Well, that was staring me in the face and I didn't see it! I have an older Troy Bilt GTX-18 (aka Bolens Duratrac) and need flat-belt idler pulleys (1/2" bore, 5" dia) for the mower deck. After finding them for $22-45 online, I decided to check here for any tips on pulley quality, because I'm kinda afraid of buying junk, also - Kenny's well-stated logic notwithstanding. I did use a drill press to drill through the flat (thinner) side of the rivet after marking the centers with a punch, and then drove them out with the same punch. I also had to drill out five spot welds along the rim. I used the same drill bit even though it was smaller than the spot weld because I hope to use all the same size machine screws to reassemble the pulley. Because of that I had to work carefully around the seam with a small cold chisel to get the halves to pop apart. That's it so far - now to find the right bearing & center bushing.
Buying Advice V-idler pulley
- Thread starter silver1
- Start date
An interesting surprise - the bearings from the PTO idlers I replaced (2-1/2" OD with 3/8" center bushings) are the same as in the 5" flat idler. All I had to do was drive out the 3/8" bushing and replace it with the 1/2" shouldered one from the damaged bearing in the 5" pulley. Everything is bolted back up and ready to be installed.
It's been mowing since June with no problems. If you have time and don't mind fiddling with things, or if you don't want to wait for parts, this a great suggestion to get you mowing again. Thanks for posting the suggestion.
SeniorCitizen
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