Bought a Dayco v-belt at Fleet Farm to replace a cracked OE secondary drive belt (the one that weaves through the pulleys on the mower deck) on my 1996 John Deere LX-176 with 44 inch Piranha deck. Installed the belt, tension seemed right, figured I was good to go. Started mowing and smelled burnt rubber. Checked the new belt and it was warm. Drove it into the garage, pulled the deck and can see the issue - there is a bolt sticking up from the bottom of the deck near the idler pulley that is contacting the belt at certain points. A significant part of the belt has already frayed as a result. Interesting, though, that the belt wasn't uniformly frayed, just on maybe 1/3 of it, suggesting it could just be a poor quality belt with excess variance in thickness..?
The Dayco belt is spec'ed at 5/8 in. wide and 111 in. long. The Deere OE belt is spec'ed at 5/8 in. wide and 111 1/4 long. The idler doesn't seem to pull the belt overly tight - it seems about the same as the OE belt fit; snug but not tight. The idler arm doesn't seem to be stretching the spring any more than the Deere belt did, so that 1/4 inch in length doesn't seem like the issue.
The strange thing is that there is a fair amount of vertical play in the idler arm. There is a white plastic bushing inside the idler arm assembly, but it doesn't seem visibly worn or damaged. If I lift the idler arm, it can be raised to a position where the belt would not contact the bolt. But, if I let the idler arm sit in it's normal operating position, it will periodically contact that bolt. And, although my JD OE belt had a split in it, it never seemed to fray or burn. I think it just got old (lots of temp variation throughout the year in MN).
Anyone ever encounter this issue? If yes, how did you fix it?
Thanks!
The Dayco belt is spec'ed at 5/8 in. wide and 111 in. long. The Deere OE belt is spec'ed at 5/8 in. wide and 111 1/4 long. The idler doesn't seem to pull the belt overly tight - it seems about the same as the OE belt fit; snug but not tight. The idler arm doesn't seem to be stretching the spring any more than the Deere belt did, so that 1/4 inch in length doesn't seem like the issue.
The strange thing is that there is a fair amount of vertical play in the idler arm. There is a white plastic bushing inside the idler arm assembly, but it doesn't seem visibly worn or damaged. If I lift the idler arm, it can be raised to a position where the belt would not contact the bolt. But, if I let the idler arm sit in it's normal operating position, it will periodically contact that bolt. And, although my JD OE belt had a split in it, it never seemed to fray or burn. I think it just got old (lots of temp variation throughout the year in MN).
Anyone ever encounter this issue? If yes, how did you fix it?
Thanks!