Page 1 of 1

3260A mower deck tension

Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 9:13 am
by dazietyme
My father is replacing the tension spring on his 3260A mower deck. He is having trouble getting the new spring on. Has anyone else ever replaced one of these? Any tips you could give that would help him? I would really appreciate it.

Re: 3260A mower deck tension

Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 2:38 pm
by arthurpbloom
Put the spring on first, then put the belt on. It's easier that way. Less blood.

Re: 3260A mower deck tension

Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:18 pm
by b52c130
Dazie,
An old "farmboy" trick for installing springs - take thin nails (like 6d box nails) and drive sideways thru the coil and back out the other side. Do this with 10 or 15 nails and the spring will "grow" in length. Insert spring. Then pull each nail back out to shorten spring back to original length.
Not pretty - not book recommended; but will work when you don't have a proper tool.
Hope that this helps you, NJDale

Re: 3260A mower deck tension

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 12:19 pm
by BigBill
I use a 18" adjustable wrench to turn the lever the ilder pulley is on so the belt can be installed on the ilder pulley. I just turn the lever so it clears the pulley. The longer 18" adjustable wrench gives us more mechanical advantage with the spring. I do this on all my IH decks wether its a cub cadet or the int154's 3260 decks.

Re: 3260A mower deck tension

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 5:13 pm
by BigBill
When my spring broke i welded up a piece of angle to hold the straight spring 6" long and i welded a stud to the lever and used a snowplow trip spring adjustable eye bolt to adjust my belt tention. I'm no longer tied to IH for replacement parts. Now i can adjust the spring tention so the lever doesn't bounce so much.

Re: 3260A mower deck tension

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:02 pm
by dazietyme
Thanks everyone for your help. My dad was able to use your various techniques to get the new spring on!