Craftsman T3000 Model 917.203901 Hardly moving forward and not moving in reverse

[Northerntier]

We ordered the belt from Sears authorized parts and after chatting with the on line rep.

The site and the rep said the mower drive belt and the rear wheel drive belt are the same on most of this series mower.

I replaced the belt with the recommended belt. The mower used to be slow and steady going forward and no reverse. Now it is slow and jerky going forward.
I suspect the rear wheel drive belt, motion drive belt is different on this model than the blade drive belt, but I can not figure out what that belt may be. I laid the two belts on top of each other, the old and the new and they seemed to match in size, which did not make sense, since the drive belt should be stretched causing this problem.

Can someone point my inexperienced self in a direction that I can get this mower going to mow once more before the snow hits?

Thank you.

 

[shiftsuper175607]

We ordered the belt from Sears authorized parts and after chatting with the on line rep.

The site and the rep said the mower drive belt and the rear wheel drive belt are the same on most of this series mower.

I replaced the belt with the recommended belt. The mower used to be slow and steady going forward and no reverse. Now it is slow and jerky going forward.
I suspect the rear wheel drive belt, motion drive belt is different on this model than the blade drive belt, but I can not figure out what that belt may be. I laid the two belts on top of each other, the old and the new and they seemed to match in size, which did not make sense, since the drive belt should be stretched causing this problem.

Can someone point my inexperienced self in a direction that I can get this mower going to mow once more before the snow hits?

Thank you.

Belts have cording inside them so they don't stretch.
Check the routing on your belt.
V side goes into V pulleys, flat side goes on flat idler pulleys.

 

[Rivets]

You have two belts on that unit to drive the wheels, a drive belt and variable tranny belt. They should both be replaced at the same time for best results. The drive belt is part number 197253. The variable tranny belt is part number 587086701. The other thing you should do is make sure the sliding sheave on the variable pulley assembly is moving smoothly. The techs a Sears only can look at drawings and very few have ever got grease under their finger nails.