108-5 Belt Problem

[MowerGuy21 1]

Hi all, I’m brand new to the forum. I’ve got a Wheel Horse 108-5 mower. She starts up real nice and drives around well.
 

However, I can’t get the belts quite right. The drive belt is fine, as is the belt that heads to the mower deck itself. But the belt that goes from the driveshaft pulley to the pulley that connects to the deck belt pulley is giving me fits. 
 

I can’t seem to get it tensioned up right. I have the #112114 belt and it will go on. But even when I “engage,” it still has a lot of play. If I try to go mow, the belt just slips and smokes. 
 

Any chance the belt is wrong? 
 

There’s a long piece of flexible metal that runs along the belt path. What is that for? Does it have to do with tensioning the belt or something else?

 

Thank you for the help!

[ri702bill 12,682]

Welcome!

Pictures of the area in question are needed to better understand the actual issue..

[MowerGuy21 1]

14 minutes ago, ri702bill said:

Welcome!

Pictures of the area in question are needed to better understand the actual issue..

Thanks for the welcome! 
I’m out this evening but I’ll try to post some pictures of the underside tomorrow. 

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 12,415]

Welcome to Red Square

This may help

25 search results for the 108-5

https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/search/?q=108-5&quick=1&type=downloads_file

[Ed Kennell 46,788]

to the 

[953 nut 68,109]

The manuals that Gary linked will probably answer your questions.

[ineedanother 2,760]

5 hours ago, MowerGuy21 said:

Hi all, I’m brand new to the forum.

Butler, PA?

 

Lots of great folks here with volumes of knowledge. You can introduce yourself here and  : https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/forum/47-introductions/

Edited yesterday at 02:49 AM by ineedanother

[MowerGuy21 1]

15 hours ago, gwest_ca said:

Welcome to Red Square

This may help

25 search results for the 108-5

https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/search/?q=108-5&quick=1&type=downloads_file

Thanks for these, Gary! Definitely a help with learning more about this mower!

 

[MowerGuy21 1]

14 hours ago, 953 nut said:

The manuals that Gary linked will probably answer your questions.

Thanks for these welcome!

 

While Gary’s manuals were enlightening about quite a few aspects of the mower, they didn’t seem to include much about the PTO belt which is my problem-area. 

[MowerGuy21 1]

11 hours ago, ineedanother said:

Butler, PA?

 

Lots of great folks here with volumes of knowledge. You can introduce yourself here and  : https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/forum/47-introductions/

Yes, Butler PA. I’ll head over to that introduction page and introduce myself when I have some time

 

Thank you!

[ineedanother 2,760]

2 hours ago, MowerGuy21 said:

Yes, Butler PA. I’ll head over to that introduction page and introduce myself when I have some time

 

Thank you!

Cool. There's more than one so I figured I'd ask. I was born there and get back there occasionally.

[MowerGuy21 1]

Hopefully this works… pictures of the belt on the mower. It’s in “engage” mode. There’s still plenty of play on the belt even though I’ve got the PTO adjusted to take up as much slack as possible. Is it supposed to be this loose? You can see the slack especially well in the third picture. 

 

I was given the mower last summer and had this same issue. Put it away for a while and now I’m banging my head against a wall again. Fires right up and runs well, but it shredded/smoked two of this belt last summer.

 

[Ed Kennell 46,788]

Do you have the correct PTO tension spring and is it adjusted to the 1 3/4 " length to apply the correct tension to the belt?

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 12,415]

Those grooves look very rusty. Nothing wrong with rust but it has to be smooth. A wide flat file works good - knock off the high spots. A belt constantly slides into the groove and back out of it so smooth is required to prevent wear.

[MowerGuy21 1]

12 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

Do you have the correct PTO tension spring and is it adjusted to the 1 3/4 " length to apply the correct tension to the belt?

So far as I know the spring is the correct one. It’s located under the seat, correct? I’ll try to get a picture of it this evening. 

 

I have it adjusted for what seems to be maximum tension in those pictures above and it still seems loose. 

[MowerGuy21 1]

10 hours ago, gwest_ca said:

Those grooves look very rusty. Nothing wrong with rust but it has to be smooth. A wide flat file works good - knock off the high spots. A belt constantly slides into the groove and back out of it so smooth is required to prevent wear.

Ahh, okay! I’ll try to pick up a file and get rid of the rust. Do I need to paint them again afterward?

 

Also, how easily should those pulleys spin without the belt on them? Should they spin several rotations with just a small nudge or have more resistance than that?

 

Thank you for the help!

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 12,415]

A piece of sandpaper wrapped around a flat stick will also work. You could paint them but some of it will get worn off once the belt starts turning.

The pulleys should spin smooth when you turn by hand applying pressure in and out. If it is rough, loose or noisy the bearing is failing. If they spin a lot on a fast spin the bearings are lacking lubrication.

If you have more than one idler compare the feel of both. You may notice a difference.

A bearing that is starting to fail can lock up while operating and you may not notice it. That can destroy a belt.