2012 Troy bilt bronco pedal and belt issues

[Mopar9012]

Last year, my 2012 Troy bilt bronco shredded the lower drive belt. I replaced both upper and lower drive belts. Mower worked for 2 cuts flawlessly. Third cut, it started slipping bad. 4th, slipping was worse and eventually it just stopped.

i bought all new belts again, this time direct from Troy bilt(thinking the first set was just poor quality). I put the new drive belts on and the gas pedal is extremely stiff. The rotating pulley barely moves when I engage the pedal and the belt is extremely close to the cross bar with the spring that mounts one of the 3 pulleys for the upper drive belt.
This is a variable speed mower.

any ideas? Local repair shop gives me an ETA of about a month….

 

[bertsmobile1]

Stand the mower vertical step back 6' put your camera on a stand and take a nice clear sharp photo
Open the photo on your computer and resize it to 12" @ 72 dpi then save it ( call it DriveForForum ) and post it here.

 

[Mopar9012]

Unfortunately I don’t have the option to resize the picture to the above settings on my computer nor will it let me log in under my google login on my computer. Not sure if it’s because I just created it? I did resize the pictures and sent them back to my phone.

I couldn’t stand it up on the back by myself, but I rotated my pic. Not exactly what you asked but maybe it helps. Second pic is how far the pulley will go down, which is barely any.

 

[ILENGINE]

Maybe it is an optical illusion, but it looks like the two belts on the variable pulley are reversed. The belt that goes around the transmission pulley and the idler pulley should be in the top groove, and it looks like it could be in the bottom groove.

 

[Mopar9012]

The longer belt is on the bottom pulley under the seat. The shorter belt is on the top pulley under the seat. It doesn’t seem like they should be any other way?

 

[ILENGINE]

Like I said optical illusion. What belt part numbers did you put on the mower.

 

[Mopar9012]

Little added back story. I’ve actually bought 3 lower drive belts for this mower:

1st belt: no name belt, fit just like this new Troy bilt brand fits. Tight and can’t press the gas pedal.

2nd belt: forgot the brand but when I put it on, it had much more slack than the first belt. This belt worked for 3 cuts, stopped working on the 4th. Pedal got tight, mower stopped moving.

3rd drive belt: Troy bilt brand, fits just like the FIRST belt, tight and pedal won’t budge. I also replaced the upper drive belt with the Troy Bilt brand too.

The upper Troy bilt belt I currently have states it’s a replacement for these model numbers.

754-0467
754-0467A
954-0467

 

[ILENGINE]

Looks like the long belt should be the 954-0467 And the short belt is 954-04208A And if they mower is just setting without running the pedal may not move very far because of the pulley ratio at the variable pulley is set for low speed and without spinning won't have much pedal takeup.

 

[Mopar9012]

Alright so I just cranked it up and put it in gear. The brakes don’t work and when I step on the gas, I just hear a repetitive hitting sound. Mower does not move.

The gas pedal felt relatively normal when the mower was on, so that was good. Clanking noise seems to be coming from under the seat? it’s hard to remember but now that I think of it, that’s what it did when it stopped working on the last cut. I don’t think the gas pedal got tight until after I shut it off.

 

[bertsmobile1]

In your photo the lower belt is definatly running too close to the top belt's tension arm
This usually happens if the double pulley is loose or the top belt is too long or the top pulley is not properly on its splines or has stripped the splines
When you put your foot on the go pedal the front belt tensioner pivots to the left in your photo around the front mounting bolt
If you did not take the whole lot off then the tension arm should be in the right place

The top belt tension spring looks too relaxed to me '
It is usually quite a fight to get it hooked up again after you change the belt
This again makes me thing the top belt is too big or something in the back is too far forward

When you put your foot on the brake pedal, the silver rod should slide in that groove and hit the front causing the tension arm to pivot to the right in your photo causing the belt to go slack so there is no drive .
There should be a return spring ( or two some times ) part # 73205186 that pulls the front tension arm forward to slacken the belt
It appears to be missing
This spring has a habit of cutting through the frame mounting tab it is anchored to .