So back in May my boss bought a basket case IS1500Z. The story we got was that the motor "Kawasaki V-Twin" blew up last summer and the previous owner rebuilt it. When my boss bought it the drive belt was off along with the PTO and deck. I was able to put everything back together and he has been mowing with it since late May or early June with no issues. As of last week no matter what I do it's throwing the belt off as soon as the PTO is engaged, no the belt wasn't replaced when we got it. We were in a hurry to get it going and didn't buy a new belt. The PTO clutch also seems to be partially engaged all the time. I can turn it without turning the engine but it's rough, I'm sure it was not like that before. Also one of the spindles is slightly tighter than the other two but I don't think it's totally shot yet. In my opinion he needs at least 1 spindle, might as well do all 3 while I have it apart. And he should probably just replace the PTO. But he wants to put a band-aid on it to get it through until the end of the season and have me do all of this work over the winter. I realize there's really nothing I can do with the spindle other than try greasing it. The PTO I don't know about, I work on vintage garden tractors as a hobby but I've only owned 1 machine with an electric PTO and it never gave me issues. I don't know if the Ferris PTO's are adjustable or why it's dragging. But it's now bad enough that with the engine runningw the blades are turning slowly. I don't know what could be keeping the PTO slightly engaged. Thanks in advance for any advice.
The PTO has a brake on it so either the engine is spinning it or the brake is holding it & preventing it turning
The brake is just a magnet and not particularly strong so will turn some times & feel really rough
Spindles get new bearings , usually a 1/2 hour job if the blade bolt comes off easy .
With the belt off the pulleys check the idlers and in particular the one on the tension arm they should spin freely and QUIETLY
You can drill out the rivets / welds and just replace the bearings but there is a lot of time involved in doing that .
Also check the tension arm pivot it should swing in an arc but not rock up & down
