[amanfrromthere]

1864 w/ 54GT deck

I was mowing the other night and the deck belt came off. Flat ground, no obstacles, no obvious reason why it would. Has never happened before. I pulled the belt off and did find a tear in it, so I figured it was just the belt since I had no clue how old it was.

So I bought a new belt (954-3045) and threw it on. As soon as I flipped the PTO on it threw the belt off. Didn't even get up to speed. Pulled the belt and compared it to the original, same size. When it happened the second time, it also tore the belt the exact same way as the original, so I'm guessing the first one was not caused by a damaged belt, rather the belt was torn when thrown off.

Having already wasted money on one replacement, I'd like to make sure I have all my bases covered before I try again. I'm going to pull the deck tonight for a closer look.

Things I should check/do:

- Balance / Level deck
- Check that mule drive belt is in plane with spindle pulley
- Check for spindle movement
- Check if spindles are in plane with each other

What else should I look at?

The idler arm assembly seems ok, but I don't really have a reference on how it should feel. Is there any adjustment on those? I can pull the one off my parts deck and try it. Can't imagine it's in any better shape than this one, but if it makes any noticeable difference then I'll just order a replacement.



Thanks