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I qas given a 31R707 0001 G1 by my father in law.

My brother in law was cutting grass before it was given to us and threw the deck belt. I removed the deck per the manual and put the belt back on according to the official Troy-Bilt youtube video and pdf manual online.

The problem is that the belt is comming up like 2" short of the drive pully. The rear hangers on the deck have multiple holes. It was installed on the rear two but, like I said, the belt is too short. If I use the front two holes and shift the deck forward, the belt mounts but is still tight enough to engage the blades at all times (even when the blade lever is all the way disengaged). This can't be right.

My brother in law insists that there is a tensioner somewhere but I can't find it on the mower or anywhere in the manual.

Any ideas?

You gave us the model number of the engine, we will need the model number from under the seat so we can see which configuration you are dealing with.

Oops. Sorry about that. 13WM77KS011

I also since then found this number in the belt 125907xHBD058

The belt should probably be replaced eventually. The 42" belts at Home Depot don't match the number in the manual I found online.

Now from the top
Is this your deck ?

Is this your deck
If so the the right side pulley ( discharge chute side ) is the tension pulley.
Also if so I can not follow what you are saying about different bolt holes .
According to Jacks the part number is # 95404060 an according to Gates it is equivalent to a 6776BR belt which is 1/2 x 96.48".
Are you sure you are connecting the PTO cable to the right place on the tension plate # 44 in the image above ?

First check the belt length. It should be 96.5". As a wrong length might be installed.

Second make sure the engagement idler arm is free moving and fully releasing. The PTO cable do over bind in its housing and will not freely move due to corrosion. Disconnect the cable from the idler arm to check if this is the problem.

Bert as to holes the OP is mentioning they are on the lift arms. With 42" MTD mower they use the same arms for the 38" deck. What MTD does is to label which holes is which on these arms. Also on the idler arm MTD change these back in May 23, 2014. The idler image you you are showing above is the newer version. It is actually used on the 42 and 46 decks. On the newer arm there two mounting locations for the RH brake pad depending if used on 42" or 46".

What holes the OP needs to use is the 42" holes.

Thanks for that .
This is the diagram that sprung up from the numbers posted and the deck lift only showed an arm with a single hole.
And yes I am familiar with the multiple hole lift arms , but try not to assume things that are not depicted in IPLs.
The Gates site lists the belt as an A 96.48 & Stns list it as 96.5
I would almost be tempted to buy one of each to see if the Gates belt really is 0,02" shorter than the Stens belt .

I understand that but I search the model I got both a 2014 and a 2015 ipls. That is why check the 2014 version. As for one thing idler arm was different than the ones I have ran into so far but now I know there is newer version out there myself so it won't be a surprise thinking someone had put on the wrong arm until check the machine year.

If you can measure that .02" of inch difference you are much better at it then most of us. But even Stens says their belts can vary +- 1/4". I do know the MTD 954-04060C is 96.5 according to belt measuring tool or at least the ones I have here are.

.02" is that much but when it comes being a half inch off it can make a difference with MTDs.

My problem is occurring before I connect the PTO. When I attach the deck to the rear holes on the lift arms, the belt is an inch or two short.

Is there any way to create that much slack? I don't see a way.

Have you measured the belt ?
If so what length is it ?
Without installing the PTO Cable the tension pulley should be well & truely forward and the belt very slack.
I did not see a return spring on the IPL but there are springs on the brakes so it might use these to back off the tension arm.
It is always prudent to measure the new belt against the old one, even if the old one has broken .
V belts with kevlar fibres do not stretch, they wear thin on the sides so the old belt should always measure to same as the new one to within a 1/2" .
I did not check if different years used different length belts but this is not uncommon.
have a good look at the left hand idler ( fixed one ) and see if it has a bright shinny wear strip on it .
Your father in law could have been running with the left pulley connected directly to the engine pulley like an L shape rather than the T shape .
A lot of MTD's run the belt as an L to save using the second idler pulley and this shortens the belt run quite a bit .

I'll measure it as soon as I am home. Is there any problem with running in the L configuration instead? Any added wear to bearings for example?

its really easy to "think" the belt goes a certain way only to find out it goes on the idler pulley the other way

the same brand mowers can have way different pulley designs

lay the old belt over the new one and see if they are the same size

bertsmobile1 said:

Now from the top
Is this your deck ?
View attachment 52023
Is this your deck
If so the the right side pulley ( discharge chute side ) is the tension pulley.
Also if so I can not follow what you are saying about different bolt holes .
According to Jacks the part number is # 95404060 an according to Gates it is equivalent to a 6776BR belt which is 1/2 x 96.48".
Are you sure you are connecting the PTO cable to the right place on the tension plate # 44 in the image above ?

Click to expand...

This is the correct deck. The other drawing online is different and incorrect. Because of this discrepancy I'm hesitant to order a belt using the number found it this manual. Which belt should I order for my mower?

The belt that both Star & I recommended .
Ask the vendor to confirm that the belt you are ordering is 96.5" long.
As for running the belt in an L shape it will cause fully wear in the mounts because the belt will be trying to rotate the entire deck where as the T shape there is no twisting of the belt.

Great. Thanks. I think this was the problem. After measuring the belt, it is comming up considerably shorter; it isn't the right one.

Thanks for the help everyone. The belt was definitely the wrong length. I can't imagine how my brother in law ran it with the shorter one unless it was in the L configuration.

Thanks for the update.
Believe it or not we have seen this before
Glad it was a simple fix & you are happily mowing again.