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9020 mower deck drive belt


jlasater

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Napa tried to cross reference the drive belt for the 60" deck on my 9020 and gave me a belt marked B90. From what I can tell, it is about 90" long. A few sites I checked said I needed a 116" belt. I had to slack the front tensioner way off to where the rod pulls out of the round ring/spacer and gets stuck when you release the lever, and I can't get the left side of the belt (as viewed from the front looking back) to not touch the metal frame. Adding 26" to the length of the belt seems a bit extreme.

So...what belt length and width do I *really* need?

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Looks like I was confusing the "arbor drive" belt for the PTO belt. The arbor drive belt I have looks to be the right size. Someone else posted on the forum that their 9020 came with a B91 PTO belt. I was given a B90 which evidently is too short.

Edited by jlasater
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202876 lists as a 93X1/2 belt which is what I supposedly have and it's just a bit too tight, unless I'm doing something wrong.

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Does the mule drive assembly attach  using the middle and rear holes on the axle, or the middle and front holes? I have it pinned in the middle and rear holes because that's how the deck seemed to fit between the tires. I'm thinking the front tires someone installed are too big, because even with the deck set back like that, the tires will run at full lock.

The pictures I could see in the manual (poor scan quality) showed the mule drive pinned in the front holes.

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I just went out and looked again. If I move it to the middle and front, the pulleys will be waaaay to far forward to line up with the clutch pulley. I'm not sure if this is because of mismatched parts or what. The axle is the HD later model one from a 720 off ebay, mule drive is from one person, mower deck is another ebay find.

With the mule drive in the middle/rear pins, the deck lift cables are perfectly vertical. If I move the mule drive forward, the lift cables will be running at an angle.

I'm back to thinking the belt needs to be just an inch or two longer (or maybe the OEM belt will fit but there are no simplicity dealers around here that stock any parts for easy return if it doesn't fit)..

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A few pix to show what I'm working with.

Mule drive mounted in middle/rear holes:

9020_mule_drive.jpg

 

Deck installed. Looks centered to me. Lift cables are hanging vertically not at an angle.

9020_mower_mounted.jpg

 

If you look carefully, you can see the adjustable idler is pretty well lined up with the PTO drive pulley. If I moved the mule drive to the front pins, it would be off by three inches or so.

9020_front_pto_idler.jpg

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....which brings up the question. Is it possible someone put a smaller idler pulley on the tensioner than OEM? That would cause a problem too. If any of you guys have a known good mule drive lying around, would you mind measuring the diameter of the pulley on the spring tensioner mechanism?

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Jeremy your right with rear bolt holes, mine lines up the same as you

I also have a front bumper and wieghts that bolts to the front holes.

Not sure but you probably could get away with a 1/2in. longer belt.

Shaun not trying to discredit you but I'm the same as Jeremy front holes everything is cattywhoopas

Maybe hard to see with bumper on but how mine works, I have the sickle bar on but both use same mule drive.

DSCN1515.JPG

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I was going by a picture of mine when I bought it.  It was in the front & middle mounting holes.  I've never mowed grass with my deck so it has been off for 9 years.  Sorry for the incorrect information but I'm glad Lloyd caught it. dOd

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What's curious is most pictures, including the manual, seem to show it in the front holes. Strange.

I swapped the B90 (93") belt for a B91 (94"). Will see if that helps the situation.

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Installed the B91 belt, adjusted the idler, and I think we're in business! I have a little under 1/4" clearance between the belt and frame on the spring tensioner side so will mess with the adjustment idler a bit more. Deck spins nice and smooth too. Too dark to try it out though tonight.

I'm on the prowl for the left-side long tube with clevis that goes over the top of the deck and adjust the front deck height. The clevis is stripping out when I adjust it...it is full of rust with no way to clean it out. If you have one you'll part with, PM me.

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First mowing on the tractor. The gauge rollers at the back are completely worn out and will be replaced shortly, along with the axle rod and a few other parts. Cut quality was very good. Engine would drop revs every once in a while and felt pretty hot. Possibly from the drag from the mower deck. Will pull the sidecovers off and give the cooling fins a good lookover.

Still looking for the leveling tube with clevis if anyone has a spare that isn't seized up.

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Check under the tractor to make sure the bottom of the frame cover is there. They are know to be removed and never replaced. without that cover the air flow is disrupted 

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The belly pan is not there and didn't come with the tractor. Thinking about it further, the power drop seems too consistent to be mechanical. It only happens with the front PTO engaged too...so I'm thinking something is tripping the main circuit breaker, killing the engine momentarily (it never completely stops) then resets and the engine runs normally...every 30 seconds or so. So...going to check resistance on the PTO coil and work back from there. The wiring harness on this tractor is all kinds of messed up, so it wouldn't surprise me if something was amiss.

I saw the same behavior on the ladder truck I run for the fire department. Engaging the pump would cause the engine to drop revs big time every 5 seconds. We tracked it down to a wiring fault that was causing an 80 amp breaker to trip and reset loading the alternator/electrical system enough to pull the engine down.

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After some wrenching time, I think the tractor is happy now. I replaced the 20A circuit breaker and gave the engine a really good cleaning with an air gun, screw driver, and small wire brush. The left cylinder/head was packed full of debris and definitely wasn't cooling properly. That would explain the smoke when I shut it down. Changed out the 20A breaker thinking maybe the old one was getting weak, but additionally one of the push-on ends that goes on the circuit breaker threaded stuck was trashed. Insulation missing, corroded. Replaced with a crimp-on ring terminal for now, insulated everything, and it seems to be working. Someone added a toggle switch from the Batt side of the circuit breaker back into the alternator connector (the one with four or five pins) for some unknown reason, but it appeared to be in the off position the whole time I've had it. I didn't watch the ammeter before, but now the gauge shows about 15A charge. I'll put a Battery Tender on the battery to make sure its fully charged, then if the ammeter still reads that high, there has to be a substantial power draw somewhere. I don't assume 15+ is normal when the engine is running.

Ordered a full set of deck rollers and will replace the long and short roller axles, then the deck should be ready to roll. As it is, it cuts about 1" tall right now because the depth system is so worn out.

I'll fab up a new belly pan as well.

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