Mine is a 1987 Yardman (wonder if it was manufactured before purchased by MTD), and occassionally, a stick will get under the deck, caught by the belt that drives the blades, and cause the belt to run off the right side pulley. This happened today as I was five minutes into mowing my lawn. For the life of me, I could not get the belt over both that right pulley and the front pulley (the one that is attached directly to the engine). I checked for tips on YouTube, but found nothing that really applied to my mower. Most videos showed some sort of lever that stretched a spring and moved one of the pulleys to "create" some slack in the belt to get it onto the last pulley. Everything is fixed on my mower, no lever. I struggled for the better part of an hour with this before finally giving up and calling my local dealer to schedule pickup/repair.
Then, having cooled down a bit, I realized that I had been trying to accomplish this with the deck lowered to the ground (blade lever all the way forward). This made space for my hands, but, of course, that position puts the most tension on the belt. I gave it one more try, deck all the way down to get the belt on the right pulley with the belt off the front pulley (the one that connects directly to the engine). After working the belt onto the right pulley, I moved the blade lever all the way back (the position you use to disengage the blades). Obviously, this position gives the most slack in the belt. It was no chore at all to work the belt onto that front pulley, and I was done.
Those of you who regularly work on your own mowers are probably yawning at this point, and, perhaps, this story is totally the result of a senior moment on my part (I'm 71 years young), but I post this here in case someone else with my level of inexperience in these things, is similarly confounded. Perhaps this will help.
BTW, I wanted to remove those three belt guard bolts that are around the right pulley. I was able to loosen them, but no amount of turning would allow them to actually come out. What am I missing?
Belt is back on, and I mowed for about two hours, no more sticks, no more problem. I was happy to call the dealer and cancel his repair.
(MTD manufactured my mower, as they purchased MTD back in 1975)
Caruso
Then, having cooled down a bit, I realized that I had been trying to accomplish this with the deck lowered to the ground (blade lever all the way forward). This made space for my hands, but, of course, that position puts the most tension on the belt. I gave it one more try, deck all the way down to get the belt on the right pulley with the belt off the front pulley (the one that connects directly to the engine). After working the belt onto the right pulley, I moved the blade lever all the way back (the position you use to disengage the blades). Obviously, this position gives the most slack in the belt. It was no chore at all to work the belt onto that front pulley, and I was done.
Those of you who regularly work on your own mowers are probably yawning at this point, and, perhaps, this story is totally the result of a senior moment on my part (I'm 71 years young), but I post this here in case someone else with my level of inexperience in these things, is similarly confounded. Perhaps this will help.
BTW, I wanted to remove those three belt guard bolts that are around the right pulley. I was able to loosen them, but no amount of turning would allow them to actually come out. What am I missing?
Belt is back on, and I mowed for about two hours, no more sticks, no more problem. I was happy to call the dealer and cancel his repair.
(MTD manufactured my mower, as they purchased MTD back in 1975)
Caruso
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