Yardmachine deck install placement?

[dart451]

Working on a Yardman tractor, 13AN771G755 that a customer brought to me mostly all apart. Usually I do not have trouble with these and can get them back together but the deck is throwing me for a loop! I installed all new drive belts and the deck belt but I seem to have a problem with the deck raising rods on the deck. Could someone look at my pics and see if I have this right? I'm concerned because the rod is hitting the small drive belt!

[Arkie]

Here is some links from the MTD site showing IPL's etc for that rig.
Other info is available at the MTD link.

https://www.mtdparts.com/en_US/prior-ye ... 1G755.html

file:///C:/Users/owner/Downloads/769-01612a.pdf


https://www.searspartsdirect.com/manual ... wn-tractor

[bgsengine]

link hooked up right, but I suspect you got wrong upper VSR drive belt. There are several and some are within a half inch of each other in length. may want to double-check your part numbers and don't depend on some aftermarket cross reference for these.

[dart451]

link hooked up right, but I suspect you got wrong upper VSR drive belt. There are several and some are within a half inch of each other in length. may want to double-check your part numbers and don't depend on some aftermarket cross reference for these.

bgsengine, the belt I put on was a 5/8"x 35"...the belt from MTD shows 35 1/4" w/.656 top width. The belt I got doesn't show the top width...

[bgsengine]

link hooked up right, but I suspect you got wrong upper VSR drive belt. There are several and some are within a half inch of each other in length. may want to double-check your part numbers and don't depend on some aftermarket cross reference for these.

bgsengine, the belt I put on was a 5/8"x 35"...the belt from MTD shows 35 1/4" w/.656 top width. The belt I got doesn't show the top width...

The OEM Belt has a different profile , top width may vary between belts, length measurements may be done on the ID or the OD at times.. a B section or a 5L belt will be too "deep" in the V profile so much that t6he top width does not even come into play. if the I.D. of the belt bottoms out in pulley groove, it'll never touch the sides of the pulleys like it should. Should really use only OEM MTD belts in the Vari-Drive systems.. standard FHP or aftermarket "will-fit" belts just don't do the job properly.. Some aftermarket "Exact-Fit" belts will also work fine (in fact some come out of the same production batch as the OEM belts, they just arent guaranteed to have passed through MTD's quality control specs) But, with Aftermarket, it's a case of "Your Mileage May Vary" - sometimes you have a run of good luck, then others you end up with a dozen "not quite right" belts that just don't get the job done... For the little bit more for an OEM Belt (in most cases) it's well worth the extra expense.

[dart451]

Thank you bgsengine, as always, you are a wealth of valuable information. Some of us guys that do this work as something to do with our spare time, don't understand why something doesn't work and something does. Again, thank you...

[KE4AVB]

As BGS says with the MTD being .656 wide and a standard 5/8 is only .625, the 5/8 is going to sit lower in the transaxle pulley and the variable pulley grooves so the belt will seems too long. This is the quark about MTDs where Standard 5/8 v-belts will not work correctly but many after market vendors still will sale one if you are willing to buy it knowing full well that they will not work right.

[dart451]

As BGS says with the MTD being .656 wide and a standard 5/8 is only .625, the 5/8 is going to sit lower in the transaxle pulley and the variable pulley grooves so the belt will seems too long. This is the quark about MTDs where Standard 5/8 v-belts will not work correctly but many after market vendors still will sale one if you are willing to buy it knowing full well that they will not work right.

KE4AVB, did you notice though that the belt appears to stick out too much beyond the pulley? I think this is why the belt is hitting the deck raising bar. If I get the MTD one, which shows larger, won't it even sit higher on the pulley and make the problem worse?

[KE4AVB]

If I remember correct they all stick out of the tensioner pulley like that but the will ride higher at the transmission and variable pulleys which would pull in that idler arm.

[bgsengine]

As BGS says with the MTD being .656 wide and a standard 5/8 is only .625, the 5/8 is going to sit lower in the transaxle pulley and the variable pulley grooves so the belt will seems too long. This is the quark about MTDs where Standard 5/8 v-belts will not work correctly but many after market vendors still will sale one if you are willing to buy it knowing full well that they will not work right.

KE4AVB, did you notice though that the belt appears to stick out too much beyond the pulley? I think this is why the belt is hitting the deck raising bar. If I get the MTD one, which shows larger, won't it even sit higher on the pulley and make the problem worse?

This is why the width is so important 0 width of the belt makes the variable pulley "larger" in O.D. which means the belt "shortens" between the idler tensioner and the variable pulley, which means the idler tensioner is pulled in further towards VS Pulley and away from the link... plus the MTD OEM Belt will be much "flatter" in profile - like 3/8" thickness, as compared to a 5/8" belt which might have a thickness of 1/2" to 7/16" in its profile

To try and illustrate in text format:
a regular 5/8 belt might have a profile like:
\ /
\_/
Note the "height" if the V seen from a cross section..
whereas an MTD OEM Belt might be more like:

\__/ - That is, much flatter in the "height" cross section - but the wider top width of the MTD makes the belt "shorter" as it runs around the pulleys....