Idler pulley issues TG1860

[psk125]

The grass is growing so it is time to re-mount the mower. When I took it off in the fall I noticed the idler pulley arm seemed really loose, so I tightened it up and left it for the winter. Now when I engage the clutch for the mower the belt flies off the idler pulley in less than a second. The pulley does not seem to align properly with the belt -- it is too high. Does the pulley arm need to be loose to lower the pulley to the height of the belt? That does not seem "Kubota".

 

[imnukensc]

Seems like the simple solution is to loosen it back up to where it was since it wasn't causing a problem, but then again, I'm a pretty simple guy.

 

[psk125]

That's what I thought, too, but when I did that the pulley ended up being less and parallel to the drive pulley, despite being at the correct level. When the clutch was engaged, the angled idler pulley threw the belt off every time. Throwing the belt also caused the spring that tensions the idler pulley arm to unhook from it. Everything under there is designed for smaller hands than mine. What a hassle!

I ended up tightening up the idler arm to "snug" and then bending the arm down with a crowbar levered against the frame to put the pulley at the right level. This seems to have kept the pullies parallel enough to work. Guess it's not a cast piece. Lawn is now cut.