Putting a new belt on Hustler Raptor 42"

Fourester

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There is a flange on the idler pulley. The belt needs to go between the flange and the pulley, but there is not enough space to get the belt between them. The flange will not flex back to make enough space to get the belt in there. The only thing I think can be done is to remove the pulley, put the belt in place, then replace the pulley. Of course, the manual mentions nothing of this. Any ideas?
 

NorthBama

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not sure about yours some idlers can just be loosened enough to slip the belt on. I would try just loosening before taking off completely
 

bertsmobile1

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There is a flange on the idler pulley. The belt needs to go between the flange and the pulley, but there is not enough space to get the belt between them. The flange will not flex back to make enough space to get the belt in there. The only thing I think can be done is to remove the pulley, put the belt in place, then replace the pulley. Of course, the manual mentions nothing of this. Any ideas?

One of the idler pulleys is on a spring.
This spring is very stiff & quite difficult to move.
Some times the pivot bolt can get stuck or self tighten preventing it from moving but all decks apart from the domestic ones that move the deck to tension the belt work this way so somewhere there is a pulley that pivots on an arm pulled against the belt by a big spring.
 

Jhunz

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There is very little info about this problem anywhere. So after having this problem myself and remembering this thread, i thought i'd sign up and answer in case anyone else has this problem.

Short answer: You have to loosen the nut on top of the idler pulley just enough so that you can lift the pulley up and slide the belt on.
 

Cocoloco

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If your raptor keeps throwing off belts;check the cooling fins on the transmission pulleys if they are bent they will hit the belt and throw it off the pulleys. Also for the idler arm spring buy a long cheap flat bladed screwdriver cut a notch in the middle of the blade that will help you get that spring back on the idler arm.
I'm having so much trouble with my Raptor I hope some one here knows hows the transmission comes out of the mower so I can change the pulleys.
 
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gmdfl

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Just put my 2015 Hustler Raptor 42" mower belt back on after it was thrown off due to the plastic pulley covers trapping grass clippings. It was so clogged the belt must have been pushed off. I too was confused by the flange on the idler pulley blocking me from getting the belt back around it.

hustler-raptor-42-mower-belt-replacement.png

The only way to get the belt back around the idler pulley flange is to take off the bolt on top of the idler pulley. I confirmed this with the service team at Excel Industries. According to them, "The easiest way to get the belt around that pulley would be to loosen the nut just enough to give the pulley some play. The nut is a normal nut not a reverse thread." For me, the idler pulley nut (19mm deep socket) was on so tight, it required an 18" breaker bar with an 8 foot steel pipe around the breaker bar to finally loosen the nut and get it off. You do have to remove the spring on the idler pulley first (it was easy to get off since the belt was off). I then started with the belt wrapped around the main rear pulley and wound it around the path as shown on the mower deck decal. Once wrapped around all the pulleys, I replaced the nut and then pulled the spring (with some effort) back into place. Definitely check your plastic pulley covers after every cut and blow them out to avoid throwing belts!
 
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