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.
MTD Riding Mower Engine Pulley Gets real hot within a minute
- Thread starter jpregler
- Start date
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.
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.
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.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
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.