deck belt is suddenly too long
- Thread starter cangus
- Start date
willing to bet dollars to donuts you have it run incorrectly... I did that on one of my Dad's mowers where he had taken the belt off and I put it back on w/o seeing how it had been run. took me a little while to figure out I wrapped it around the idler the wrong direction.
bertsmobile1
Lawn Royalty
You start by posting the model numbers from the tag under the seat followed by the belt number so we can look it up and tell you how it is routed.
Craftsman usually have a sticker either on the deck or under one of the foot boards showing the belt runs.
PTmowerMech
Lawn Addict
It's pretty easy to figure out if you have it on wrong. If your mower has a blade engage cable (not a PTO) With the clutch pressed, you should be able to just barely slip it around the last pulley. If it's on wrong, with the clutch pressed, you'll either NOT be able to "just barely" put it on the last pulley, or you won't be able to at all.
When I say "just barely", I mean starting the belt in the grove on one side of the pulley, and having to turn the pulley, to get it the rest of the way on. That's the way it is on a lot of mower decks. But like Bert said, we need the model numbers to be sure.
Also, you gotta be sure you're going on the inside of the guides. The idler pulleys, usually have one, maybe two guides. I've ripped up a belt or two by not realizing there was two guides on one idler.