Tensioner pulley for gt54 on 1863
 

My new tensioner pulley arrived and I'm thinking about the best way to change it. It seems too close to the deck to be able to take off nut holding just the pulley on, get the old one off, and the new one on. So I'm thinking I'll have to take the whole spring loaded arm off, then figure out a way to get it back on under tension. Is there any crafty/easy way to do this that doesn't involve that spring breaking one or more fingers?

Apparently not. So just to close the thread, I removed the blade and pulley closest to the tensioner pulley, then removed the bracket that holds the pulley cover on, which allows the tensioner arm to rotate enough to release tension on the spring. Then remove the spring bolt, remove the arm, change out the tensioner pulley, and assemble the reverse of disassembly.

Tensioner pulley for gt54 on 1863
 

I rebuilt by 54GT deck about 4 years ago but couldn't remember how I put the idler pulley and tensioner back on when I reassembled everything. Rather than take a guess and possibly give you bad information, I felt "no response" was the best response.

Glad you got it done and learned how to do it! :beerchug:

One question...is the idler pulley held on with a bolt or is there a stud welded to the arm? :bigthink: