Craftsman Belt problems

My guess would be the arm the idler pulley is mounted to is rusted up and not moving correctly. Very common problem on Craftsman and John Deere.
 
3 things in addition to the pulley being on wrong: first, the brake return spring on the left brake arm is incorrect and looks weak as compared to the correct spring (part number 532179748) which is correctly the one on the right side. The brake idler spring (part number 169022) is missing. Third, the blade idler pulley arm (part number 155046) has a groove worn into it, which is a common problem. This will cause the engagement mechanism to jam when trying to disengage the blades so that the blades keep spinning when you try to disengage them. That should be replaced as it is a safety issue. A tip-before you disassemble anything take LOTS of pictures.
 
laird said:
Goodday to all. New to the site so I hope someone can give some help. I have a Craftsman 944.601171 17.5 hp, 42 in deck. Anything I can find for the deck belt calls for belt pt# 144959 which is 95.5x 1/2. I have checked the routing 50 times if I did it once, this according to the diagram on the deck. VERY simple routing. There is no possible way that the belt will work as it falls off the engine pulley when it is engaged. I am hoping someone else has run across this problem and can give me some hope of ever getting the right belt. I have tried all kinds of length of belts . A 92x1/2 comes the closest. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Hello I had problems with my deck belt as well, the problem I had was every belt I tried was to tight, and would engage when try starting the engine. So what I did was end up pulling the whole deck out checked all the pulleys, and ordering a original craftsman belt, not and OEM belt. The black belts were the OEM, the craftsman original belts were like a brownish color.
 
Did you remove the main drive pulley from the engine during your work? Sometimes they can be difficult to line up the key and the keyway ( or maybe the key fail out) . I assume this is a mechanicly engaged belt drive with levers and "springs" appling the belt tension, sometimes springs have been incorrectly installed or replaced with wrong length/strength spring.
 
laird said:
Goodday to all. New to the site so I hope someone can give some help. I have a Craftsman 944.601171 17.5 hp, 42 in deck. Anything I can find for the deck belt calls for belt pt# 144959 which is 95.5x 1/2. I have checked the routing 50 times if I did it once, this according to the diagram on the deck. VERY simple routing. There is no possible way that the belt will work as it falls off the engine pulley when it is engaged. I am hoping someone else has run across this problem and can give me some hope of ever getting the right belt. I have tried all kinds of length of belts . A 92x1/2 comes the closest. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
check and make sure the pulleys on your spindles are the right size, if they are too small, it will cause the belt to be too long
 
Need2learn said:
Hello I had problems with my deck belt as well, the problem I had was every belt I tried was to tight, and would engage when try starting the engine. So what I did was end up pulling the whole deck out checked all the pulleys, and ordering a original craftsman belt, not and OEM belt. The black belts were the OEM, the craftsman original belts were like a brownish color.
Click to expand...
Clutching belts must be wrapped otherwise they can not slip.
Plain belts are not wrapped because they want the belt to get sticky when hot so it does not stick.
Very few belt factories use black wrapping because it makes it too easy to confuse wrapped belts with unwrapped belts
Just about every belt factory on the planet has at one time supplied belts to every mower factory so they can rightfully claim to be OEM
Add to that 1,000,000 + online scammers who buy $ 2 belts from CHina, India , Russia etc then sell them on Ebay & Amazon because neither checks any of their vendors .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top