"Pavel314" wrote in message
. ..
I have a two year old Sears Craftsman lawn tractor with the 42" mowing
deck. It works well with one annoying exception. Almost every time I want
to mow, the drive belt has slipped off of the power take off pulley and is
hanging slightly below it. I have to get off the tractor and reach
underneath to fit the belt back on the pulley. The belt is properly set in
that little J-hook guide thing hanging down on the right side of the PTO
pulley. Sometimes it takes two or three attempts because the belt falls off
when I start the tractor.

Once it engages, it's fine. No slippage, cuts the grass without problems.
I can stop the tractor, disengage the mower drive, and restart with no
more problems. I've replaced the belt with the size recommended in the
user manual but the same thing happens.

Any ideas of why this would be happening?

Paul


Is it possible that the belt tension rod is not in its locked position? If
it is locked, there may be some adjustments to the spring arm or idler arm
under the pulleys to pull them just slightly further apart to increase the
belt tension just slightly enough to stop it from slipping.