belt question

[ronalddipietro]

I have a 107...hydro..mule drive pulleys may be the problem..I have had the same situation..belts getting eat up..IH or not..so upon investigation I found one of the pulleys bad..changed it for after market..same same..finally put in IH..pulleys and belt..still on and running...amazing.

[Todd Porter]

Just to answer a few questions, it's a 2001 lt 2180, 42 inch deck. Bought it used last fall when I realized the 49 cub I had was not suitable for mowing hillsides. We just bought this property last summer. Really like this tractor, very heavy duty, and with ag tires on it goes any where I need it too without complaint. However, the belts are killing me. To update since my last post: Took the deck off, cleaned and inspected all I could see. One of the spindles will turn freely till momentum is depleted, the other...not so much, so it's on the list to be replaced. The idler pulley seems OK, but when the PTO belt is attached it noticeably leans towards the front of the tractor. Not severe but noticeable. Darn thing doesn't look like it's real rigid anyway, assuming it should have a little give?
Anyway, got another belt, mowed this afternoon after all this flippin rain. Was going along pretty well till the PTO clutch went out. I mean completely out, I can engage it and it sounds like a can full of marbles in a clothes dryer. So...maybe that's the root of all evil here?
On that note, can anyone recommend a [I]good, economical[I] supplier for electric pto's? CC wants 405 for them, way out of my budget at this time.I found a few on ebay for around 200, but I'm wary of quality in some of these aftermarket things. Can they be rebuilt? For that matter, can the spindle pulleys be rebuilt? I'm kind of handy, that's why my wife married me (if you can't be handsome, you should at least be handy). Anyway, I'll wait for responses, thanks ahead of time for your assistance.

[J-Mech]

Yes, they can be rebuilt. Here is a thread on how the replace the bearings. If it damaged more than that, parts are out there. You have to search because they want you to buy the whole thing, but they are available.

[Todd Porter]

OK, might have gotten lucky, found a warner clutch for about half what CC wanted for them, NIB. So, while I'm waiting for it to ship I'm going to take the old one off, obviously. One question, the bolt should turn counter clockwise, correct? Thanks for everyone's help, I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.

[Todd Porter]

Hello again, bumping this thread. Got my new (as advertised) clutch, replacement was pretty straight forward, although kind of...well, there's a lot of stuff to take off. Not bad though, but it's been frikkin hot here, and humid. Anyway, I found an original warner cluch on e***. Guy bought it to replace his, but found another issue and did not use it. So he put it up for sale (kinda wondering why he didn't return it?) for half what cc wants for them. First clue. The part was very clean, but not in original packaging. It also had the warner sticker on it. I got some time to mow today, my yard was looking pretty crappy. Damn thing lasted about 40 mins. Sounds worse than the one I took off, and it was bad, I took it apart(the old one) and the bearing on the pulley barely moves, and you can see on the disc where it had gotten hot around the bearing. (question: these have friction plates like a normal clutch, right? none showing on my old one)
So, anyway, I have to pull this one off see what the hell's going on. Is there anything I need to know about replacing these things? I'm wondering if I did something wrong. The old one came off with little problem, some wd and a puller, popped right off. New one slid right on, devised a way to keep the motor from turning and torqued to 55 lbs. Nothing seemed wrong at all. If anyone could share a service manual page on replacing these I'd be grateful. It's a 2004 LT 2180. Looks like I'm going to spend about 400 anyway fixing this if I can't get the seller to take the this one back.

[Todd Porter]

To update, I found one of the idler pulleys had self destructed, and since one of the spindles was 'stiff' I ordered both and replaced them. So far so good, about 5.5 hrs since replacing and not a torn belt or squeal. I should add, I'm kind of impressed with the cub cadet official site, I could not find the service manual for my cub, so I used the chat option, asked the guy I was talking to about the manual, he posted a link to the 'MTD' site and I downloaded it...free of charge. ***Y wanted 14-35 bucks for them, several places online wanted up to 7 bucks to download, free works for me. Anyway, I'll keep on truckin', see how things pan out and hopefully I'm done with belts for a few more hours. Of course, my weeds are exceptionally tall by now, but I'll do a little at a time, aided by my weedeater, and it'll all be under control soon. Thanks to all who offered suggestions / advice, you've been very helpful. Still lookin' for a back up too, an older cadet, so if one goes down I can still mow. Open to suggestions, I have 3 hilly acres so something at least as big as what I have now (42 inch deck) is needed. Thanks again guys.

[Fwoolley]

Hey Todd,
I have a couple of questions.. So after reading through your thread, was your pto bad or was it just the spindles? My mower sounds like crap with the pto engaged with the deck ON but with the deck OFF, the pto is quiet as a whisper. I know my spindles are shot. I tried to grease them up but the grease is just flinging all over... Should I rebuild them or just spend the $40 buck each to replace? What do you think?
Thanks bud
Frank