On 7 Apr 2005 05:59:34 -0700, wrote:

I have a Craftsman 48 inch cut riding lawn mover. Last year, the belt
that drives the tranmission had a tendancy to sometimes slip off when I
would puch the clutch in to change years or stop.

Last week that belt broke. I bought a new one and had a terrible
terrible time putting it on last night. I finally thought I had it on.
I started it and put it in reverse and nothing happeened. I noticed the
belt had come off. So, either I did not have the blet on right or there
is some other problem. It seems like a simple system, it goes around
the engine pulley, around an idler and around one that is attached to
the clutch then aound the transmssion pulley. There does not seep to be
a tensioner per se, just the clutch pulley.

What can I do to adjust or fix this?

Also is there an easier way to put this belt on? I had a terrible time
reaching under there with my hands. There is not alot of room and those
wire rods that I guess help keep the belt on the pulley were hard to
get around.

No there's not a easy way to do it. The easiest is if you can raise
the mower up in the air and take the deck off but that's out for most
people.

There's probably a adjustment or two on the clutch setup. Usually
there will be two adjustments one for the brake and one for the clutch
pulley itself. They are interdependent so when adjust one the other
will probably need changing as well.

Assuming you ran the belt in the correct pattern the single biggest
problem I see on these is that people change the belt and just bend
the little wire rods as you call them out of the way. In most cases
you're better off loosening the rods (they're held on with double nuts
on the body) and you will nearly always have to take one or both of
the idlers off to get the belt past the metal finger that holds it on.
If the rods and other belt retainers have been bent then you will have
to bend them back. They are what keeps the belt in place when you push
in the clutch.


Wayne Cook
Shamrock, TX
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook