HELP !!!!! This snapper ZT is driving to the looney bin.
- Thread starter Mutt
- Start date
Yeah, It runs and drives really nice. I take it that the last guy rebuilt the outer spindles as there is no slop in either one of them.
Ok, so I rebuilt the 2 outside spindles. zero slop,shake or up and down play. The bottom of the drive center spindle was beyond repair, so I replaced it with a brand new OEM spindle. Mowed probably 100 square feet and the belt came off again. I am spending more time putting the belt back on than I am mowing. I can mow faster with my Toro 6.5 hp push mower!!! Surely Snapper couldn't have put out such a poor product ??? So I know all the spindles are in perfect working order (as new), all the pulleys appear to be good, tensioner springs work, pto pulley is good. 3 new blades. Belt on deck that drives right and left belts never comes off or has any issues. I replaces all the suspension bushings. What else is possibly left to fix. It's already started eating up the second drive belt and you have to drive slower than a push mower or the belt comes off. Does anyone have one of these ZTR mowers that is in working order ? Maybe you can post of pic of the drive belt routing along with where the little L piece is located. I installed the belt as per the drawing posted early in the thread. When I got the mower, the belt retainer was on the left of the drive tensioner pulley. Someone here suggested that it went on the right side, so I moved it to the right side. Would the 2 shoulder bushings on the drive tensioner arm being worn and sloppy be an issue with the belt jumping off? That's all that is left to replace. I'll machine some new bushings for it so it doesn't have any up/down slop. If that doesn't fix the problem, there is nothing left to replace and I'll have to take it that Snapper just sells cheap junk and start looking for a zero turn that doesn't have this belt issue. A friend has a Kubota and uses it commercially. The belt never comes off and they mow at a very fast pace. They even moweed where I was mowing and they had teh whole area done in 20 minutes/ I spent more than 20 minutes this morning just putting the belt back on numerous times and you can barely tell I have mowed anything at all........
Ok, so I pulled the deck off again and removed the tensioner plate. Turns out there is nothing wrong with the tensioner pin bushings. They measure about 1.003" just enough clearance for a 1.000" pin. It's the pins that are bad, real bad. The plate has (2) 1" holes , the pins are set in place and welded on the back side. Turns out that instead of hardening the pins and letting the easily replaceable bushings take the wear, the awesome company engineers, used soft pins and hardened the bushings. So instead of just replacing for 4 bushings for $25, you get to replace the weldment at the insane cost of $113 plus shipping to $191 (depending on what vendor you choose) for this " weldment ". I can see guaranteed money for Snapper for their parts vendors on replacement parts this way. I'd happily manufacturer this weldment for $50 a pop , all day long.
As you can see, the tops and bottoms of these pins are WAYYYYY undersized. After looking at the cost of this weldment, I figure I could just machine the 2 new pins and replace them myself in about 1½ worth of time and 6" of bar stock.. So I ground the welds off the original pins and knocked them out, machined a couple of new pins, and welded them back in place. No slop now, so the whole deck has now been rebuilt. Every bearing is new or as new, all pulleys are in great shape, one is new, deck belt is brand new and as soon as I get the new drive belt in the mail Tuesday. I'm gonna cross my fingers and hope for the best. Everything has been either rebuilt or replaced with new parts. There is nothing else to replace to make this belt stay in place.
As you can see, the tops and bottoms of these pins are WAYYYYY undersized. After looking at the cost of this weldment, I figure I could just machine the 2 new pins and replace them myself in about 1½ worth of time and 6" of bar stock.. So I ground the welds off the original pins and knocked them out, machined a couple of new pins, and welded them back in place. No slop now, so the whole deck has now been rebuilt. Every bearing is new or as new, all pulleys are in great shape, one is new, deck belt is brand new and as soon as I get the new drive belt in the mail Tuesday. I'm gonna cross my fingers and hope for the best. Everything has been either rebuilt or replaced with new parts. There is nothing else to replace to make this belt stay in place.
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I had a suspicion that was the problem. Aren’t there grease fittings in those bushings?
yes, but doesnt look like they were ever greased
That’s what I figured. Maybe this will be the end of your problems.