[Signsup]

Picked up this great little lawn and garden tractor from a Government Surplus auction. Replaced some parts and painted some green and yellow and it looks good to go for many more years. Question is, The shaft from the engine spins all the time, but the pully that drives the deck belt does not spin until the PTO switch is activated. Which, I presume is normal. But the idle pully is sqeeling like a pig while the engine shaft is spinning. Is this just a lube/oil job? Or am I missing something else.
Any help appreciated. Don't want to burn anything out.

 

[rhenning]

You have the drive belt on the wrong pulley. You have it where the mower belt should go. The misalignment of the belt is probably making the noise. There is another pulley on the crank above the PTO clutch that the drive belt is supposed to go on. Roger

 

[Signsup]

You are absolutely correct, but I guess I have my termonology wrong. The axle/transmission drive belt is up high on the engine shaft and is correctly instaled. At the end of the engine shaft is another pully that has a short belt directly to the mower deck. I didn't want to refer to it as a deck belt because I thought the long belt that went around the blade pullys was the deck belt. So I am calling it a deck drive puly/belt.

Anyway, this pully at the end of the shaft that has a belt going directly to the mower deck is the one that does not spin until the PTO switch is activated, which I presume is correct. The engine shaft turns when the engine is on and the pully does not, but squeels like crazy. Again, is this the normal operation for this pully and is there a remedy for the noise?

Hopefully, I've clarified my situation a little.

Thank you.

 

[rhenning]

The upper pulley should turn whenever the engine is running. The lower pulley should only turn when the PTO switch is on and you are sitting in the drivers seat. Reasons why the upper pulley is not turning could include the key in the shaft is broken/sheared or missing, the pulley is turning but the belt is not do to the hydro transmission being bad/locked up. The drive pulley/fan on the top of the transmission is bad/stripped/has a broken key or key shaft and on and on. There is really no answer to this without touching the tractor. Saying that it is not uncommon for the upper pulley on the transmission to be be bad. You need to take the drive train apart or at least the rear fenderdeck off to see what is broken in the drive train. Good Luck with it. Having worked at a State of WI facility we did't auction/surplus anything that still worked well. Roger

 

[Signsup]

Thank you both for your information. I'm still learning about this forum and I've learned a lot so far. But, I guess

I'll just oil the heck out of the pully I'm actually interested in and hope the noise goes away.

Everything works well, it's just a convenience annoyance thing.

Thanks to all.

 

[Mark / Ohio]

Maybe I'm reading your problem a little different. Do you mean the PTO clutch section section pulley that attaches to the belt from the deck is squealing unless the clutched is engaged and turning the blades?

If so sounds like the bearings going bad in the clutch or maybe an air gap adjustment needs to be made to the clutch. If I were to take a guess I would say the clutch bearing is the culprit.

 

[Signsup]

Ding! Ding! Ding!
We have a winner!

Yes, I feel vibration and can now isolate the noise to the PTO Clutch, located on the same shaft just above the pully for the deck belt. I have searched many sites and it appears that the bearing is not a JD replacement part, but some suggest since the clutch is being replaced anyway, for around $150 for the part, to try and take the clutch apart and see if I can find a bearing somewhere in the aftermarket.
It's worth a try.

Thanx for heading me in the right direction.

I'll post back how this turns out one way or the other.

Have a great 2012!

 

[Mark / Ohio]

Might show it to these guys if you have a store front close by and see if they can come up with something:

Motion Industries - Keeping Industry in Motion