Another 2001 Murray Mid Engine Mower Question

[illmakeufamous]

My mower is slipping in 4th and 5th gear, especially going up hill. I can see the belt is moving. If I put it in 1-3rd it’ll catch and go up hill no problem. If I sit there long enough the belt will eventually catch and it will go uphill in the higher gears but the belt will start to burn before it catches. The drive belt is brand new. When I was messing with it with the old belt on it, I put the belt over on of the keeper pegs by a pulley, giving the belt more tensions and it went wherever I wanted it to go but over course it started eating the old belt but at least it showed me it was a tension issue, or at least I thought. Bought a new belt and have the same issue. Any ideas would be helpful. The mower is a 309005x51A.


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[Larry B]

Probably either the drive pulley on the engine is worn out or the tension spring is weak. Look carefully at the engine drive pulley where belt rides. Pulley should not have any slight depression. Any at all and pulley is worn out. Common problem on older mowers with slip belt drive.

 

[Dub11]

I had an old mtd mower that would slip in the lower gears unless I pulled the clutch pedal back to apply more tension. I ended up adding a spring to it externally cuz it was a 5 min fix for me on that beater mower.

 

[Fish]

Look at the transmissiom mounting bolts, there are the 4 at the wheel/axles, and there is at least 1 toward the front that likely has fallen out, it allows the trans to slightly lean forward and the belt can slip or hop off.

 

[S Sidwell]

Definitely sounds like a tension problem, belt should be tight with clutch/brake pedal released.

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[illmakeufamous]

I had an old mtd mower that would slip in the lower gears unless I pulled the clutch pedal back to apply more tension. I ended up adding a spring to it externally cuz it was a 5 min fix for me on that beater mower.

Low gears are fine, it’s the higher gears and I’ve already took all the slack out of the clutch pedal rod (I know I’m not talking technical terms here. I’ll check the pulley and spring. The spring has me suspect because I noticed when I took it off to replace the drive belt that the holes the springs attach to seemed slightly reamed out.the belt seems tight when it’s parked and turned off, obviously, and i pull on the belt. It takes some effort to get it to move.


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[Fish]

Is that 5th bolt still there?

 

[Fish]

Looks like in your case, it might be firmed up by the brackets #62 or #55, hard to tell from here in Ky...
http://www.ama.it/wp-content/upload...RAY-MURRAY-TRACTOR-309005x51A-code-S01900.pdf

 

[Fish]

But in any case, it needs more support than the 4 mounting bolts.

 

[illmakeufamous]

But in any case, it needs more support than the 4 mounting bolts.

I’ll look again for more bolts when I get a chance but #62 is all I noticed


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[illmakeufamous]

Ok just checked the pulleys. It felt like the idler pulley 690410MA wasn’t smooth on the surface where the belt rides, possible belt wearing divot in to the pulley over time causing less tension?


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[Fish]

Spin it by hand. Is it noisey?

 

[Fish]

Going into the higher gears takes more force, like when trying to pedal a 10 speed bike up a hill, so many things can come into play.

 

[Fish]

But a 10 speed bike has a chain that doesn't/cannot slip........

 

[illmakeufamous]

Here it is. Thoughts?


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[illmakeufamous]

And fish, I couldn’t find a place for a fifth mounting bolt


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[Larry B]

That pulley is worn out.is it an idler or engine pulley? On slip belt drive systems the engine pulley is prone to wear out just from use. The trans pulley almost never wears out. The belt is designed to wedge in the pulley groove. When pulley wears it take more tension to make it grip. Clutching belts are different than automotive v belts in that they slip some when engaging vs. Grabbing. This just wears on the engine drive pulley

 

[illmakeufamous]

That’s the idler pully. The engine pully is metal and appears to be in good condition


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[illmakeufamous]

I thought it was worn but the Wear indentions are so uniform all the way around it had me second guessing myself



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[S Sidwell]

Here it is. Thoughts?


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That's worn slap out.

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