Drive belt alignment from drive pulley to deck pulley

[krusejs]

Anybody ever had the problem of when the deck was lowered, the PTO was slow to engage because of the belt alignment to the deck? It seems the lower I put the deck the slower the PTO takes to engage. Plus, it will hardly mow because of the PTO rpm's. The higher the deck is the PTO doesn't seem to strain as much. Just wondering what would cause this. I can tell that when the deck is at it's lowest point that the belt is at quite an angle. Thanks in advance.

[slydinclyde]

Without knowing for sure your mower type I would first check to make sure the tension isn't to high with the deck lowered. I wouldn't think it couldn't change more than a half inch or so but maybe enough to make problems.

Also have you tried this over concrete or were there is now grass?

[krusejs]

Here's the deal,
Last fall I was mowing along and all the sudden the deck quit. I got off and looked and the idler pulley spring had come unhooked as well as the belt broke. After that the mower started acting up. As in the PTO is slow to engage. Get in taller grass and it bogs it down where it used to not do that. I have adjusted the air gap on the PTO clutch and that didn't seem to help. Don't know if some of the deck bearings are shot or not. Everything turns fine but the deck sure is noisy. It doesn't matter if I'm sitting on the concrete driveway or in the grass when it comes to the height of the deck and the slow engaging PTO. Can't mow at a height lower than 4 right now. Guess maybe I just ought to quit trying to fix it myself and take it to a dealer.

[Jim Becker]

What model tractor are you dealing with? Some Cub Cadet? I assumed, you had a Farmall Cub and slydinclyde probably did as well.

[krusejs]

Sorry, Cub Cadet 1330.

[slydinclyde]

So correct me if I am wrong but the 1330 has an electric PTO right

Have you made sure all of the connections are good and sound low voltage can cause strange problems. Also is the charging system up to par

[krusejs]

Yes Sly, it does have an electric PTO. I made an appt. for tomorrow to have it looked at. I'm tired of troubleshooting it. Might just trade it in.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

If it's making quite a bit of noise with the mower running, you may have one or more bearings going bad that you can't feel just turning it. That can cause a lot of resistance.

[slydinclyde]

Well let us know what they find I am curios now.

[Scott C]

Grab the center spindle and see if you can move it.
When the bearings go, it can lean forward and start to bind. Lower the deck and it pulls up more on the back of the pulley.
Also, if you hit something and bend the deck, you could force the pulley to a forward angle, lowering the deck would put more of a bind on the belt.

[krusejs]

Well, didn't get a chance to get my lawnmower into the shop. Tore it apart this w/e and checked everything over. Bearings all seem to be good yet. The idler pulley is pretty sloppy though. Don't know if that could be part of the problem or not. Does anybody know what the air gap on the PTO needs to be? I've seen .010 to .020. Is this correct?