Finally got to work on the mower tonight, with good progress. I started by running through the purge air procedure several times, didn't really help and checking fluid level in transaxel it didn't change. So laying underneath the mower, I just happened to try and rotate the idler pulley...and it rotated very freely. After playing around it I realized the bolt that runs through the pulley to tension bar was caught on a metal lip or something, I pulled it down, let it go, and it shifted the pulley quarter inch or more. Rotating the pulley by hand was much more difficult now, belt much tighter. Driving it around the yard now I had some power! Almost 100%.....but still not quite.
What I'm observing is the new left side transaxel although so much better, still doesn't have quite the power of the right side. And, if I push the control arm all the way forward, it actually bogs down a little. If on a slight hill, and just doing a circle by using a single control arm, the left side is still not quite got enough power. This makes me wonder if there is still some slipping on the pulley going on. So, I'm thinking either the drive belt is not quite right size, maybe a little big...or the tension arm spring may be wore out? I did put a new belt on, however I went the cheaper route and bought a PIX brand off Amazon, it says it replaces the original 754-04043 I find listed on parts tree for this RZT 22. Any thoughts on the value of buying a Cub Cadet belt vs PIX? Also, should I be able to still turn the idler pulley wheel by hand? I can do it a little (before it was super easy).
thanks,
Ben
