Craftsman Garden Tractor eating belts

BuckeyeWilly · May 5, 2010

I mow about 5 acres so my main mower is a Kubota BX24 with 60" deck. My backup mower is a Craftsman Garden Tractor, 24 hp with 46" deck. Last year this mower started destroying the main mower belt. I hae gone through 5 belts, 3 last year and 2 already this year. The mower is around 12 years old. Any ideas? None of the pulleys seem bad but I'm sure no expert on the subject.

irwin · May 5, 2010

My 87 year old father had the same thing happen, I looked and found the belt was almost on right.:biggrin:

Other than the belt on the wrong side of a guide.. need to look more closely at the the pulleys, and the adjustment of the deck itself..ie: is everything where it belongs? no bent guides?

JD Man · May 5, 2010

Although I don't have a Craftsman any longer, I had the same problem. A guide had loosened and ripped my belt. So, I agree with the guide either bent or loose.

bbbobbb · May 6, 2010

I had gone thru the same problem. What fixed it was I removed a pulley (no sure which one since I did it a few years ago) When I did this it did'nt let the belt rub. Believe me it worked. Good luck.

BuckeyeWilly · May 7, 2010

Wow bbbobbb, I never thought of that one. You removed a pulley and didn't replace it and the mower functioned properly? I will keep that in mind. I tore the deck apart today and ordered 2 new pulleys and a belt keeper that was in bad shape. I think I may have discovered the problem though. The deck is secured to the frame with a suspension arm on the rear of the deck to stabilize the deck. The original arm was lost and of course that part is no longer available from sears. So I prefabbed my own and it did work but I think the pin I used to attach it to the deck was just a little to long and the belt would occasionally hit the pin tearing it up. At least thats what I think has happened.

Guys, this will be my last craftsman. Not worth the aggravation.

Adamsrib · May 7, 2010

It wasn't the 12 year old Craftsman, it was a short between the seat and steering wheel. You have to be smarter than a mower to work on one.

GentlemanFahmah · May 7, 2010

BuckeyeWilly said:
...The original arm was lost and of course that part is no longer available from sears....

Ungh?

I have yet to not find parts for any Craftsman tractor. There are so many of these things out there that most small engine shops have piles of them out back for spare parts assuming you can't otherwise grub up a replacement from either SearsParts Direct or eBay or similar.

BuckeyeWilly · May 7, 2010

GentlemanFahmah, my tractor model no is 917.273070. The part I need is called an arm, suspension, rear (anti-sway bar). The part no is 130832. I have searched on Sears parts direct, ebay, jacks small engine repair, etc. I have not been able to find it. Sears states it is no longer available.

As for being a "short" in the seat, I have never professed to being a tractor repairman but I always do try to fix my breakdowns whenever possible. AdamsRib, that was a real nice first post. Thanks for your input. :frown:

rekees · May 7, 2010

The Sears Parts Direct site says

Call for availability
(800) 252-1698

so perhaps a human at sears could find an alternate part or sell you a new deck? Toll free number so it's worth a shot.

murphy · May 7, 2010

Buckeye, an experience I had with belts. My dad bought a zero turn cub cadet and it costed him a small fortune on belts. It was under warranty at the time so he kept taking it back and to no prevail they could not solve this matter. Long story short I put mower up in air and found the deck that we figured they would have set it up right was way out of setting. Example: motor pulley tilted downward at front, and deck pulley tilted upward at front. Adjusted to the owners manual and now works fine.

Sears sometimes will not sell a single part and instead sells a complete assembly of a group of parts, my past experience with them. Good luck.

Craftsman Garden Tractor eating belts

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