My blades do not spin when engaged so I ordered a new deck belt assuming the old one had stretched. Received it today and no difference. The only other thing I can think of is the cable to engage the the tension pulley so I ordered it. Is there a place to find the length of this cable when new as well as the length of the deck belt? I measured the new belt and it is 104.5 inches and Parts direct assured me this is the correct belt. It would be nice to know the length of the cable to find out if that has stretched. Thank you.
Sorry guys, I see that I need to add the model number, it is 917-289140 purchased new in 2010. Is there a "shop manual" for these that has certain specs for the parts?
Partsdirect has no indication on there website. Thanks.
Did this start all of a sudden or was it an over time thing? Belts really don't stretch, they wear out and sit deeper into the pulley so they seem like they are stretched.
Couple of things for you to check:
Can you turn the blades by hand: IMPORTANT due this safely and pull the spark plug wire off the plug(s) before you do this?
Is the belt routed correctly around all the pulleys and idlers? The flat side of the belt goes against the idlers.
Measure the OUTER covering of the old cable and compare it to the new one along with measuring the cable itself. The outer cover tend to get compressed over time and make it seam like the cable has stretched, at least it does on motorcycle cables.
Try to turn each pulley by hand to see if one has locked up and let us know what you find.
Good luck also found this on line but having never used this site before open at your own risk: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/430587/Craftsman-917.html
Tom
Thanks Tom for the reply. Yes, both blades turn freely and the belt is routed correctly. When I parked it last fall, it worked fine but as soon as I fired it up this year, the belt would not tighten. It sat all winter with no tension on either the belt or cable which confused me. I did however purchase a new belt with same results. I ordered a new cable as that is the only thing left. It did measure the new belt and wrote down the dimensions for future reference and will do the same for the cable. Thanks
See if you can get someone to operate the belt engagement while you watch the idler pulley to see if it moves as it should. It is possible that the engagement arm locked up and the pulley is not engaging the belt fully. Try it will the mower running and with the engine off
Tom
Hmmm, I will check that when it stops raining but I do know that the engagement handle on the dash moves farther than it did before as it makes a clunk when it hits the mounting bracket. When I do engage the lever, there is still a lot of play in the belt, ALOT! The pulley does move and takes up maybe half of what it should. Thanks Tom. Brian
Like Pumper. I will go something rusted up route.
If your deck has the two brake arms that rub on the pulleys to stop the blades rotating they can rust onto the pulleys and that will stop the tensioning arm moving as far as it should.
The arms can also rust up tight.
AS for feeling loose, there is a spring that goes from a slot in the deck to to the tensioning arm. This puts a load on the PTO lever and keeps every thing in place.
There is only one cable length so you can not go wrong .
There is 4 or 5 different ends where it joins the lever at the top but the free length ( difference between inner & outer ) is the same on them all.
Yes, mine has the two levers that stop the mandrel pulleys but do operate when the idler is moved. I need to check that there is no obstruction to prevent the tension pulley from traveling the complete route but it does require help and that would be my wife! I'll have her move the lever while I see if everything is a ok. That should be fun!
Much easier to see what is going on with the deck out.
The pivot for the tensioning arm can easily get pinched if your are not careful.There is also more than one hole the cable can go in and at some point in time the mounting was moved to the pulley bolt itself.
I plan on pulling the deck out again and remove the pivot arm return spring so I can better check the travel. It did appear to have a "hitch in the get along" but it is hard to tell. As long as things move freely I should be good to go and hope the cable is the problem. I only see one hole for the cable to fasten to so I'm fairly sure I have it right but as you say, easier to see when removed. Thank you for the reply and help.
Update: Received the new cable and compared it to the old, same length. Put it on and fired up the tractor, engaged the blades and they work! I don't know if it was a weak spring on the old cable os a combination of new belt and cable but 80 bucks later, I'm good to go. Thanks for your replies.
