Pulley cutting into belt

Ld454

Member
I recently bought a 2004 Yard machines mower with 46” deck. Upon first using the mower with a new belt, the belt shredded after about an hour or so. I put another new belt on and after cutting for a bit I decided to stop and check in the new belt, and it appears to be cutting on the bottom of a pulley attached to the bottom of the tractor and the belt was pretty warm also. The problem is I don’t know how to fix this. Is there a way to bring the pulley down or is there another adjustment I should make? I’d rather not let this belt break and be able to finish cutting my lawn
 
We need model & serial numbers to assist you, Tag or sticker should be under seat, on frame, under hood, etc. Remove deck, I believe your idler pulleys bearings may be shot, remove them & check by hand.
 
Belts get hot that is normal
Which belt are yu talking about the deck belt or the drive belt ?
Check every pulley for free rotation and wear marks.
The deck belt should not touch anything on the mower other than the PTO pulley
 
Plus the belt must be the correct length. If after market don't trust what printed on the belt sleeve. I have seen belt be as much as 2" shorter than the indicated spec. You actually got to measure the belt to know for sure.
 
The belt you see here is coming off the engine pto. This belt pretty much starts riding right at the bottom of the pulley when the pro is engaged. I’ll post another pic that shows the damage to the belt
 

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It sure how easy it is to see but this was the best I could get to show the damage on the inside of the belt
 

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It sure how easy it is to see but this was the best I could get to show the damage on the inside of the belt
A non-OEM belt will do this quicker than an OEM belt....even when everything else is right!
There are posts, after posts, after posts about non-OEM belts and parts being subpar yet.....people ignore it and buy them anyway!
 
That should be a 604H series MTD. It should have a 1/2 x 90 engine to pto belt. The idler pulleys are fairly square shouldered with only a slight bend outwards on the lips.

What I see isn't a flat idler cutting the belt but looks more like the belt bottoming out in either the spindle pulley or the engine pulley Vs and the belt slipping because of that. Also can be caused by rusty v-pulley v-groove. Another possible is a bent engine pulley where the bottom of the V is bent inwards or have sharp edges.

Just thoughts
MTD 604H.JPG
 
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