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hi 'yall . have a yth22v46 that threw/destroyed it's belt and now seems like pulleys are out of line? but i dont know the specs when they where new. whether they are all supposed to be in the same plane, horizontally speaking. obviously they should probably all be level with one another and two are no longer, but it also seems two are at different heights? that would not have been because of the incident but it makes little sense unless the belt does not ride in the center of each pulley.

but primarily, the 3rd pulley from the left, which is also the highest is the most out of level/bent but the orange welded bracket seems fine. how could that strong bracket have bent ? any ideas ?

The 3rd pulley from the left is find. It is supposed to be mounted on that angle to guide the belt coming off of the spindle pulley back to the engine pulley. The second pulley from left looks like it maybe setting too low which could be a result of wear in the pivot arm and bushing.

interesting, so it is supposed to be tilted and higher than the others. so the rest should be level in in the same plane with one another? yes, I believe the second from left is bent down, that one i can fix...I previously broke another belt because the front bar that holds the front of the deck, slowly comes loose, so i added a backup nut to the original nut and now it seems to stay put. And so since that is fixed, and i still broke a belt, I wonder why that happened. Something must have gotten caught in there since I no longer believe things are out of alignment.

red rider said:

interesting, so it is supposed to be tilted and higher than the others. so the rest should be level in in the same plane with one another? yes, I believe the second from left is bent down, that one i can fix...I previously broke another belt because the front bar that holds the front of the deck, slowly comes loose, so i added a backup nut to the original nut and now it seems to stay put. And so since that is fixed, and i still broke a belt, I wonder why that happened. Something must have gotten caught in there since I no longer believe things are out of alignment.

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No way to accurately assess the deck pulleys and spindles condition, angles, and correct alignment from this one pitiful little picture.

How old is mower and how many hours on meter?

Check moving point of the idler moving arm for wear. If worn replace it and the stepped washer. This idler is made of soft metal and wear quickly at pivot allowing it to tilt. Notice the idler pulley wear pattern it is all over the full width.

Wild guess: The idler with the most paint still on it was replaced, and the belt retainer guide tab was not set back on the locating hole to make sure it would not drag on the belt.

250 hrs. I have a video but it's not very helpful, as the angles are hard to capture and are deceiving. And there is no reference. the deck itself is sloping, and husqvarna provides no specs on what the ideal spindle angles should be. They should have something that specs that X spindle's should all be in same plane, and the

Auto Doc's said:

Wild guess: The idler with the most paint still on it was replaced, and the belt retainer guide tab was not set back on the locating hole to make sure it would not drag on the belt.

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mower has 250 hours. all pulleys are original and seem to spin freely and dont look particularly worn to my untrained eyes. i have a kit of new pulleys i could put on but at this point, it doesn't seem like they are sticky and responsible for the broken belt. here is pic of the furthest left pulley you are mentioning and next to it the idler pulley and its arm. this one i need to bend back up a touch.....regarding that tensioner pulley. the taughtness of the belt is from the bolt on other side of deck. I had previously been unable to get the belt to engage and determined it was due to the belt being too loose. I then bought a new belt and was not much better. I assume belt manufacturering specs are not perfect and was a touch too big, so i drilled and added a backup bolt behind it so i can pull the tensioner another quarter inch or so, and after that , was able to get the blades to engage. I used it that way for few months and then the belt broke. I dont think it was overtight, but perhaps it was. But i had to tighten it a touch to get the blades to even engage so I dont know how else to have resolved that issue. In any case, sounds like i may just have to relevel the idler pulley, and try a new belt and see what happens

red rider said:

250 hrs. I have a video but it's not very helpful, as the angles are hard to capture and are deceiving. And there is no reference. the deck itself is sloping, and husqvarna provides no specs on what the ideal spindle angles should be. They should have something that specs that X spindle's should all be in same plane, and the

mower has 250 hours. all pulleys are original and seem to spin freely and dont look particularly worn to my untrained eyes. i have a kit of new pulleys i could put on but at this point, it doesn't seem like they are sticky and responsible for the broken belt. here is pic of the furthest left pulley you are mentioning and next to it the idler pulley and its arm. this one i need to bend back up a touch.....regarding that tensioner pulley. the taughtness of the belt is from the bolt on other side of deck. I had previously been unable to get the belt to engage and determined it was due to the belt being too loose. I then bought a new belt and was not much better. I assume belt manufacturering specs are not perfect and was a touch too big, so i drilled and added a backup bolt behind it so i can pull the tensioner another quarter inch or so, and after that , was able to get the blades to engage. I used it that way for few months and then the belt broke. I dont think it was overtight, but perhaps it was. But i had to tighten it a touch to get the blades to even engage so I dont know how else to have resolved that issue. In any case, sounds like i may just have to relevel the idler pulley, and try a new belt and see what happens

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Am I correct to assume this is a manual handle operated deck?

Can you give a full top view of the deck and pullies when you get an opportunity.

The reason the idlers are wide and at a bit of an angle is normal. It compensates for the deck to be set a different cutting heights.

Your belt dilemma and modification have me wondering if you are ordering the correct belt from an actual parts vendor or Amazon.

yes, manual blade engage. ...I've learned that the big main pulley should be at an angle, but you are suggesting that littler idler that the belt tensioner connects to, should also be left at the angle it is at?.... I was just about to 'level' it, but will wait............the last belt (the one that just broke), was taken from this kit. I haven't installed the pulleys etc yet, but i did use this belt.

front left has two holes drilled for holding the tension rod and the front right shows the tensioner pulley , at a slight angle, out of plane with the two outer main pulleys, which are in the same plane. the second from left pulley is intentionally angled

Hello R.,

From this picture, I think the belt retainer tab is clocked in the wrong position for the larger idler pulley. Loosen the pulley partially and see if the retainer tab will align at about the 4 o'clock position. That and the tab should tab be closer to the pulley. They are spring steel, so the pulley may have to fully removed and then the tab bent and test fitted. Most of the belt retainer tabs on a stationary idler have an alignment tit that fits in the hole of the deck mount welded bracket.

this is a pic i got off the web. it's hard to tell because that idler arm swings around when it's not under tension and so i dont know what his would look like when it is in final position





, but it does seem that mine may be different, or installed wrong? I checked manual and service manual and couldn't get a good sense of how it is even supposed to be, so maybe the kids at lowe's who put mine together didnt put it on correct?

The first and third pictures in your post are for the electric clutch version were you have the manual engagement.

Tiger Small Engine said:

No way to accurately assess the deck pulleys and spindles condition, angles, and correct alignment from this one pitiful little picture.

Click to expand...

red rider said:

250 hrs. I have a video but it's not very helpful, as the angles are hard to capture and are deceiving. And there is no reference. the deck itself is sloping, and husqvarna provides no specs on what the ideal spindle angles should be. They should have something that specs that X spindle's should all be in same plane, and the

mower has 250 hours. all pulleys are original and seem to spin freely and dont look particularly worn to my untrained eyes. i have a kit of new pulleys i could put on but at this point, it doesn't seem like they are sticky and responsible for the broken belt. here is pic of the furthest left pulley you are mentioning and next to it the idler pulley and its arm. this one i need to bend back up a touch.....regarding that tensioner pulley. the taughtness of the belt is from the bolt on other side of deck. I had previously been unable to get the belt to engage and determined it was due to the belt being too loose. I then bought a new belt and was not much better. I assume belt manufacturering specs are not perfect and was a touch too big, so i drilled and added a backup bolt behind it so i can pull the tensioner another quarter inch or so, and after that , was able to get the blades to engage. I used it that way for few months and then the belt broke. I dont think it was overtight, but perhaps it was. But i had to tighten it a touch to get the blades to even engage so I dont know how else to have resolved that issue. In any case, sounds like i may just have to relevel the idler pulley, and try a new belt and see what happens

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Belt tension is important for longevity of belt and cut quality. If you had to adjust the engagement cable position or slightly move a spring to get the belt to engage the blades, it was obviously way too loose. There should be about a half inch or so of belt deflection when you push belt, at the longest point between two spindles.

I have found that the el cheapo idler arm needs replacing most of the time along the step. It is a flimsy piece of metal which why it sold for less than $10. Matter of fact I got three of in stock that cost me $2.40 a piece from my last distributor. Now of course they are going to cost $3.60 from my current distributor.

It mostly thin metal that bends easily and the round pivot hole wears oval and also the sides where the step washer goes wears thinner allowing the arm to tilt more over time. So for $20 plus shipping it is well worth it to replace it no matter what.

I've seen these before. Yep, crookeder than a dog's hind leg and made that way at the factory. Best thing you can do is make sure you replace the belt and idlers with OEM parts. Also, sometimes grass gets stuck in the guards, if no children around, don't replace them after removing for belt change. Keep blades sharp and don't let grass get too high between mowing. Although the deck is thicker, sturdier than some others, it's made for manicured lawns in the suburbs, not bush hogging.

so I put the new belt on and did some mowing, seems to be ok so far. So what i learned from this thread is that the angled pulleys on this mower are likely correct and not a result of the violent belt breakage.

the mower is run hard and the deck level is switched alot over the course of several hours. Maybe it was just run too hard. maybe got too hot etc. Its 3 acres of some medium to rough ground in areas.

When you remove the deck you need to either undo the screws or the manual says you can lift the cable at this point -see pic- now i dont see how it will lift up out of that pinched metal holder. Or maybe i'm missing something. So I have to undo both screws. You can see the second screw i added. Now it seems it is centered on that line so I apperently do have it on the factory spec? I only recal haveing to mess with it and added the screw because the blades would not disengage after usage. In any case, seems like the mower is working for now. thanks for the info and ideas on this and related details regarding the mower. Very helpful . thanks

Usually the PTO cable are held in with a clip or in this case a plastic tab that is depressed. Then you pull the part back out and lift the inner wire thru the slot.

Btw that bracket is bent.

I fail to see how the bracket can be adjusted to reduce excess cable slack if the forward bolt is in place as shown.

the front bolt is what i added so that the belt cannot loosen. so now the only adjustment available is to tighten loose belt which was my problem, and the back factory bolt didnt hold well enough on its own.......regarding that clip. still hard to figure out but you are suggesting that plastic piece somehow squeezes out ? upwards? because I dont see the room. Now if it's bent and that slot in the metal should be wider, then I can see maybe how the piece could slide up and out if i straighten and widen that slot in the metal....

The cable bracket should be adjustable. Your deck pulley brake pads are badly grooved, that is what's supposed to stop the blades from turning when the belt is disengaged.

If it's mowing for now, keep using it, but plan on replacing those brake pads the next time you have to work on it.

red rider said:

hi 'yall . have a yth22v46 that threw/destroyed it's belt and now seems like pulleys are out of line? but i dont know the specs when they where new. whether they are all supposed to be in the same plane, horizontally speaking. obviously they should probably all be level with one another and two are no longer, but it also seems two are at different heights? that would not have been because of the incident but it makes little sense unless the belt does not ride in the center of each pulley.

but primarily, the 3rd pulley from the left, which is also the highest is the most out of level/bent but the orange welded bracket seems fine. how could that strong bracket have bent ? any ideas ?

Click to expand...

Remove the two unlevel pulleys and inspect their brackets. It appears the right bracket has a bend in the top.

red rider said:

250 hrs. I have a video but it's not very helpful, as the angles are hard to capture and are deceiving. And there is no reference. the deck itself is sloping, and husqvarna provides no specs on what the ideal spindle angles should be. They should have something that specs that X spindle's should all be in same plane, and the

mower has 250 hours. all pulleys are original and seem to spin freely and dont look particularly worn to my untrained eyes. i have a kit of new pulleys i could put on but at this point, it doesn't seem like they are sticky and responsible for the broken belt. here is pic of the furthest left pulley you are mentioning and next to it the idler pulley and its arm. this one i need to bend back up a touch.....regarding that tensioner pulley. the taughtness of the belt is from the bolt on other side of deck. I had previously been unable to get the belt to engage and determined it was due to the belt being too loose. I then bought a new belt and was not much better. I assume belt manufacturering specs are not perfect and was a touch too big, so i drilled and added a backup bolt behind it so i can pull the tensioner another quarter inch or so, and after that , was able to get the blades to engage. I used it that way for few months and then the belt broke. I dont think it was overtight, but perhaps it was. But i had to tighten it a touch to get the blades to even engage so I dont know how else to have resolved that issue. In any case, sounds like i may just have to relevel the idler pulley, and try a new belt and see what happens

Click to expand...

I suspect the Second from Left Pully has a bent 'axle' . Remove the Pulley, get a piece of 1/2" pipe and carefully straighten the axle bolt. Vertical in all directions.

Have you replaced the spindles? Maybe it's the angle of the camera, but it looks like the spindle pulleys are too low for the idlers. If the deck were bent enough for that much misalignment, it would be very noticeable. I ordered one set of spindles (sans pulleys) that had spacers to go under under the pulleys on the splines. Another had the spacer machined into the spindle shaft. Another was just too tall and the belt wouldn't stay on at all. There's a lot of variations on these spindles, and just because the seller claims it will fit our mower (I have the exact same model as you) that isn't always true. I've returned one set and marveled at the difference in a set that I bought twice off the same seller. Many sellers have absolutely no clue which garage in China they're coming from or just how (in)compatible they really are. There certainly isn't any quality control.

It ain't rocket science, but the axial centers of the idlers and spindle pulleys should be pretty close to being in the same plane. Doesn't have to be exact, but exacter than what I'm looking at. I'd wager that the deck is bent under the tensioner arm or the tensioner arm is twisted. That's too much tilt on the tensioner idler, which is why the paint is worn off across the whole pully face. Then again, the belt is being pulled on the LH side and slack thrown to the RH side to drive the mower. The tensioner bounces a LOT and the pulses from the engine make that belt something to behold when it's running. I don't know how it stays on at all. That too could be the source of the wear on the tensioner idler. The stationary idler looks like the belt is riding a bit low on it, but it's a lot better than the tensioner idler. There's no sign the back of the belt is rubbing the flange of the idler. I don't think I'd worry about that one though it could be a little flatter. The belt is coming off that spindle on the right (which is actually the LH spindle with it mounted on the mower) going toward the engine. That is where the most tension is because the engine is pulling it on that side.

The tension arm is on the RH spindle side. A small rock dent next to the mounting point would make a pretty big difference on that tension arm. These decks are pretty thin, and I've beat out my share of rock dents that affect the alignment. Mine is currently twisted slightly causing some minor cut quality issues. But, I bought it to cut a rough lawn, not a golf green. Up until last year, I had well over 20 trees in the yard which had some negative effects on having a lawn, to say the least. I have almost no topsoil on top of rock filled clay that also appears to have been the city dump at one time, so I'm no stranger to broken belts, bent blades, and broken spindles. I've overhauled my deck at least 5 times.

A half inch of deflection on the deck belt is hooey. What do you think that spring on the actuator cable is for? That's to allow the tensioner arm to bounce while the blades are accelerating to let the belt slip during that time, and also to keep a rock or root from bending the crankshaft of the engine. That belt's a LOT stronger than some think. That belt flaps nearly 2 inches because it's nearly 30 inches from the engine crankshaft to the idlers with little more than some smooth hooks to keep it from falling off when the blades are disengaged.

One problem you MIGHT be having is the worn out brakes. WHEN is the belt breaking? If it's when you engage the blades, it may already be off because last time you disengaged them, the inertia of the blades will throw slack in the belt. If it comes off in the right place, it will jam and likely break next time you try to engage the blades. The brakes never have and never will do much for safety stopping the deck, but they're brakes and all that is required by OPC. Their biggest contribution is preventing the inertia of the blades from throwing the belt off. Try this little trick that I used until I replaced the brakes on mine. Drop the engine speed to idle before engaging/disengaging the blades. That knocks down the inertia that throws the belt off. If it's breaking while mowing, chances are the belt is hitting something sharp under the machine that's cutting it. Gonna have to lift it with the deck off and have a close look at the entire belt path and anything 2 inches either side of that path. It doesn't take much to snag and break that belt, though the machine will normally make some hair-raising noises when that happens.

Belt slippage can also be oil on the crankshaft pulley. It is not uncommon for the sump gasket, oil filter or crankshaft seal on the B&S engines to start drooling oil in places you really don't want oil. I've had the oil filter come loose, I've replaced the sump gasket (when the governor gear grenaded), and now I need a crankshaft seal.

Sorry for the length, but I tried to cover all the issues you described. Like I said, I have the same equipment with nearly twice the hours on it, and have repaired the deck many times when others would have just gone out and bought a new mower of a different brand that came out of the same outsource factory to think they were replacing junk. I'm pretty happy it's still going after 11 years of abuse by me and my yard.

To remove the cable out of the bracket you don't bend the plastic tabs out you squeeze the tabs in and pull the cable out of the bracket.