Jump to content

Unofficial Home of Old Simplicity & Allis-Chalmers Garden Tractors

thrower throwing belts


jmh21586

Recommended Posts

I have a 42" snowblower on my landlord. I've only had the whole rig a short time. When I went out to blow snow the first time, I noticed I had a bad idler pulley. (One that changes belt direction up to motor pulley.) Bad bearing. Ended up damaging the belt a little. But now that I have a new pulle installed, the belt keeps coming off after a couple minutes use. Now I'm planning on putting a new belt on but could this really be the problem? I've also noticed that the blower isn't perfectly square with the tractor but cannot find anything that is bent. I don' know if it's just normal play or is it always suppose to be perfectly square? When it's in the up position it's kinda tweaked because it's only being held up on one side so maybe a little off is normal. This is the one thing I hate about belt drives. Thanks for any hel or suggestions.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd also to add that it seems to come off the auger pulley. Which is also the hardest one to get the belt on because it does have a keeper that you have to pry the belt through to get it on. So I'm wondering if this is where the problem is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Belt jumping could be caused by pulleys being mis-aligned, bad bearings, or a bad belt. If you damaged the belt at all I would replace it first, and use an oem belt. The cheaper ones work ok for a bit but the Simplicity belts are much better and last much longer. A friend of mine has a mid 90's 16 hp with 42 inch blower, he blows quite a bit of area and is on his second belt in 16 years. If the new belt doesn't do it, check you manual and do the checks you will find there as far as pulleys, tension of belt, mounting problems, etc. I have used shaft drive blowers and liked them, but a good belt drive set up right is a match for any shaft, imho. Good luck!! Steve
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks. I'll order a belt now. How can pulley alignment be adjusted?? I have a manual but I haven't seen anything in there about aligning pulleys. Mqybe I missed it.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Belt guides are critical, but also a pain in the dupa if the belt keeps jumping. Do check the primary drive pulley on the snowthrower. It can be installed with the hub in, or hub out and it will give you a little bit of alignment correction. I do not recall which way is which, but when I switched from front PTO to mid PTO (seeral years ago now) I did switch that pulley around. Could be that the previous owner used that blower on a mid pto.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll try the primary drive on the blower. The more I think about it it must have to do with this. Why else would the belt come off this pulley, as hard as it is to get back on. If the problem were somewhere else, I believe the belt would stay on that pulley. I'll update tommorrow. Thanks for the help.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I ordered a true blue belt. Hope it's a decent one. Had a hard time finding an actual simplicity belt. Are they made anymore or under a different name?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any Simplicty dealer can order you the factory belt. If your local dealer won't cooperate, then you can order from www.jackssmallengines.com or one of the site sponsors such as Sandy Lake Implement or Wells Implement.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another possibility of the cause is if the idler pullies are bent outward or inward. This can happen when such things as sticks or rocks stop the blower at WOT. A good wrecking bar can be use to get them back close so the belt is coming off of them sq and basicly centered. These are not my favorite drive system but can be tweeted to work real good, takes some fidling if like me and have never seen a 'good one'. If I recall correctly, the most important one is the clutched one .
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will add to Marty's post. You can bend the idler pulley mounts by dragging the thrower around with the hitch on. I had the same problem with a blower I picked up. Wrecked 2 belts in 20 mins. XX(, but with at little tweaking of the pulley mounts, the same belt has now been on for over 10 years. ^ Also the thrower should be square to the tractor, though it will not lift even. Most will lift higher on the right.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And I will add on to what Mike added to Marty. I discovered this when I was working on my dethatcher....use the biggest and tightest fitting clevis pins in all the mounting holes. One, it will fill in some of the back and forth or side to side slop you are encountering and two, it will keep the holes from warbling out any further than they already have.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

First thing is to get the correct operators manual. Compare the pics and setup instructions closely for any discrepancy. You'll need Simplicity idler's and an OEM belt. If you'll do this to start with you'll be very happy with the results. That said you'll be fine as long as no one else started bending the mounts and idler brackets to accept non OEM products. These blowers are setup to route the belts in various twists and turns. If the leading edges of each pulley/idler are not properly aligned with the direction of the belt it WILL throw the belt. A belt can exit a pulley a little off but it cannot go onto a pulley in an odd direction. This will almost always throw the belt. Then once you have a notch in the belt from being marked it will throw every time it passes that spot.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Who's Online (See full list)

    • s_stephen
    • Tom45
    • PhanDad
  • Recent Status Updates

    • gwiseman

      gwiseman

      As you know SimpletrACtors.com has changed some recently. Working through this so PM me with questions, suggestions, and/or challenges you have. Appreciate your patience and feedback.
      · 0 replies
    • gwiseman

      gwiseman

      Site programming updates were made 3/23/2024. As a result some things have changed including dues payment options. We will continue maintenance and work with technicians to regain credit card payment option and clear up minor challenges. On positive it appears attaching pictures is now easier. Good day. Gene 
      · 1 reply
  • Adverts

×
×
  • Create New...