Mule Drive
 

Ok guys. Ive been trying to figure this out...the PO of my 1650 welded both the pulleys to where they move together. i mean its nice but it wears belts out alot (bout 4 a season) and idk what to do. ive got a spare mule drive that is set up correctly. so any help on these things will be great

I would use the other one. The mules drives are set up so that one pulley is manually adjusted to align the belt to feed onto the PTO properly. The other is spring loaded to keep tension on the belt. If it doesn't float there is no way to keep tension correct as the deck moves around.

I wonder if there isn't something else that is wearing out the belts? Welding the two idlers so they move together shouldn't cause that, or at least it seems implausible. Are you using IH CC belts? I've heard that generic belts don't hold up as well. I don't know because I've always bought the IH belts. Depending on how many hours you put on your mower, I suppose 4/season might not be bad if you put like 400 hours/yr on the belts. I'm guessing my belts last about 3-4 years at 25-30/hr per year.

They may move together but are they doing it under screw or spring tension? without the spring it could be an issue. cToo tight one minute too loose the next.

I had the same thoughts on the belt. OEM are kevlar belts. There is a reason they are spendy! It's a high speed belt not a low speed one. Big difference in construction.

well see ive tried kevlar belts before from the PTO to the deck and it just shreads them with in 30 minutes. i dont use IH belts cuz the only dealer is about an hour drive away...i was going to switch the drives out anyway since its my main mower. ive ran into this problem many times this past year and just thought id get some advice, ive read up on the diagram on here and i can see how it works....cuz one side of the belt wears fast and i keep having to adjust it alot and this season i put a new belt on and mowed 3 times and had it adjusted to the max and it was still loose, still mowed but hated tall grass...i want it fixed before i pull the mower from my shop to start tear down on another one