917.273639- 42" , 6 speed, 18.5 HP Shifting Issue-Drive Belt Issue

[bartles]

I have rebuilt the mower, new: drive belt, drive belt idlers(2), driving and driven pulleys. The mower is hard to shift in and out of speeds. When the pedal is depressed, and lock into parking, the drive belt system continues to rotate, making shifting hard and will probably eventually hurt the transmission.

The belt is the correct length, the belt guards are not binding...... What have I missed?

 

[Rivets]

Have you adjusted the brakes by adjusting the brake rod length?

 

[bartles]

Yes the brakes are adjusted and stops the mower. It is difficult to shift from forward or reverse to neutral. From neutral to either direction, with pedal mashed down, the driven pulley, on the transmission, does not slow down, or stop....making it hard to shift out of neutral to any gear.

 

[Rivets]

Then I would remove the deck and inspect the idler tensioner arm, looking to see if the arm is moving freely and fully to release the tension on the belt. Plus, did you replace the belt with an OEM belt and made sure that it is routed correctly to release the tension when the brake pedal is fully depressed.

 

[bartles]

Re: belt. It's not an OEM belt. I may have gotten snake bit on that. I did check the length but nothing else.

I'll check the travel again just to be sure.

 

[Rivets]

Belt should be 95” long. OEM #532138255

 

[bartles]

Thanks...I ordered an OEM belt. The aftermarket belt looks to be deeper in cross section. I'll post how this misadventure turns out.

 

[bartles]

Rivets, thanks for your help and advice. I installed the OEM belt and whatda know....works great!! Before I installed the OEM belt I compared it to the Chinese knowoff....it is 3/4" longer...enough to make a difference. Learned my lesson, just cost me $15.

 

[Rivets]

Guess I got lucky, thank you for letting us know that you got it fixed.

 

[slomo]

On those type drive systems, it's either a belt or pulley worn. Or someone installed an idler backwards.

slomo