I was mowing a rough area when I heard a grind noise, some sparks fly out the discharge... assumed I hit a rock. Shut the blades down... drove up to a flat clear area... looked under the deck and around the deck... nothing obvious. Turned the blades back on... much rougher then before. Took it over the barn. Lifted it up. Pulled the blades. Checked balance and bend (all 3 looked good, sharpened them while they were off). Noticed the belt was loose... a lot looser then I remember it. Pulled the belt, checked the spindles. They look an feel fine. Greased the spindles while I was in there. Put it back together... notice something has definitely changed. I don't have enough room on the eyebolt to get the tension I need on the belt. I'm maxed out (it definitely was not before, I had to move the jam nut over 2"). At this point I've been looking and trying to understand what moved. With the tension I have now (the max) I ran the blades and the belt is definitely flopping. Still looking and inspecting, trying to figure this out, but thought I would reach out while I'm at it.
The other thing I noted... by the manual, my idler arm spring should be 7 1/4... I'm assuming I have a different version, or someone replaced it with one for a 72" deck at some point because I'm at 6 5/8 (although I'm not as tight as I should be... there's no way I'm getting another 3/4 inch out of it)
The other thing I noted... by the manual, my idler arm spring should be 7 1/4... I'm assuming I have a different version, or someone replaced it with one for a 72" deck at some point because I'm at 6 5/8 (although I'm not as tight as I should be... there's no way I'm getting another 3/4 inch out of it)