917272960 Craftsman rider New ground drive belt won't tighten I think clutch is not

bertsmobile1 said:

remove the belt and work the pedal watching how far it travels and checking it is not hanging up on anything.
Without the belt on the clutch / brake pedal should go back far enough for the spring to be slack.
Check all 6 pulleys in the system
Did you take the spring off ?
If so are you sure it went back to the same hole / pin it was on in the first place.
Is the spring still good ?
If it goes in to a hole or slot has it cut the hole bigger ?

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Never took off the spring.With Belt on with about 3 inches of belt deflection, the same as not having no tension on any pulleys. Also the brake rod is off. I still have considerable tension on clutch spring, I think it is binding up for sure if the spring is supposed to be relaxed when I release the clutch. Do I understand what you are saying?

With that much deflection I’m betting that the belt is not routed properly. From what I see your unit has six pulleys, plus the belt will have two twists in it. Your owners many has routing directions in it. If you don’t have one, you can go to Sears Parts Direct and download a manual.

may help : https://www.searspartsdirect.com/di...ce-a-ground-drive-belt-on-a-riding-lawn-mower
but i think its more of a general how to than specific

cmasury said:

Never took off the spring.With Belt on with about 3 inches of belt deflection, the same as not having no tension on any pulleys. Also the brake rod is off. I still have considerable tension on clutch spring, I think it is binding up for sure if the spring is supposed to be relaxed when I release the clutch. Do I understand what you are saying?

Click to expand...

The spring is what puts tension on the belt.
Without the belt the spring should pull the clutch lever all the way to it's stop ( if it has one ) by which time the spring should have almost no tension on it.
When you put your foot on the clutch, you stretch the spring which takes the tension off the belt .
When you take your foot off the pedal the spring pulls the lever back till the belt is tight enough to drive the mower.
So without the belt and spring on you check that the pedal has full movement and it is not fouling on something.
In the fully up position without the belt on the spring should be either slack or just tight enough to prevent it falling off.
If there is nothing preventing the pedal travelling it's full range and your belt is slack then it is not routed properly and my guess is you are missing the front idler pulley or the second pulley on the tranny.

As for how slack the belt should be with the brake on, if you grab the belt and push it towards the engine pulley it must be able to go freely forward till it touches the belt keepers & stay there when you let it go.


The burning question is why did you decide to replace the belt in the first place ?
Are you sure all 6 pulleys are in place ?