My Snapper lives!

[Snapperfreak]

I've had my share of snapper frustrations. If u can just grind that off and start over I would go that route. Sounds much easier and quicker.

 

[combatcarl]

Yeah, that's what I'm doing next. Just have to make sure they're not going to take my whole arm and leg, to get a replacement. Gotta see what my price options are...

 

[combatcarl]

OK! So I didn't grind it off. Instead, (and I recommend doing this to your machines when needed) I drilled a 1/2 hole in the deck, directly under the arc of the idler pulley shaft. A little caressing with a round file, and the pulley bolt slid right out. Otherwise, the only way to remove the idler is to remove the ENTIRE drive plate and mount. I'll put up some pics of the modification in a bit. SO MUCH EASIER. Also put on the belt, and it drives itself! Need to adjust the driven wheel, as its right at the edge of the plate at high speed. Thanks, everybody!

 

[combatcarl]

As promised, here's the pictures. The owner(s) previous to me had cut the drive belt, so long ago that the idler pulley had completely frozen. No rotation at all. Turns out, I had exactly $8.94 left on an amazon gift card, precisely enough to buy the pulley I needed, and cover shipping! So that came in Tuesday... Today after harassing my dad for a while, I stopped by a local shop, Snapper dealer, and they had one of the belts I needed. $9 later, I thought it was a slam dunk. But wait, not yet.
The design of the drive disc requires that it's top has a certain, wider, diameter than it's base. The tensioner (idler) pulley's location is such, that, it sits under the edge of the drive disc. Using a carriage bolt to hold it on, there is no way to remove it without removing the entire drive/idler pulley mount bracket. So that's what I initially tried. My problem arose when I was unable to find a wrench that would fit beneath the drive disc, to grip the two flats machined in the bushing. I don't know what size that is, but I didn't want to grind a wrench down to fit under there. So after some angry words at the designer of that bit of mongoloid engineering, I decided some modification was in order. With a center punch, 1/8" and 1/2" bit, I went to work. Required a little finish sizing with a file, but it's perfect now. Removing the spring from the idler pulley allows one to swing to bracket around to the hole, dropping the bolt through, after the removal of it's nut. Aaaaand, pictures.

After re-assembly, the location of the hole.

From the bottom

The old pulley, removed. Two vise-grips can't turn that thing.
Note: If you do this without modifying the deck, grinding a wrench to fit, or going crazy, please tell me how you succeed, should you ever find this. Should you try this, and find my solution, I feel your pain. That's why I did this. Dealers and professional-tool-havers excluded.

 

[combatcarl]

And as a side note, dealer had a new commercial 21" mower out front, so damn cool! I didn't even want to know the price, but it was pretty. Dang. Wicked awesome. Big OHV Honda, drink holder....so sexy. :drool:

 

[Snapperfreak]

Awesome job! Sometimes u gotta think outside the box. Good work. And IMHO your mower is every bit as good as that shiny new mower that's probably close to $1,000. They don't build 'me like they use to. I also adjusted the net screw on my 21401P as u did and now it runs perfectly. Thank u!

 

[combatcarl]

Well, I like mine, I reeeeally don't want to part with it, just too awesome. All my youthful time pushing old craftsmans, etc, I always wished I could have a kickass Snapper. But if I were to make a business, I'd drop the coin for a brand new commercial Snapper. Always thought the red looked good. Oil change and new spark plug today, gotta wait til neighbor wakes up to try 'er out. Love duplexes.

 

[Snapperfreak]

I grew up the same. Flimsy craftsman mowers, all the while drooling over the snappers I would see. Guess I made up for it later in life.

 

[combatcarl]

Yeah. I think my best mower as a kid was an old yellow coast to coast pusher. Indestructible, but it took a toll on you in an afternoon. Tore it apart a few thousand times before it just gave up the ghost one day.

 

[combatcarl]

So I pulled the muffler off today, took off the deflection cover, and sure enough, it was a straight hole all the way through, with remnants of the baffle rattling around. So I snatched one from a donor, affixed the deflector, and now its quiet! Now, the funky square plate behind it was broken, is that an important part? I put back what was left, because I wasn't sure..