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basshole said:

Hey all, I am the 2nd owner of a 26J mini rider (manufactured 2/2013). Mower starts and runs great. I purchased in 2016. The mower always "jerks" when you let out on the clutch. Lowering the rpm's, and starting in different gears does not change the jerking. I am guessing flat spot on drive belt? But that is just a guess.

Last month, the mower would not move in forward or reverse. I do not have a lift, and could not figure out how to get to the drive belt, so I took it to a local shop after google search on reviews. Shop has had it for 4 weeks (busy). Received a call yesterday (Saturday) that it was fixed (clutch was out of adjustment), and it was running/moving fine now (they did not replace any parts). Went to pickup, they drove it out of their fenced in area, and I noticed it was in 6th gear. I jumped on, started, put in 1st, no go, tried all gears, none worked except for 6th with the whiplash jerk. They said it would be looked at tomorrow (Monday).

Question - Anyone have instructions on how to replace the drive belt, and adjust clutch? I have downloaded the parts and operator manuals from Troy-Bilt.

Model # 13BC26JD011
422486
Serial # 1B013B60200
DOM 02/2013

thanks in advance.

Robin

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Question - Anyone have instructions on how to replace the drive belt, and adjust clutch? I have downloaded the parts and operator manuals from Troy-Bilt.

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bertsmobile1 said:

Actually you have found a good repair shop.
One that does not replace perfectly good parts for no reason.
Most just look at the maintanance schedule and swap out every part on the list regardless which can double the cost of a service.
They also stood behind their work and redid a job that you though was not done properly.

Get an owners manual for your mower and read it carefully.
I think it has a variable speed pulley system and if that is correct you must never change speeds unless the engine is running.
The "speeds" are just fixed positions on a variable diameter pulley but the pulleys need to be spinning, if not they both end up at their smallest diameters so no drive from the belt as it will be too loose.

OH & S insurance will not cover a customer in the workshop.
If the shop has a 4 week wait, it is because it is a good shop.
Allowing the mechanics to talk to customers costs money, around $ 50.00 / hour and of course extends the wait period as while talking to you for 20 minutes they are not fixing some one elses mower.
In an ideal world , the person behind the counter would be a retired tech with a vast knowledge covering every mower made in the past 30 years.
However his is not a ideal world.
And yes if you specifically asked for the belt to be replaced they should have done it regardless which is a fault in their booking system.

People come to me with old mowers with worn pulleys and I find a smaller belt that will work with their worn parts.
The brand name dealer OTOH is obliged to replace all the worn parts which in one case came out to $ 475 on a mower that is worth $ 500 retail.

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BlazNT said:

MTD does not release service manuals to the public.

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BlazNT said:

It is MTD trying to increase sales.
http://searchsalesforce.techtarget.com/definition/Forcecom

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bertsmobile1 said:

I don't think there is one.
However MTD put out a series of books called "The Must Have Guides" which cover most of the legacy models of brands they took over.
They are available as a PDF all over the the place. You are looking for book 2 " RER & Lawn Tractors "
More of a they all work this way type of book rather than fold tab B in slot C but a reasonably astute person such as ourself should have no problems.

As for variable drive systems.
We got the biggest pile of puss masquerading as a mower, the STIGA Compact down here and because they were he absolute cheapest ride on available hundreds were sold to unsuspecting home owners.
The 5Hp engine sits on the deck and drives the blades directly with another pulley to power the transaxle which has a F & R + variable pulleys, 2 of them.
I got one having never seen this arrangement, pulled it apart , could not find anything really wrong except both variable drive pulleys wee sprung in the same direction.
Rebuilding it and it worked.
Dropped it off customer was happy then a month latter, it came back in with the same no drive problem.
Did the same pulled it down worked the pulleys a couple of times then reassembled and took it back.
Customer happy so he put all his idiot mates who also had these junk piles .
Now he was a pensioner so got it fixed for $ 120 ( 2 hours ) as against the actual 10 hours it took to do the job.

Now to cut things short, these kept coming back till eventually some one here posted the "fix" for variable speed pulley systems where the operator changes speeds with the engine turned off, which causes a total loss of drive as both pulleys spring to the smallest diameter so the belt runs loose.

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Boobala said:

Cant upload them on this forum too big I guess YA have to send me an email address is the only way I can figure to send them ...Boobala

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Boobala said:

Looks to me like your a VET !! If so you got brothers here , I served 1966-1970 U.S.A.F , Jet Eng. Mech.
RogerB is Sub Squid U.S.N. If ya get a chance, check out our man-cave thread.. GoTo MTD Forum, look up
( MTD Transaxle Rebuild ) we kinda hijacked a thread ..:laughing: ..:laughing: ..:thumbsup:

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basshole said:

LMAO, true that on the variable drive systems. Lessons learned on not shifting when engine is not running. So you only charge 20% of your time to fix? I need to bring my mower to you, and drink some of that Coopers Dark Ale! Had a few of those over in Iraq with some of your Diggers. That Ale was delicious, especially when it was 120 degrees outside.

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bertsmobile1 said:

Pale ale thank you , that dark stuff does knock the brain cells around a touch too much when you get a bit older.
We are in the second beer cycle down here.
The big brewerier buy up the small ones then slowly change the formula to one that the least number of people dislike ( to increase volume sales ) so eventually you end up with 4 beers and they all basically taste the same.
Then small brewers come back in with distinctive beers, some of which are really nice but they get taken over by bigger ones who change the formula and the cycle continues.
Coopers is the last brewer that is still Australian owned and being a family company is likely to stay that way.
As for pricing
Pensioners get big discounts.
We were dirt poor when I was a lad so I know what it is like to have nothing and having gone belly up in the GFC I find myself right back where I started from.
Apart from that, If I can get them to call me when a problem just starts it is an easy fix, let go till the thing won't work it becomes a major problem oft causing several secondary ones and a lot of work.
Also most can afford several small bills ( less then $ 200 ) where as one big bill knocks them for a six and they end up paying me $ 20 per pension for the next 12 months or more.
Usually I charge scheduled fees + 1 hour for big jobs and plain scheduled fees for small ones .
Only been doing this for 4 years so what takes the bloke up the road 1/2 hour ( been doing it for 40 years ) takes me a couple & you can't expect the customer to foot the bill for my lack of experience.
All the little things like which end of a spring is the easiest to remove makes a massive difference & that you can only learn with experience.

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bertsmobile1 said:

Naw , call the troups what ever takes your fancy, we are pretty laid back about stuff like that.
Surprised that you actually had a Bushmaster that worked, most didn't.
The mob who made them is a major ( brown nosing ) contractor to the government and they were made using totally unskilled labour that had been unemployed for more than 18 months so they could claim all sorts of benefits.
My ex flattie was a vehicle building certified welder who got turned down for the job but his flattie at the time who had not even finished high school got selected for the job because they sent him to college to get his finishing certificate then to trade school to learn how to weld , all in his own time after working a full day doing general labouring duties at the plant and finally when he had qualifications, sacked him after 6 months when the subsidies ran out and employed more long term unemployed and in particular black women as they had the biggest subsidy.
Thus the quality of the vehicles was well below the standard that troops risking their life should be using and the cost per unit ended up being nearly double that of buying a similar vehicle from the USA, 2.5 times the price of one from the UK and 3.5 times the price of Israel.
The same mob was also responsible for supplying the webbing that melted around the metal fittings and the combat boots with soles that fell off when exposed to petrol.

Unlike the UK and to a lesser extent the USA , the Austalian government treats their enlisted people with total contempt.
Gun ho to send them to each & every theatre of war but no benefits when they return, almost no health care , a pension that is below the poverty line and actively searches for any tiny loophole to deny them all benefits.
Unless of course they were a CO in which case they get paraded in front to the population and given cosy jobs in the party room because the population likes to vote soldiers into government.

When Vietnam was over I was with the DSL ( Defence Standards Lab ).
There was not a cent available to support the diggers, most of which were conscripted and most of which ended up killing themselves.
However we had no trouble finding $ 12,000,000 on a renaming programe to become MRL ( Materials Research Lab ) .
Offically the policy is to stall for as long as possible and hope the troops will die off before you are forced to pay out.
Back in the 60's the Sydney ( aircraft carrier ) cut the Voyger ( distroyer ) in 1/2 because of the inepitude of the captain, known to the sailors as "Drunken Duncan " for good reasons and eventually it was established he was in fact drunk at the time.
The government of the day austricised any sailor who tried to use the disaster to leave the navy , publically called them all cowards and refused benefits because being sunk was part & parcel of being in the navy.
It took 30 years before the truth came out , liability was admitted and benefits paid, to the 5% of victums still alive.

I had 12 friends who got sent to Vietnam, 11 came home alive and all 11 were dead within around 10 years most drank themselves to death or died in a vehicle collision while drunk, stoned etc so their deaths were "not connected" with war service so they were even denied a military funeral.
Yet funny enough the government can find millions at the drop of a hat for Anzac Day commerations or foreign war memorials.

You may just notice this is a hot button topic for me.
But for an interesting incident in my youth which had me bumped up a year at school, I would more than likely have been one of those 11.
Even the conscription process was corrupted in favour of the wealth elite as all of the expensive private schools have cadets.
Cadets for the purpose of the conscription legislation were considered as part of the CMF ( Citizens Military Force ) so they were exempted from even enrolling for conscription because offically the CMF could at any time be called upon form a batallion of regular troups and go into conflict (never ever happened ).
So while my froends were being shot at, blown up or poisioned by Agent Orange the sons of the wealthy quietly slipped into top level management jobs and became even more wealthy.
And there is another one, Agent Orange, the US government had concieded that it caused health problems and was providing benefits & healthcare for their troops for better than 10 years before the Australian government would even allow the matter to be considered by parliament and it was 12 years latter that benefits were budgeted for.

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basshole said:

Drive belts are in!

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basshole said:

New Drive belts are installed, whew, so tomorrow, I will be cutting and baling my lawn. Test flight of the mower.

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Boobala said:

Well then,..we'll a expect a fully detailed report of performance with pictures to authenticate this undertaking !! ( LOL )

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basshole said:

Yes sir! Headed to Phoenix. Report will have to wait, takes me a while to make up bs, which you other folks are pretty good at. Lol

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Boobala said:

I think the only time you see respect is from OTHER veterans and members in the service of their country and usually their families, But I think as veterans we become hardened to it, after all, in real war you're sent out to kill someone you don't know or have a "problem" with.. innocents killing each other because their governing bodies can't get along on one issue or another, I think wars are part of our nature, although I'm sure it displeases THEE Divine Leader ! AMEN !

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bertsmobile1 said:

Naw , call the troups what ever takes your fancy, we are pretty laid back about stuff like that.
Surprised that you actually had a Bushmaster that worked, most didn't.
The mob who made them is a major ( brown nosing ) contractor to the government and they were made using totally unskilled labour that had been unemployed for more than 18 months so they could claim all sorts of benefits.
My ex flattie was a vehicle building certified welder who got turned down for the job but his flattie at the time who had not even finished high school got selected for the job because they sent him to college to get his finishing certificate then to trade school to learn how to weld , all in his own time after working a full day doing general labouring duties at the plant and finally when he had qualifications, sacked him after 6 months when the subsidies ran out and employed more long term unemployed and in particular black women as they had the biggest subsidy.
Thus the quality of the vehicles was well below the standard that troops risking their life should be using and the cost per unit ended up being nearly double that of buying a similar vehicle from the USA, 2.5 times the price of one from the UK and 3.5 times the price of Israel.
The same mob was also responsible for supplying the webbing that melted around the metal fittings and the combat boots with soles that fell off when exposed to petrol.

Unlike the UK and to a lesser extent the USA , the Austalian government treats their enlisted people with total contempt.
Gun ho to send them to each & every theatre of war but no benefits when they return, almost no health care , a pension that is below the poverty line and actively searches for any tiny loophole to deny them all benefits.
Unless of course they were a CO in which case they get paraded in front to the population and given cosy jobs in the party room because the population likes to vote soldiers into government.

When Vietnam was over I was with the DSL ( Defence Standards Lab ).
There was not a cent available to support the diggers, most of which were conscripted and most of which ended up killing themselves.
However we had no trouble finding $ 12,000,000 on a renaming programe to become MRL ( Materials Research Lab ) .
Offically the policy is to stall for as long as possible and hope the troops will die off before you are forced to pay out.
Back in the 60's the Sydney ( aircraft carrier ) cut the Voyger ( distroyer ) in 1/2 because of the inepitude of the captain, known to the sailors as "Drunken Duncan " for good reasons and eventually it was established he was in fact drunk at the time.
The government of the day austricised any sailor who tried to use the disaster to leave the navy , publically called them all cowards and refused benefits because being sunk was part & parcel of being in the navy.
It took 30 years before the truth came out , liability was admitted and benefits paid, to the 5% of victums still alive.

I had 12 friends who got sent to Vietnam, 11 came home alive and all 11 were dead within around 10 years most drank themselves to death or died in a vehicle collision while drunk, stoned etc so their deaths were "not connected" with war service so they were even denied a military funeral.
Yet funny enough the government can find millions at the drop of a hat for Anzac Day commerations or foreign war memorials.

You may just notice this is a hot button topic for me.
But for an interesting incident in my youth which had me bumped up a year at school, I would more than likely have been one of those 11.
Even the conscription process was corrupted in favour of the wealth elite as all of the expensive private schools have cadets.
Cadets for the purpose of the conscription legislation were considered as part of the CMF ( Citizens Military Force ) so they were exempted from even enrolling for conscription because offically the CMF could at any time be called upon form a batallion of regular troups and go into conflict (never ever happened ).
So while my froends were being shot at, blown up or poisioned by Agent Orange the sons of the wealthy quietly slipped into top level management jobs and became even more wealthy.
And there is another one, Agent Orange, the US government had concieded that it caused health problems and was providing benefits & healthcare for their troops for better than 10 years before the Australian government would even allow the matter to be considered by parliament and it was 12 years latter that benefits were budgeted for.

Click to expand...

Boobala said:

Well then,..we'll a expect a fully detailed report of performance with pictures to authenticate this undertaking !! ( LOL )

Click to expand...

basshole said:

Mower is like new! No more wild bucking when releasing the clutch. New belts defiantly did the trick on fixing that issue. I just wished MTD would share the Troy-Bilt service manuals for us DIYers. HMM, wish I had the money to take back the company and make it like it was. 1973? Dad purchased the Troy-Bilt Horse model tiller. I was 13, I put it together, and was the primary operator through out the years. I inherited the tiller, and put a new engine on it. Still running awesome today. Fortunately before MTD took over, I was able to obtain all service manuals. Tilled the garden again this year.

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Boobala said:

I THINK I might have got something you're looking for, give it a TRY ! let me know if it helps or NOT ! ..Boobala

https://support.mtdparts.com/s/article/ka2A0000000PH4CIAW/10584-1

click link and lets see! TroyBilt IS an MTD mower ,same models ,DIFFERENT BRAND NAMES....

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