48" deck - purpose of threaded stud

Roy Najecki · #1 06-06-2015, 10:36 PM

On my 48" deck there is a 5/16" threaded stud about an inch tall near the idler pulley. On the attached photo I placed a white nylon cylinder next to the stud. When I removed the deck shields I noticed a fragment of a black rubber hose that was over this threaded stud. I've got the mower deck parts manual here and it does not show this stud or the rubber hose. So I'm wondering if this stud and hose was put on by a previous owner or was it original to the mower deck and has a purpose.

While running the deck without the shields I can see the belt whipping around and striking the stud so some sort of cushioned cover might help the belt from getting chewed up. I also noticed that when the deck belt is broken or removed the stud keeps the spring loaded idler pulley from going past the stud.

On the left side of the mower deck there is a hole where perhaps a matching stud would be placed but no evidence that one was ever there.

So my questions. Is this threaded stud supposed to be there, and if so is it supposed to have a rubber hose sleeve, some other type of cover, or was something else attached to it?

IHinIN · #2 06-07-2015, 12:03 AM

On my 48" deck, that is where the baffles are attached to the deck. If your deck still has the baffles you will probably find that a previous owner used a longer bolt to be reattach the baffles. I would cut off the bolt to stop the belt from rubbing it.

Roy Najecki · #3 06-07-2015, 12:05 PM

The deck has all the baffles welded to the deck skin and the bolt didn't hold anything in place. It looks like the previous owner drilled two holes, but only used one by tapping it, and putting the bolt there with the rubber hose cap. I removed the bolt today. In the first photo it is the bolt alone to the right, the other three bolts are to the deck hanger.

Six years ago I replaced the idler pivot bolt with the grease fitting type. I didn't use this mower deck very often since then and I don't recall if I noticed it at the time but the idler arm is slightly bent. Last week I got the deck out, used it for a few minutes and the deck belt snapped. Yesterday I put on a new belt which lasted about two hours before it got so frayed that it was about to break. That is when I took a closer look at that bolt with the rubber hose. I think the belt was being frayed as it whipped around and hit the bolt threads. Also the belt was chaffing the upper lip of the idler pulley and probably causing more belt damage (center photo).

This morning I took the idler apart and leveled out the arm. I noticed that the pivot bolt mounting hole is a bit wallowed out which appears to cause the arm to bend upwards (last photo - left hole). The previous owner probably bent the arm down to compensate. The hole on the right is for the bolt that holds the spring in place.

I'm also concerned that the center of the idler pulley is not the same height as the center of the center and right hand pulleys and that will cause chaffing and belt damage. Trying to fix that while taking into account the angle caused by the pivot bolt mounting hole being worn is my next challenge. Perhaps grinding down one side of the washer under the spring so it is like a wedge will help.

Postscript - I ground away 4mm from the boss of the idler pulley so now all the pulleys are even. That reduced the gap between the pulley and arm to a millimeter but if the pulley should ever touch the arm I can always add a thin washer to the boss to increase the gap. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this works for the long term.

CubDieselFan · #4 06-07-2015, 07:34 PM

I hope it works for you Roy.

DoubleO7 · #5 06-08-2015, 03:23 PM

where that stud was in your O.P. is definitely were the baffle bolts go.
The should be three more holes for more bolts.
Perhaps at some point late in the product run, IH began welding the baffles in place? But still used the same deck shell.

You might want to weld a 10ga patch over the tensioning pulley spring pivot bolt area as the tilt is maybe coming from weak mother metal in that area.

ol'George · #6 06-08-2015, 05:09 PM

[QUOTE=DoubleO7;332429]where that stud was in your O.P. is definitely were the baffle bolts go.
The should be three more holes for more bolts.
Perhaps at some point late in the product run, IH began welding the baffles in place? But still used the same deck shell.

You might want to weld a 10ga patch over the tensioning pulley spring pivot bolt area as the tilt is maybe coming from weak mother metal in that area.[/QUOTE
Or possible your idler pivot bushing is worn? or both.

Roy Najecki · #7 06-09-2015, 03:31 PM

Good idea on welding a patch. Though my idler arm bushing (aka sleeve) didn't seem too worn, it must be worn enough to cause the inner pivot bolt to be at a slight angle and cause the wallowing. For now I've got a pretty thick flat washer in place.

I don't usually use this Cub or deck for mowing. For that I use my 1450, 682 or 782. But a friend is looking to buy a Cub Cadet to mow his yard and field and I figured before he spent any money it made sense to try out my 149 so he knows what to expect and look for. He wants a tractor that has a deck that can be raised fairly high to go over the rocks and I think the 149 is better suited for that than a Quietline or 82 Series.

He calls me about the latest ad he sees on Craigslist and usually they are a CCC model that I don't know about, so I pull out my copy of Oscar Will's book to figure out what he is talking about. The book doesn't say the mower deck lift heights, but I would be surprised if the CCC models had more lift than the IH Wide Frames.