I was mowing on my Pouln Pro 541zx zero turn today when suddenly I lost the ability to move forward or backward. The engine is running fine, the blades are turning fine, but no movement when I push forward or backwards.
I traced the issue to the drive belt, which was loose when I checked it. I confirmed that it properly is looped around each transaxle pulley, the rear engine pulley, and the idler pulley. However, the idler pulley is not tensioning against the belt at all. The spring is in its factory installed location and looks fine. However, it appears to be pulling the idler pulley in the wrong direction...away from what is needed to provide tension to the belt.
After trying a bunch of different things, I finally decided just to remove the spring and hook it to the left, rather than right, side of the lawnmower. When I started it up, I regained the ability to move forward and backward, although the movement is kind of jerky and I've definitely lost the ability to control and turn they way I used to.
Any ideas how to fix this? Presumably some sort of part that provided tension opposite the spring has broken off, but I don't see anything that would do that on the parts diagram. I've searched my yard but can't find any evidence of a broken off piece.
Pic shows the spring in the new, "working" location rather than the factory installed location.
