Jump to content

Unofficial Home of Old Simplicity & Allis-Chalmers Garden Tractors

How much should it cost to replace a belt..?


MPH

Recommended Posts

About a week ago I posted about Simplicity’s quality control and a hydro pump belt self-destructing due to misaligned pulleys. Also about a week ago, SmilinSam posted about dealership mechanics’ qualifications. Today, I repositioned the pump pulley and installed a new belt. I can’t help but wonder what the results would have been if this were someone else’s tractor. I had previously installed a hydro pump belt on my 7012. That job took about 20 minutes. I anticipated the same for the Sovereign. The job took over 3 hours. I couldn’t even remove the pump shroud without first removing the Sovereign’s wider wheel & tire. Then, the pulley set screw resisted loosening due to rust. Even after being drenched with PB Blaster, the pulley wouldn’t budge with moderate taps from a hammer and punch (had to be careful not to hit too hard and damage the pump). Next, I tried a puller. Still the pulley wouldn’t budge, so I rigged up a heat sink (to protect the pump seal) and applied a little heat. The pulley still wouldn’t budge. At this point I removed the seat deck so I had unobstructed access. I rigged up a water cooling system and applied more heat to the pulley hub. The puller still could not budge the pulley. So, I used several front end forks to apply force between the pulley and the pump housing, while keeping the pulley hub red hot. That got the pulley moving and the puller did the rest. The average homeowner wouldn’t have the tools I used, and I don’t know what would have happened at a dealership. Even if the dealer did the job as I did, without removing or damaging the pump, there would have still been a bill for 3-4 hours of labor to change a belt. Or, a new belt would have been installed without aligning the pulleys. Sidebar: The previous owner kept this tractor immaculate with regular washing, resulting in no dirt but plenty of rust in unprotected mechanical connections. I think I’m going to spray the entire machine with #1 oil (diesel fuel).
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know what you mean Herb. On an old jd,(doesn't deserve to be capitalized), you had to have four pin holes and two brackets lined up before you could attach the deck. It was d@&# near impossible to get them all lined up at the same time and if you put the pin in once you got 1 lined up you would never get the rest lined up. It was a two person job and took nearly 3 hours just to change the mower drive belt. And went throught 3 belts in 1 spring. That summer I got my Landlord. Jordan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...