Bad vibration....Troy Bilt Rider

[Arkie]

Look closely at the first few seconds of the video that shows the long run on the V belt at the back of the deck. Use your cursor and slow and stop the video while watching the long run on the V belt Something strange going on with the belt on the long run, appears maybe the belt wants to twist or ??

I think I would change the belt. Check the idler and it spring, but appears the vibration maybe starts due to the belt on the long run at the back of the deck???

Be careful around that beast and leave the blades off while it vibrating and you are out of the seat watching, etc.

[RMR]

"This is a mower I bought non-running for a flip."
Want to end up with a MILLION dollars buying, fixing up, and selling mowers?
... then start with TWO million!!
Sorry, I could not resist.
Michael

Really, that's what you bring to the table? I've made thousands off of flipping mowers, year after year. I can handle a bad apple here and there. It's called business. It fills in the gaps, and is a nice break once in a while.

For the rest of you guys, thanks for the ideas and tips. I'll report back soon......

[38racing]

"This is a mower I bought non-running for a flip."
Want to end up with a MILLION dollars buying, fixing up, and selling mowers?
... then start with TWO million!!
Sorry, I could not resist.
Michael

Really, that's what you bring to the table? I've made thousands off of flipping mowers, year after year. I can handle a bad apple here and there. It's called business. It fills in the gaps, and is a nice break once in a while.

For the rest of you guys, thanks for the ideas and tips. I'll report back soon......

I think his post was meant in humour. That's how I took it. Myself I'm working on an MTD I bought for parts but then decided to actually revive to full function and I keep finding another thing that needs fixed.
There's a standard joke in our area. A farmer wins a million dollars. Someone asks him what he's going to do with the money. He says "keep on farming until it's all gone"

[bgsengine]

Yep - what 38racing said - creia's post was just a bit of humor and brought me a chuckle too (You *did* note the big grin smiley, right?)

but it is also founded in reality, some can make a decent living at projects like this , depending on the market -for example, Here, I could not do that unless I got the machine for free - get a $200 "mechanic's special" and put $200 (at dealer cost, no less) of parts into it plus going shop labor rate getting near to $200 (which could have been spent doing other money-making stuff) , and if you're *lucky* you can sell the machine for $600 and just about break even.. Try to get $800 for the machine, it'll sit on the lot for 3-4 years rusting away until you get fed up with moving it around and let it go for $550...

Other places you can luck into clean, garage kept (not rusted, faded, peeling paint) machines and fix them up the same way and get a grand out of them the same day you put it out for sale..

[RMR]

Sorry, I guess I read into it wrong. I typically buy them for $50 or less, or commonly take them in on a trade. Then I buy my parts at wholesale, then throw in a couple hours labor. I only flip mowers that I can sell for $500 or more. That usually nets me $200-$300, sometimes more. And at those prices I can move them in less than a week.

Back to the problem. Curiosity got me, so I went out and inspected the belt only to find no problems. So I swapped it with another belt. It had the 96-1/2" on it, but I tried a 96" (all I had on hand) with the same results. I also checked the motor mounts and they are tight. And the last thing I did was pull the pin on the pto cable and pulled it by hand as hard as I could to simulate a stronger spring with some improvement, but it was minimal. I think I will move it back to the back and wait for another mower to come in, or a parts deck I can steal a idler arm from. Or part it out.....I'm not dumping any more cash into it at this point.

[Luffydog]

Look for small sticks in pulleys and in crank shaft pulley even nuts and shells get stuck in there and cause big vibes. Last week had one in there causing a bad vibe and the man was mad because it was brand new. I pulled the shell out that was stuck up in the drive pulley and showed him and he just laughed and said yep i have been mowing a lot of nuts and that explains he said. After removal cranked it up and smooth it was!!!!

[Arkie]

Look for small sticks in pulleys and in crank shaft pulley even nuts and shells get stuck in there and cause big vibes. Last week had one in there causing a bad vibe and the man was mad because it was brand new. I pulled the shell out that was stuck up in the drive pulley and showed him and he just laughed and said yep i have been mowing a lot of nuts and that explains he said. After removal cranked it up and smooth it was!!!!

I've seen similar also in mower pulleys sometimes a slight change in the shape of the v groove of a pulley and if cannot be seen while on the mower remove the belt and gently hold finger inside the groove and carefully feel the top and bottom of the v groove for a change in the size/shape as you turn/spin the pulley.
Any small size change in the v groove will cause a belt to vibrate/jump.

[RMR]

All pulley's are new, and have never seen grass, other than the crank pulley, which is clean. I can however check for imperfections in the pulley's like you said.

[bgsengine]

Look for small sticks in pulleys and in crank shaft pulley even nuts and shells get stuck in there and cause big vibes. Last week had one in there causing a bad vibe and the man was mad because it was brand new. I pulled the shell out that was stuck up in the drive pulley and showed him and he just laughed and said yep i have been mowing a lot of nuts and that explains he said. After removal cranked it up and smooth it was!!!!

I've seen similar also in mower pulleys sometimes a slight change in the shape of the v groove of a pulley and if cannot be seen while on the mower remove the belt and gently hold finger inside the groove and carefully feel the top and bottom of the v groove for a change in the size/shape as you turn/spin the pulley.
Any small size change in the v groove will cause a belt to vibrate/jump.

Yep. and I have seen new flat idlers where the mating halves were not lined up quite perfectly causing a belt wobble and imbalance. Even on OEM new machines.