thanks again!
. I have new belt though. Thanks again!