Husqvarna Wow! What the hell?? Mowing deck straining!

[dart451]

Working on a Husqvarna 960430036-00 LGT2654 tractor. The owner installed new spindles recently and new spindle pulleys and discovered that when she engaged the deck mower, it would severely labor the engine until it got up to speed but then it wouldn't cut high weeds! So, I get the tractor...see one pulley that is too small, replace it, install two new spindles w/pulleys, new belt. Everything spins very freely which I checked before re-installing mowing deck. I engage electronic mowing clutch, bam! Still labors the engine terribly! Triple checked the belt placement...I've got the belt on correctly. Is it possible the electric clutch is binding? I did try the electric clutch without the deck installed...it seemed to engage perfectly with no noise or problems! I'm at my whits end on this deck!??

[bgsengine]

Power Balance test the engine? make sure its hitting on both cylinders..

[dart451]

Bingo! That was it! Only running on one cylinder! It lost a push rod...should be an easy fix! Thank you so much for your input!

[dart451]

Never even occurred to me! It starts fine, runs good...you can't even tell it's running on one cylinder! Geesh!

[KE4AVB]

V-twins are good at this.

[Luffydog]

The carbs are bad about that too as well

[KE4AVB]

The carbs are bad about that too as well

Actually anything that causes a v-twin engine to run on one cylinder can be the cause. Many customers that bring in their mower after trying to repair a non exist deck problems are surprise it is engine related. The usually comment is "But it runs well and I can drive it around so I thought it was deck problem."