Drive belt problem

[PostalJim]

Have a Troy-Bilt Pony tiller that is eating up drive belts. Belt tension is good. What could cause the problem, bad transmission pulley?

 

[TylerFrankel1]

Check all of the pulleys. If there are idler pullers check them too. Make sure that they spin freely with the belt off and don't have nicks/rust/grooves. If you have a pulley that is seized or sticking, or is badly worn, that's probably it. Also, are you sure you're routing the belt correctly?

 

[PostalJim]

Check all of the pulleys. If there are idler pullers check them too. Make sure that they spin freely with the belt off and don't have nicks/rust/grooves. If you have a pulley that is seized or sticking, or is badly worn, that's probably it. Also, are you sure you're routing the belt correctly?

Yes it is routed correctly and the idler pulley spins freely. The drive pulley of course is connected to the transmission if you will and of course you can’t spin it. It ate belt up that was on it and I put a new one on and checked the spring measurements both engaged and not engaged. I tilled about 240’ checking the belt temperature by hand (I left the cover off). I was tilling with the depth adjustment in the second shallowest setting. Belt got pretty warm to the touch and the drive pulley felt hot. I checked both every 60 ‘.

 

[PostalJim]

Yes it is routed correctly and the idler pulley spins freely. The drive pulley of course is connected to the transmission if you will and of course you can’t spin it. It ate belt up that was on it and I put a new one on and checked the spring measurements both engaged and not engaged. I tilled about 240’ checking the belt temperature by hand (I left the cover off). I was tilling with the depth adjustment in the second shallowest setting. Belt got pretty warm to the touch and the drive pulley felt hot. I checked both every 60 ‘.

Forgot to say, that after this short time of tilling the back of the belt was just starting to pull loose in a couple of spots.

 

[TylerFrankel1]

Yes it is routed correctly and the idler pulley spins freely. The drive pulley of course is connected to the transmission if you will and of course you can’t spin it. It ate belt up that was on it and I put a new one on and checked the spring measurements both engaged and not engaged. I tilled about 240’ checking the belt temperature by hand (I left the cover off). I was tilling with the depth adjustment in the second shallowest setting. Belt got pretty warm to the touch and the drive pulley felt hot. I checked both every 60 ‘.

Huh. That's pretty odd. If it's getting hot it sounds like it's slipping, but you said you checked springs. I don't have a ton of knowledge beyond that about these pulleys. Hopefully one of the regulars on here can bring better advice.

 

[NorthBama]

the idler pulley puts tension on the back side of the drive belt are you belts designed for back side tension. Oem belt?

 

[PostalJim]

Huh. That's pretty odd. If it's getting hot it sounds like it's slipping, but you said you checked springs. I don't have a ton of knowledge beyond that about these pulleys. Hopefully one of the regulars on here can bring better advice.

Thanks for the help

 

[PostalJim]

the idler pulley puts tension on the back side of the drive belt are you belts designed for back side tension. Oem belt?

I have been using Dayco belts and they are supposed to be OEM. Going to try a different belt then I’ll replace the idler pulley. At least those are the cheaper options for now.

 

[TylerFrankel1]

Thanks for the help

Of course!

 

[TylerFrankel1]

I have been using Dayco belts and they are supposed to be OEM. Going to try a different belt then I’ll replace the idler pulley. At least those are the cheaper options for now.

Did you ever get it sorted out? I was having trouble today with my lawn tractor where it wouldn’t pull hills and I was confused because I had just replaced the belt and a couple idlers. After looking online I realized that they were slipping because my pulleys were glazed. Easy to miss because it doesn’t look like something’s wrong unless you’re really looking out for it, but where the belt rides on the pulley gets shiny and smooth and that’s bad. If the belt is slipping from glazed pulleys it can easily overheat and get hard and wear prematurely. What I did was I took some coarse sandpaper and sanded the pulleys lightly till the shininess was gone from the surfaces and then put everything back together. Now it goes up all the hills I’ve tried so far, except one that was 40 degrees. That’s technically about 3x more than is safe anyway so I call it a win. Perhaps this was your problem. Or maybe a pulley has a burr on it?