Scooby Doo, I've got a mystery here

Hi,

Ive got a Cub Cadet RZT that I'm still working on. From previous post on this forum I described solving an issue of low power to a new transaxel after replacement. What I found was the tension pulley bolt that attached the pulley to the swivel arm was caught underneath the mower body and not putting enough pressure on the belt. Once I pulled it loose, I then had plenty of power and thought my issues were done. However,.... after running it for 30 minutes or so I started hearing a "tick, tick" then a constant metal on metal noise. What I found was the new belt had stretched enough (or just worked into all the pulleys) that the tension pulley had pushed the belt enough that the pulley wheel was nicking the guard in front of the PTO. I checked everything and it seemed fine. The belt was a new 3rd party replacement that replaced a couple different belt numbers. So, I thought its dimensions may not be the 50 1/2" the OEM part called for. I picked up both an actual OEM belt (replaces just the OEM part #) and a 50" Huskie belt, as it seemed there was so much movement in the tension wheel a smaller belt might work.

Results.... the OEM belt did the same thing, either stretched a little or just worked into all the pulleys and the tension wheel was again nicking the PTO guard. I could barely get the 50" belt on, in fact I couldn't for the life of me get the tension spring to the pulley arm to stretch and hook into place, so I had to add a 1" S-hook for length. Upon doing this, it sure moved the tension pulley away from the PTO guard, but its so far away that its interfering with the transaxel fan blades under its pulley.

So... I cannot figure out why this condition is even occuring. I checked the new transaxel pulley wheel and it is the same dimension as the other original one. I tightened engine mounts and everything else I can think of. The tension pulley spring isn't the issue because if it was say stretched it would actually help things by having less tension pulling on the tension wheel arm. IF anyone has any ideas, please chime in. I know a picture is worth 1000 words... I have 3 pictures, but can't seem to figure out how to attach to this thread post. I'll work on that and post them.

Thanks,
Ben

The picture with the wrench lifting up the tension pulley is to show how far left the pulley is, so much so it is touching the fan blades of transaxel. The other 2 pictures show the pulley with a 50" belt (way far away from guard and hitting fan), and the 50.5" which is the called for size. In this, the pulley is a little away from the guard... but you can see the nick mark on the guard where it hits once warms up a little.

Again, with the right size belt I don't understand why the tension pulley is hitting the guard. The only idea I can come up with is to find a similiar pulley wheel but maybe 1/2" less in diameter to get it away from the fan blade.

Appreciate any ideas.
-Ben

After removing the tension pulley and measuring, I found it was the wrong size, it was larger by 1/2" than what the manual calls for. I have the right size on order, and hopefully that will solve the problem and cause the tension pulley wheel and belt to align correctly. I'm guessing previous owner replaced incorrectly.

Did you get it fixed?

I replaced tension pulley with correct size, but things still arent right and it slightly hits pto guard. Smaller pulley allows for 1/2" smaller belt to be put to on, so i will try that this weekend.