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MTD Riding Mower Engine Pulley Gets real hot within a minute

#1

J

jpregler

I have a MTD Yard Machines 14HP Riding Mower I bought in Fall of 2002. I believe it is a Model 660F, exact model is 134AM660F062. Last fall I replaced all 3 of the belts on it because when engaging the drive it was starting to slip quite a bit. At least one of the belts was in real bad condition. The book that came with it had some pretty good instructions, and after a weekend, I was able to replace all 3 belts and have everything back together. Everything works well right now, except for one thing. When I start up the mower, without engaging either the drive nor the blades, the engine pulley in the front will start to heat up fairly quickly. Last fall before I put it away, I drove it over to the storage shed and the pulley was so hot, that the new belt was starting to smoke a bit. I tried to loosen and re-tighten the engine pulley bolt on the bottom, thinking that it maybe too tight, but it is still heating up. The belts don't seem to be too tight and the pulley does turn. Any ideas? I thought I'd try this forum first, and then if I'm not having any luck, I'll be taking it to a shop. Thanks!


#2

I

ILENGINE

Have seen a few where the engine pulley gets worn or for some ready the groove will get wider allowing the belt to bottom out in the pulley which causes belt slip and a lot of heat.


#3

O

ols420

mine is doing the same thing, did u ever find the problem?


#4

R

redfish9

Ilengine is right on this one,if the pully has a bearing you might check it also


#5

O

ols420

it doesnt appear the belt is bottoming out, seems to run on the same area as always. the front pulley doesnt have bearings, it slips onto the shaft aligned with the groove in the shaft. there is a spacer between the pulley and bottom of the engine but it is a solid piece not a bearing. any more suggestions? possibly a silly question but could their be bearings somewhere in the shaft or possibly a bent shaft that would cause friction creating the high temp. thanks for any help and suggestions you can offer


#6

I

Ifixdit

ols420 said:
it doesnt appear the belt is bottoming out, seems to run on the same area as always. the front pulley doesnt have bearings, it slips onto the shaft aligned with the groove in the shaft. there is a spacer between the pulley and bottom of the engine but it is a solid piece not a bearing. any more suggestions? possibly a silly question but could their be bearings somewhere in the shaft or possibly a bent shaft that would cause friction creating the high temp. thanks for any help and suggestions you can offer
Click to expand...

If you had a bent shaft I believe you would definitely feel a vibration with the engine running. Since there are no bearings then you have obviously ruled that out as a possibility. I agree with the belt riding too deeply in the pulley theory. To test that out, remove the belt from the engine pulley and let it run for a few minutes then shut it off and see if its hot. I would bet not. If its not, you either have a worn belt or most likely, the pulley is worn and allowing the belt to run too deeply in the groove and is getting hung up in the pulley even though it appears that it is not. Let us know what you find.


#7

O

ols420

ill try it in the morning with the belt off, today when i was tinkering with it i let it idle and had the center piece off so i could view the belts from the top. i could see that the belts werent turning while it was in idle and the blades disengaged and it stilll got hot in a couple minutes


#8

O

ols420

i dont know what i did to upset the mower gods but i apologize for whatever it was. spent all morning getting the old push mower up and running so the dog wouldnt get lost in the grass. so i did get around to running the rider with no belts on at all and same result. within 2-3 mins of just sitting there when shut it of the double pulley was extremely hot. since there is no bearings and the belts were off im afraid it just leaves the shaft. their isnt any vibration so im not sure if its bent or if it isnt bent what it is. ive already reached the peak of my knowledge on this subject days ago, lol. any other thoughts i have are just random guesses. hope someone can give me an idea of where to go from here other than the obvious, tie it to the back of the motorcycle and take it to a shop. thanks


#9

Carscw

Carscw

When did this start with the pulley getting hot?

Was it when you changed the belt?
Did you change the belt ?

If you did change the belt what brand did you get and where did you get it?

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))


#10

Carscw

Carscw

Sorry I need to read everything before I run my mouth.

If you did not put a MTD belt on then there is your problem.

Or the belt is a half inch to short or you got a 5/8 belt and not a 1/2 belt.

Did you look at the number on the belt or just on the cardboard

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))


#11

I

Ifixdit

ols420 said:
i dont know what i did to upset the mower gods but i apologize for whatever it was. spent all morning getting the old push mower up and running so the dog wouldnt get lost in the grass. so i did get around to running the rider with no belts on at all and same result. within 2-3 mins of just sitting there when shut it of the double pulley was extremely hot. since there is no bearings and the belts were off im afraid it just leaves the shaft. their isnt any vibration so im not sure if its bent or if it isnt bent what it is. ive already reached the peak of my knowledge on this subject days ago, lol. any other thoughts i have are just random guesses. hope someone can give me an idea of where to go from here other than the obvious, tie it to the back of the motorcycle and take it to a shop. thanks
Click to expand...

Since the belts are already off, can you drop the pulley and inspect it up close to determine if it may be bent or out of round? Look inside the pulley where it bolts to the engine. There should be a built in key that keeps it from moving on the crankshaft. Look to see if it looks like it might be knocking around on the crankshaft instead of a smooth fit. You can also look at the crankshaft under the engine to see if there is any unusual wear there.


#12

O

ols420

i have had this mower about 8 years, i go through the deck belt about every three years. never changed the drive belt or small trans belt. i noticed it struggling up inclines a bit at the end of last summer, very slight inclines, i live in kansas:) i decided while i was getting the mower ready for this season to go ahead and replace all three as a preventative measure. so i got it all together seemed to work great, first day out no problems, i have about 3/4 acre. didnt think to check it for wear when i was done. went out the next weekend, got about 2 laps done and the new deck belt broke and went flying off. got a new one put in on but didnt mow just started checking and troubleshooting to see if i could deterjmine what was wrong before i wasted another belt. as far as belts go i have double and triple checked them they are not what originally was used when the mower was built but MTD changed the part numbers from a 754 starting to a 954 and that is what mtd says to use. on to the pulley, it is still straight and round through the middle that bolts to the shaft. the outer parts that the belts set in look like they have been around for 10 years or so. the edges have a couple dings or dents but dont seemto be far enough in that it would cause the belt to run or sit flat in the groove but that is a very uneducated guess. the inside of the pulley or key looks fine slides up the channel in the shaft with little to no effort and their is no play or slop side to side once it is on. i notice the heat issue with the pulley while trouble shooting what caused the belt to break. it seems to me and again uneducated that as hot as it gets in a couple minutes of just idle-ing with no belts on at all that it would be hot enough to weaken and break a belt that was being subject to that kind of heat and added tension of mowing for about an hour to hour and a half which is about how long it takes to mow front and back. so onto the shaft. i called mtd and talked to one of their service techs for about 45 minutes only to find out he is looking at the pulleys in the back. 45 minutes of my life will never get back, lol. so i went to a service center hear in town that works on mtd and asked him about the shaft heatinging up. i asked if that was normal and he said ya, if something is wrong thats normal. if not it shouldnt get that hot, why dont you bring it in and let us look at it. jackass. so all i gathered from him is it isnt normal. when i visulally inspect it it looks fine but i dont know what its supposed to look like. i wish i could let it idle and be able to look at it to see if it is bent. their doesnt seem to be a vibration sooooo..... ya thats about where i am and extremely frustrated. i appreciate everyone that is taking time out to try to figure this out. thanks again and keep the ideas coming.


#13

I

Ifixdit

ols420 said:
i have had this mower about 8 years, i go through the deck belt about every three years. never changed the drive belt or small trans belt. i noticed it struggling up inclines a bit at the end of last summer, very slight inclines, i live in kansas:) i decided while i was getting the mower ready for this season to go ahead and replace all three as a preventative measure. so i got it all together seemed to work great, first day out no problems, i have about 3/4 acre. didnt think to check it for wear when i was done. went out the next weekend, got about 2 laps done and the new deck belt broke and went flying off. got a new one put in on but didnt mow just started checking and troubleshooting to see if i could deterjmine what was wrong before i wasted another belt. as far as belts go i have double and triple checked them they are not what originally was used when the mower was built but MTD changed the part numbers from a 754 starting to a 954 and that is what mtd says to use. on to the pulley, it is still straight and round through the middle that bolts to the shaft. the outer parts that the belts set in look like they have been around for 10 years or so. the edges have a couple dings or dents but dont seemto be far enough in that it would cause the belt to run or sit flat in the groove but that is a very uneducated guess. the inside of the pulley or key looks fine slides up the channel in the shaft with little to no effort and their is no play or slop side to side once it is on. i notice the heat issue with the pulley while trouble shooting what caused the belt to break. it seems to me and again uneducated that as hot as it gets in a couple minutes of just idle-ing with no belts on at all that it would be hot enough to weaken and break a belt that was being subject to that kind of heat and added tension of mowing for about an hour to hour and a half which is about how long it takes to mow front and back. so onto the shaft. i called mtd and talked to one of their service techs for about 45 minutes only to find out he is looking at the pulleys in the back. 45 minutes of my life will never get back, lol. so i went to a service center hear in town that works on mtd and asked him about the shaft heatinging up. i asked if that was normal and he said ya, if something is wrong thats normal. if not it shouldnt get that hot, why dont you bring it in and let us look at it. jackass. so all i gathered from him is it isnt normal. when i visulally inspect it it looks fine but i dont know what its supposed to look like. i wish i could let it idle and be able to look at it to see if it is bent. their doesnt seem to be a vibration sooooo..... ya thats about where i am and extremely frustrated. i appreciate everyone that is taking time out to try to figure this out. thanks again and keep the ideas coming.
Click to expand...

It doesn't seem to make sense for it to get hot without anything attached to it especially since there are no bearings on the pulley. Based on that info I believe I would put another pulley on there and run it without any belts attached and see what happens.


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