John Deere SX95 Mower Drive belts burning up

markmisky

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I have an old John Deere SX95 riding lawn mower with the common 38" mowing deck. Last year my mower drive belt (M112006) burned up while mowing. I have now burned up 2 more drive belts in less than maybe 20 mowing of 1/2 acre. I have the belt installed per the manual.
Can anyone give me any suggestions on what part may be bad that allows the belt to burn up? Seems like running the mower with the drive belt DISENGAGED does it but I'm not sure. It also slips off when stopping the mower to say empty the bag. Then when you reengage it it won't run. Then put it back on and it burns up.

Thanks
 

TheCaffeinatedOne

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Pull the deck and check each of the pulleys. You have two drive pulleys and two idler pulleys. The idler pulleys are spring loaded to keep the belt tight, and to yield with changes in torque, to save the belt. It sounds as if one or both idler mechanisms are gunked up and are not operating freely. If you have a stuck pulley, that will also heat up like crazy. If you are burning belts you should see some evidence of that level of heat on whatever is creating the problem. Another possibility is that the serpentine belt is threaded incorrectly. Sometimes we are careful about looking after the tractor but forget to grease and clean the mower deck... (inserts admission of guilt here).
 

danaman77

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Pull the deck and check each of the pulleys. You have two drive pulleys and two idler pulleys. The idler pulleys are spring loaded to keep the belt tight, and to yield with changes in torque, to save the belt. It sounds as if one or both idler mechanisms are gunked up and are not operating freely. If you have a stuck pulley, that will also heat up like crazy. If you are burning belts you should see some evidence of that level of heat on whatever is creating the problem. Another possibility is that the serpentine belt is threaded incorrectly. Sometimes we are careful about looking after the tractor but forget to grease and clean the mower deck... (inserts admission of guilt here).

Im having a similar issue in that I burn up then cut through the deck belt but only in reverse. Deck disengaged or engaged does not seem to matter. I have rebuilt the deck with new spindles and both the idler wheels turn freely. Mower operate properly with all other functions. I have gone through four belts and can not figure out why in reverse Im losing them. Any help would be greatly appreciated
 
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