Hello. I am wondering if anyone can help me with this problem. We just got our mower back from being serviced and they did quite a few repairs--replaced belts, some springs, bearings, an engine pulley, etc. When we took it for a test run, we found that 1) The PTO belt won't stay on. It comes off the pulley in the rear. It seems tight up front--there is lots of tension (more than before it was serviced) when you engage the PTO lever. 2) When you lower the deck from the highest to the 2nd highest settings (or lower), you lose almost all the power to the blades. There seems to be a belt rubbing somewhere--when we engaged the PTO on the second highest deck setting you could smell the burning rubber--but not all the time. This occurred when going up a little hill but we didn't notice it on level ground.
My question is: are these problems related? Did the wrong belt get put on or did something else not get adjusted properly? We have always had some issues with the PTO belt--we've had to replace it frequently because it will start to come off. But new belts will work for a while before this problem shows up.
The service place is suppose to call me back this afternoon, but so far they haven't been very responsive so I think it would be helpful if I had some idea of what is going on.
I think you could have one to multiple issues going on all at once. possible problems could include:
Deck too low or high in the front causing the belt to be at too steep of an angle.
The deck could be bent causing the pulley that the belt runs on to be sitting on an angle
possible belt guide issue or alignment problem
incorrect belt, which could include the use of a non OEM belt
pulley that has spread allowing the belt to bottom out in the groove.
I think you may have an issue with the belt slipping, which in turn could be causing the belt to overheat, and then roll off the pulleys. The last two things on my list will cause this.
MTD over their various brands, has had issues with belts coming off, due to the belt being at too steep an angle when the deck is at its lowest settings. I have called the MTD dealer tech line on a few of those over the years, and the response most of the time is, I don't have any suggestions, you may just have to try a few things, but be aware will aren't paying for your time on the warranty claim.
