33" wide cut walk behind

nbpt100

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I am working on a Troybilt (MTD) 33" Wide cut walk behind 34071(made by Garden Way). The tractor 1/2" V belt was replaced with an original MTD (1770334) per the exploded parts list part number. I routed it the way the old belt was on. When I tested it, the wheels will not clutch. Even with the clutch pulley at its loosest setting. This a non coated belt. It seems to stick really well to the v groove in the drive pulley and will not release when the clutch pulley is released. I went to the manual and saw a different routing. When I rout the belt as shown in manual there is about an extra 6 to 7 " of belt. It won't work that way. It will fall right off.

I put the old coated belt back on in the way it was routed. It seems to somewhat work. When the cluch is released it does take 3 or 4 seconds before the wheels are not driven. It seems the coated belt is the way to go ....at lease with this routing.

It seems there is an error in the parts look up documentation. Since this is about a 20 year old machine, you would think they would have corrected the part number by now. Maybe not the belt routing in the drawing but certainly the P/N as I am sure they get a lot of calls.

https://www.partswarehouse.com/Troy-Bilt-34071-8-5HP-ELEC-33-CUT-S-N-340710100101-34-s/256385.htm#

I may have to buy a couple of shorter belts and experiment. The routing in the diagram makes the most sense. Anyone run into this before and what belt did you eventually end up with? I am thinking a coated belt would be better. Thoughts in general? I generally find MTD to be good with documentation. Frustrating.!!!!
 

nbpt100

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Hey thanks.....It is routed the way on page 30 in the manual you shared to link to. It seems about right. But the new belt still sticks when the idler pulley is at the loosest position. Is this a coated belt vs. a non coated belt issue? The belt is 58-3/8" long. Maybe another 1/2 inch and it will clutch fine. But it may fall off if I go larger. There are no finger guide pins on this. There Probably should be. I tried some different rountings but the belt is way too long to work. I don't want to modify anything. I would rather find the root cause of this problem.

Thanks.
 

Rivets

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Have you gone through the drive belt adjustment on pages 29-31.
 

nbpt100

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Yes, I went through all of that. I got it working better later today. If it was not 92 degrees out I could have made more progress. I took some emery cloth to the drive pulley and smoothed out some of the rough spots. I was able to use the new MTD belt and got it to clutch. It was not working immediately. It took a few seconds before the belt would disengage. The linkage was a bit sticky and did not always spring back to the free position. I played around with the linkage adjustments on the left hand side and found the pivot points on the shaft to be a be hard to rotate.
I removed the shaft and found there to be thin plastic sleeve bearings (Igus) pressed into the steel brackets that pivot and move the clutch pulley. There was rust build up on the shaft and that was the root of the resistance. Cleaned them up with a wire wheel on a drill and emery cloth. I Added a bit of chain lube as it does not run. At least doesn't run as much as other types of oil. I know you are not suppose to use lube on plastic bearings but I am trying to keep the rust from returning. I did not get it back together today but I am pretty confident it will work as it should. As I said, it was 92 and humid to boot today. I am surprised I was able to do what i did. It was a riddle but I think (hope) I solved it. Thank you Rivets.
 
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