Mule Drive Problems on my 149
 

I recently (yesterday) bought a 149 with what I think is a 44" deck. I measured the deck at the back from end to end. I have a couple of problems with the deck. 1...I don't think the pto belt that's on it is the right one. The belt is tight and it rubs against the rod that holds the mule drive pulleys in place and the end of the tension adjustment bolt is almost flush with the adjustment nut. So my questions in regard to this problem are...did I measure the deck correctly and do I have a 44" deck?... and...what size belt do I need for the pto drive? My second question is...I noticed the front part of the mule drive frame that wraps around the front of the tractor moves when I raise/lower the mower. Is this piece of the frame supposed to be attached to the "Frankenstein" bolts on the fornt of the tractor? If so, is this done easily? Any help you guys/gals can give me would be greatly appreciated since I'd like to get some mowing done this week. Thanks in advance.

It would be most helpful if you could some pictures of your set up.

BTW...the bolts that the Mule Drive mount to are "stud bolts" and NOT Frankenstein bolts. Frankenstein bolts are used in the back of a WF Cub for the Cast Iron Upper Link.

To measure the width of cut you measure from end of left blade to the end of the right blade. And for the belt rubing, it sounds like the belt is to short and they forced it on to the pulleys. My 129 that I purchased had to small of mule drive pulleys off of something else. And that alowed the belt to rub the shaft because the belt was to long and tension adjustment was maxed out.

I tried to put an early deck from a 126 on a 1200, found out real quick the pulley was not as centered on the earlier deck and it caused belt rubbing and damage after only an hour of use..I wonder if maybe you are experiencing the opposite problem with your mule drive not aligning with a later deck.Take a real good look at the belt alignment, especially from the sideand front to back....

THe 44 deck is a stamped shell deck with lots of rounded edges, while the earlier decks were heavier steel, square edges, shaped more triangular..... And the earlier ones have a heavy cast iron section that holds the roller and hanging brackets. I don't know enough about 149's to tell you what yours should have...

I put my deck off of my 129 on my 1650 and it worked flawlessly. I had to use the Mule Drive from the 129 and the Belt. My 1650 deck had a Stamped steel deck with a smaller pully than my trianle shaped deck off the 129.

Sorry for the misnomer. I only called them Frankenstein bolts because they look like the bolts on Frankenstein's neck. I didn't know there were actual Frankenstein bolts. Anyway, thanks for the replies. Come to find out it's a 38" deck. The prev owner had installed the mower's frame incorrectly and it wasn't settling back into position the way it was supposed to. When I fixed that, I found that the belt that was on it was actually the correct one and was able to adjust the tension enough (without overtightening) to bring the pulleys out past the rod they were rubbing against.