Still trying to get the mower deck right

[JimP2014]

Hi Gord, thanks for your reply I am working on that. I did find you can't actually tighten down the small idler pulley ARM to much because you end up preventing the spring from working. If you tighten it very tight, here is what happens. The arm that the small idler mounts to becomes perfectly secure with no vertical movement in that arm at all. That is great except now the spring cannot travel as it was designed to do because everything is to tight. Remember that arm is spring loaded and that arm has to swivel and for the arm to swivel the bolt can't be to tight. If you need a parts diagram for what I mean, let me know. Both pulleys need to be tight, the small idler pulley mounts to a lever that then mounts to the mower deck. The large idler pulley mounts to the mower deck directly. And this happens to be tilted and not parallel to all the other pulleys. All these pulleys ( 4 ) of them all need to be in the same plane.

I'm not sure what I'm actually uploading but what I did was I took a piece of cardboard and I put it on one side and it goes underneath the belt guide and a washer and I tried to introduce an angle that overall would make the pulley parallel to the mower deck but that's not the final version the final version will be using an old feeler gauge and figuring out the right thickness using that and the idea is to introduce an angle will help solve the problem.
Jim

 

[JimP2014]

I'm not sure what I'm actually uploading but what I did was I took a piece of cardboard and I put it on one side and it goes underneath the belt guide and a washer and I tried to introduce an angle that overall would make the pulley parallel to the mower deck but that's not the final version the final version will be using an old feeler gauge and figuring out the right thickness using that and the idea is to introduce an angle will help solve the problem.
Jim

Okay here's my final idea I'm going to take duct tape maybe one strip maybe two strips I don't know + attach it to the underneath side of the belt guide on the side that it needs to go and then lock everything down and see if it fixes the problem with the pulley that is not tracking parallel to the mower deck after that everything should be okay there should be no noises + the mower deck should be complete.

 

[JimP2014]

So if the pulley doesn't track the way it should this is how I solve the problem with duct tape I put multiple layers directly onto the mower deck frame on one side of it + it works now as far as tracking parallel to the mower deck so hopefully this solves one of the problems with constant ring noise when the blades were engaged.

 

[Rivets]

Fixing a deck with duck tape? Red Green would be proud to you.

 

[JimP2014]

Fixing a deck with duck tape? Red Green would be proud to you.

For me I see no other solution I don't have the skills to somehow braise some sort of shim to get the angle back. And the truth is this mower deck is of such quality that duct tape is clearly appropriate for it. Years ago Amoco used to have a commercial where the guy says I always wanted to work on a transmission well I too had that dream but with the mower deck.

 

[JimP2014]

For me I see no other solution I don't have the skills to somehow braise some sort of shim to get the angle back. And the truth is this mower deck is of such quality that duct tape is clearly appropriate for it. Years ago Amoco used to have a commercial where the guy says I always wanted to work on a transmission well I too had that dream but with the mower deck.

Rivets you have no idea the things I've found so with the other small idler pulley and with the mower deck completely separated from the chassis that bolt you can only tighten it so tight otherwise it interferes with the action of the spring so if you tighten it as much as you can reasonably and then move the small idler pulley back and forth you'll notice the bolt backs itself out so I don't think duct tape would work for this one I think maybe a little tiny c-clamp that's my idea on that.

 

[Doofy]

On my 42 inch Craftsman Deck, my horrendous screeching racket was caused by cracked welds on an idler bracket. It also caused the spindle pulley to chew through the brake arm. It took me several "looks" and multiple head scratches to decipher the problem. I love my Hobart Handler 140 wire feed welder for these types of problems.

 

[JimP2014]

On my 42 inch Craftsman Deck, my horrendous screeching racket was caused by cracked welds on an idler bracket. It also caused the spindle pulley to chew through the brake arm. It took me several "looks" and multiple head scratches to decipher the problem. I love my Hobart Handler 140 wire feed welder for these types of problems.

See I don't have those skills so you know not much I can do there but I believe you.

 

[Johner]

Hello I have an lt2000 19.5 horsepower hp Craftsman.

The mower deck is a 42-in cutting with deck.

For more than a month I've had the deck separated from the frame of the mower.

I have replaced both spindles I have replaced the large idler pulley, I have replaced the small idler pulley.

I have replaced the belt it may not be the original belt but it's a Kevlar belt and it's 100.25 in Long.

It is a deep v belt and I'm replacing what I put on last year with a brand new one, I don't recall this ringing noise problem last year.

So I just ran the machine with the mower deck engaged there's hardly anything to cut because everything's so dry so any stress put on the mower deck or the engine is 99%. Whatever this problem is with this ringing noise.

I ran the machine for about 5 minutes essentially cutting nothing because everything is brown but one thing I was asked to do was after I shut the machine down to see what the temperature is of the belt now I could have used a thermal gun but I use my finger and I can comfortably keep my finger on the belt for say 20 seconds and then I have to take it off because it's just getting too hot so if I need to get an exact temperature using a thermal gun I can do that.

But the problem is this ringing noise and to identify whether or not is coming from the mower deck some component on the mower deck so when I'm not engaging the blade there is no ringing noise.

When I engage the blade the ringing noise begins. I'm assuming the problem is the mower deck but I could be wrong.

This last time that I slid the mower deck back underneath the chassis I noticed that the front rod would not connect to the front of the mower deck so I had to loosen the setting on it it's as if the mower deck took up a new position say a half inch to an inch towards the rear tires I don't know how this could happen but I adjusted that front rod so that I could slip it through the front of the mower deck.

Maybe I needed to lift the front of the mower deck up a bit and it would have connected just fine but I adjusted it so the front rod is a little bit longer now effectively.

I hope to post videos of the lt2000 Craftsman running without the mower deck engaged and then when I engage it and then get videos of both sides of the mower deck but the belt is scored it's roughed up it's got a black band around the outside. And I've read everything about what that means but I can't seem to fix it.

Model # 917289070 Official Craftsman tractor

I can live with this ringing noise as long as the ringing noise isn't contributing to the burnt belt and I did notice that this 100.25 in belt might be slightly long however last summer it did work I bought three belts that were too short and this 100.25 in belt did work so I went with that as the length of belt I need maybe because there is some slack I need say a 99 in belt or a '99.5 in belt but if you go by the recommendations from Craftsman and going back to last Summer I believe you end up with a belt that is way too short so that's why I'm guessing on the belt.

Jim

Only one way to measure belts, do you still hove the old one that worked? If yes, get a tape used to measure fabrics, yes it is a cloth tape Singer makes one. Measure the out side of the belt with the tape.
I have tried two ways, one roling the belt on a bench got one measurement,,Came out the wrong size, used the cloth tape measurement was right size. This way came from a belt supplier.

 

[JimP2014]

Only one way to measure belts, do you still hove the old one that worked? If yes, get a tape used to measure fabrics, yes it is a cloth tape Singer makes one. Measure the out side of the belt with the tape.
I have tried two ways, one roling the belt on a bench got one measurement,,Came out the wrong size, used the cloth tape measurement was right size. This way came from a belt supplier.

Johner,
Thanks for the reply I don't know if I still have the old belt because the one that is partially shredded I'm still using and I don't know where the other one went it was from last year. I could tell you according to the product description from when I bought this belt it's 100.25 in by 1/2 in and I bought a belt here locally + 100 in by 5/8 in and it doesn't fit at all and for that one I figured I need 102 in by 5/8 in but I'm going to stick with what I have right now just to see if all the other stuff is working but you make some good points.

Jim