I was recently given a LT155 with the 42" "freedom" deck. This deck uses a timing belt to drive the left blade and keep the blades from colliding. Well, the timing was off somehow and the blades were in direct contact. The blades were badly mangled, so I'm concerned that the deck may have gotten bent or the spindles damaged. A straightedge across the top of the timing belt pulleys shows an inward inclination of about 1.5 degrees on the left pulley and about 0.7 degrees on the right. Spinning by hand, the timing belt appears to track fine, so maybe it's okay as-is or even designed that way?
I'm assuming the timing got knocked out of whack because an object was hit. The timing belt looks fine and the spindles turn smoothly. If the deck is bent, I'm not sure how I'd bend it back -- maybe a 2x4 attached to the blade as a lever? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Re set the timing and install new blades , if the spindles turn and feel smooth they're probably ok I've never seen this set up but after installing the new blades spin by hand and see how it looks then run it and test the cutting - if it looks ok , I'd say run it .
