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.

Do you know the model number? If you provide that we might be able to look
at a parts diagram on the Sears site and give some suggestions. It should
be something like 113.226423.

Best Regards,
Keith Marshall


"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"


wrote in message
ups.com...
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.

wrote in message
ups.com...
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.

Snip

Sounds like my Sears mower. Pull the gear shift cover off, it's the only
way to both see and understand the path of the drive belt. There is a belt
path guide on the mower deck and in the manual, look it up as the right way
to put the belt on is somewhat convoluted. Auto parts stores have the
replacement belts at half of Sears parts online.


Ed Angell

Model number: 917272233

Thanks!

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

wrote in message
ups.com...
| 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.
SNIP
| What can I do to adjust or fix this?


I seem to recall working on my mother's riding lawnmower a few years ago
while on vacation. Seems that after a long, long, careful examination of
how it appeared to work I discovered that a cotter pin was missing, allowing
the belt to slip off, and if in the right location when it did, that it
would damage the belt. Sears provided me with a simple cotter pin (there
was something else, maybe a washer? Can't recall.) after a couple day's
wait and I put it on. It was quite some time ago, so there's no way I'll be
able to give any more details than that.

Well it seemed like a good idea at the time but the parts drawing for that
mower is pretty useless for belt routing. Sorry. :-(

But it might help you to sort out what's under there. You can view it by
going to http://www.sears.com, clicking on the parts link and entering
917272233 as the model number. The section you want is called "Ground
drive".

Best Regards,
Keith Marshall


"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"


wrote in message
ups.com...
Model number: 917272233

Thanks!

wrote in message
ups.com...
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.


Just encountered this very problem with my neighbor's mower. The pulley on
the transmission had slid up on the shaft causing a misalignment in the belt
path. Are any of the edges of any of the pulleys starting to get sharp? If
so, check which pulley is out of alignment with the rest of them.

Shawn

My first thought was the belt guides. They can be fussy to adjust, and
should NEVER be bent out of the way. I forgot to reset one on my Cub
and the belt kept jumping off until I got smart enough to take a closer
look.
Bugs