2013 Hustler Fastrac 54" Drive pulley issues

Hey guys,
New to the forum, but have been lurking for awhile. I'm having a major issue with my drive pulley on the right side. So I bought this unit used with 162 hrs on it. It now has 182 and I'm having to replace the Drive pulley/fan on the right side for a second time. First time I assumed was a fluke, but this time I'm thinking it's more serious. 1 reason being is last time I was able to get the nut off with a wrench and a ratchet, last night I was able to turn the nut a few round and now it feel like I may break the shaft it is on. I'm charging up my cordless impact, but assuming the worst here. Any Idea's why these things keep coming apart? In my case it appears the pulley starts to spin on the splined collar and when that happens it heats up melts the fan off and eventually the pulley center gets wore to nothing. Obviously I stop before it gets that far, but you get the idea. Between this and the deck clogging every mow I'm about to set this pos on fire.

Hegsz71 said:

Hey guys,
New to the forum, but have been lurking for awhile. I'm having a major issue with my drive pulley on the right side. So I bought this unit used with 162 hrs on it. It now has 182 and I'm having to replace the Drive pulley/fan on the right side for a second time. First time I assumed was a fluke, but this time I'm thinking it's more serious. 1 reason being is last time I was able to get the nut off with a wrench and a ratchet, last night I was able to turn the nut a few round and now it feel like I may break the shaft it is on. I'm charging up my cordless impact, but assuming the worst here. Any Idea's why these things keep coming apart? In my case it appears the pulley starts to spin on the splined collar and when that happens it heats up melts the fan off and eventually the pulley center gets wore to nothing. Obviously I stop before it gets that far, but you get the idea. Between this and the deck clogging every mow I'm about to set this pos on fire.

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Can't help with drive pulley, but clogging -- have the same unit as you and have taken to opening up the discharge chute for more free flow by lifting the flap, as suggested by the fine folks here. I last mowed pretty wet (evidenced by front wheels shining), but only had a little buildup in the 3-4 usual spots, not the whole deck. I was able to reach up inside at the end of mowing to remove the few built up areas. Before, I pulled out many gallons of grass. I couldn't believe that much came out from under there. Am once again happy with the Fastrak.

LeakyGasket said:

Can't help with drive pulley, but clogging -- have the same unit as you and have taken to opening up the discharge chute for more free flow by lifting the flap, as suggested by the fine folks here. I last mowed pretty wet (evidenced by front wheels shining), but only had a little buildup in the 3-4 usual spots, not the whole deck. I was able to reach up inside at the end of mowing to remove the few built up areas. Before, I pulled out many gallons of grass. I couldn't believe that much came out from under there. Am once again happy with the Fastrak.

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I have my chute zip tied wide open. I assume I was running the original blades so Saturday morning I put on a set of gator blades. I was only able to mow half of my lawn before the fan busted off the pulley. Deck was still clogging, but it was super wet so I don't hold that against the mower yet. Before the gator blades I would mow for 20 min and clean out the deck for 10min. dry as a bone lawn but a good amount of clover/weeds. If I just mow the lawn non stop it takes 2 hours. (10 acres, but only 2-3 of lawn)

Are you having problems with the drive pulley or the fan or both?

Look at this repair manual and let me know which fan/pulley setup you have.
http://www.hydro-gear.com/e60cd16030_sites/hydro-gear.com/files/BLN-0099_P1.pdf

BlazNT said:

Look at this repair manual and let me know which fan/pulley setup you have.
http://www.hydro-gear.com/e60cd16030_sites/hydro-gear.com/files/BLN-0099_P1.pdf

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I have the zt3100. what seems to be happening to me is over time the pulley starts to slip on the "spline." Over time it gets worse and starts to sound like a bearing going out in the drive itself. While this is happening it creates heat which then melts the fan off of it's metal infused part. This causes the fan to fall off and out from under the mower.

The first time this happened I was pissed and kept running the machine which in turn caused the pulley to come completely off and the center of the pulley to basically disappear and ruined my belt. I put a new belt, fan assy and nut on and stopped using the machine to drag my driveway ( 1/2 mile gravel) thinking maybe that's why it did it the first time. It's been roughly 15-18 hours since then and last weekend started to make noise. it was very faint, but nothing seemed wrong until this weekend. Last night I pulled the belt off then noticed the pulley was doing the same thing again I just caught it sooner this time. However with a wrench on the part that spines on to the shaft and a ratchet on the nut I feel as if i'm going to break something taking it off. It literally moved about two rounds and now feels like I'm going to break the shaft. My cordless impact was dead, but tonight I will try using it to see if I can get that nut off. When I tightened it the first time I tightened it tight, but not over spec.

I think you damaged the pump splines the first time. You need to check them really close and see if there is any damage to them. You may have to replace it.

BlazNT said:

I think you damaged the pump splines the first time. You need to check them really close and see if there is any damage to them. You may have to replace it.

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Well I swapped the new one on tonight. The splines on the shaft coming out of the pump are in great shape. The new collar part is a nice tight fit there. The nut was hard to get off, but with my impact came off after a few tighten/loosen pulls. The new nut threaded right on until the loctite started to do its thing. Mowed the rest of the yard just fine. Only thing I can think of is I just didn't have that nut tight enough this second time. I marked the nut and shaft tonight to see if that nut loosens over time and that's what my problem is.. just super weird it keeps happening and only on the right hydro. Left side is mint.

Hegz,

Is the shoulder in good shape the pulley sits down on?

mhavanti said:

Hegz,

Is the shoulder in good shape the pulley sits down on?

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That part is replaced each time with the new pulley and fan. It all comes in the "kit"