520H Idler assy

[olddude 10]

Hey guys, I just found this site and have a problem keeping my deck drive belt on. My suspission is that I have bent the idler support bracket. Although it dosen't appear to be bent by just looking at the shaft but when the belt is on and tightened up it does no look like it is aligned up straight with the clutch pulley. I is not out much but it is angled down and to the left from the clutch pulley. I can see how it could possibly be bent because it is right out in front with nothing to protect it and I am.......how do you say this and not sound too sadistic? Well let me just say when I am cutting in heavy stuff I'm in WFO mode and smiling my butt off.LOL

I guess my question is if I have bent it what kind of success will I have at straightening it back out and it staying that way, well at least until something else gets in the way. My problem is just by looking at it how do I know what is straight? I've looked for days for a straight on shot of the assy to see how it should look when in proper position but have not had much luck. i'm sure someone else has run into this before and was wondering what you did to fix it. The whole assy is around $250.00 but I would like to get by a little cheaper than that if I could. Thanks

[WH854 45]

Hey guys, I just found this site and have a problem keeping my deck drive belt on. My suspission is that I have bent the idler support bracket. Although it dosen't appear to be bent by just looking at the shaft but when the belt is on and tightened up it does no look like it is aligned up straight with the clutch pulley. I is not out much but it is angled down and to the left from the clutch pulley. I can see how it could possibly be bent because it is right out in front with nothing to protect it and I am.......how do you say this and not sound too sadistic? Well let me just say when I am cutting in heavy stuff I'm in WFO mode and smiling my butt off.LOL

I guess my question is if I have bent it what kind of success will I have at straightening it back out and it staying that way, well at least until something else gets in the way. My problem is just by looking at it how do I know what is straight? I've looked for days for a straight on shot of the assy to see how it should look when in proper position but have not had much luck. i'm sure someone else has run into this before and was wondering what you did to fix it. The whole assy is around $250.00 but I would like to get by a little cheaper than that if I could. Thanks

Also

Chas

[danjmah 74]

I suspect the holes in the hood stand for the idler pulley shaft are worn and maybe the shaft also. I believe this is a common issue.

I recently purchased a 1992 520-H and when going through it I found the shaft that the idler pulley pivots on was very worn and the holes in the hood stand were also worn down. For this issue I added 2 flange bushings inserting them into the hood stand. Using a step drill I enlarged the existing holes to accommodate the new bushings and then re-inserted the idler pulley shaft. For the worn idler pulley shaft I cut it off and welded in a new rod. Simple fixes.

[WH854 45]

I suspect the holes in the hood stand for the idler pulley shaft are worn and maybe the shaft also. I believe this is a common issue.

I recently purchased a 1992 520-H and when going through it I found the shaft that the idler pulley pivots on was very worn and the holes in the hood stand were also worn down. For this issue I added 2 flange bushings inserting them into the hood stand. Using a step drill I enlarged the existing holes to accommodate the new bushings and then re-inserted the idler pulley shaft. For the worn idler pulley shaft I cut it off and welded in a new rod. Simple fixes.

What would this problem have to do with the drive belt on his mower

Chas

[danjmah 74]

My

I suspect the holes in the hood stand for the idler pulley shaft are worn and maybe the shaft also. I believe this is a common issue.

I recently purchased a 1992 520-H and when going through it I found the shaft that the idler pulley pivots on was very worn and the holes in the hood stand were also worn down. For this issue I added 2 flange bushings inserting them into the hood stand. Using a step drill I enlarged the existing holes to accommodate the new bushings and then re-inserted the idler pulley shaft. For the worn idler pulley shaft I cut it off and welded in a new rod. Simple fixes.

What would this problem have to do with the drive belt on his mower

Chas

My mistake - didn't see the 'deck' statement.

[WH854 45]

My

I suspect the holes in the hood stand for the idler pulley shaft are worn and maybe the shaft also. I believe this is a common issue.

I recently purchased a 1992 520-H and when going through it I found the shaft that the idler pulley pivots on was very worn and the holes in the hood stand were also worn down. For this issue I added 2 flange bushings inserting them into the hood stand. Using a step drill I enlarged the existing holes to accommodate the new bushings and then re-inserted the idler pulley shaft. For the worn idler pulley shaft I cut it off and welded in a new rod. Simple fixes.

What would this problem have to do with the drive belt on his mower

Chas

My mistake - didn't see the 'deck' statement.

No Problem!! what you did will help some one with the same problem

Chas

[olddude 10]

Sorry, I guess I must not have been clear enough an sorry about the no pic thing. The gismo in question is the set of pulleys all the way in front on the right hand side almost on the ground level. The deck has three blades each having a single pulley on top except the center one is a double pulley. There is two belts, one drives the blades and the belt in question drives the center double pulley which in turn drives the blades. This belt comes off the top of the center deck pulley and goes down to the double idler pulley then up to the PTO pulley then back down to the outside idler pulley which is more flat not actually a V type then back to the center deck pulley.

Now that you are all completely cornfused, I'll tell you what I did. I took the part what is called the support idler PN# 101728 off again and the after looking at it for awhile I decided that if I could position it in my press which was a real pain because it was hard to clamp it down to where I could put any pressure on the shaft that the pulleys drive on. I finally got it clamped down and once I could press on the end of the shaft with the nut screwed on to keep from messing up the threads I then started putting pressure to it. I had my accy torch handy and I heated the spot right up next to the frame part and after several trys finally got the pulleys to where they were somewhat in line and decided to try it. I've put 3 new belts on this thing in the past month before I decided to try to straighten it up and was a little spooky about trying another one but what the heck, it's only money, right? Thinking now, If I had straightened the thing out when it ate the first belt I would have saved enough money to buy a cheap camera that I could have taken some pics of this desaster in progress.

Anyway I got it all back together and tried it out on my hay fieild that used to be my back yard and knock on wood it cut the whole yard and didn't throw it off the first time. It's still not right though but at least I got my wife off my butt about the tall grass.

[WH854 45]

Sorry, I guess I must not have been clear enough an sorry about the no pic thing. The gismo in question is the set of pulleys all the way in front on the right hand side almost on the ground level. The deck has three blades each having a single pulley on top except the center one is a double pulley. There is two belts, one drives the blades and the belt in question drives the center double pulley which in turn drives the blades. This belt comes off the top of the center deck pulley and goes down to the double idler pulley then up to the PTO pulley then back down to the outside idler pulley which is more flat not actually a V type then back to the center deck pulley.

Now that you are all completely cornfused, I'll tell you what I did. I took the part what is called the support idler PN# 101728 off again and the after looking at it for awhile I decided that if I could position it in my press which was a real pain because it was hard to clamp it down to where I could put any pressure on the shaft that the pulleys drive on. I finally got it clamped down and once I could press on the end of the shaft with the nut screwed on to keep from messing up the threads I then started putting pressure to it. I had my accy torch handy and I heated the spot right up next to the frame part and after several trys finally got the pulleys to where they were somewhat in line and decided to try it. I've put 3 new belts on this thing in the past month before I decided to try to straighten it up and was a little spooky about trying another one but what the heck, it's only money, right? Thinking now, If I had straightened the thing out when it ate the first belt I would have saved enough money to buy a cheap camera that I could have taken some pics of this desaster in progress.

Anyway I got it all back together and tried it out on my hay fieild that used to be my back yard and knock on wood it cut the whole yard and didn't throw it off the first time. It's still not right though but at least I got my wife off my butt about the tall grass.

Glad you got it working You know you can still get that part from Toro. there is a member on Redsquare that might have one for saleKelly- (Vender)

Chas

[Kelly 1,033]

I have lots of mule drives or deck tensioners as they are called, most need new pulleys but sounds like you have good pulleys, send me a PM I can help you out for cheap. but I just looked at what tractor you have, not sure I've heard of a 520HE? is this the plastic hooded tractor??

[olddude 10]

I have lots of mule drives or deck tensioners as they are called, most need new pulleys but sounds like you have good pulleys, send me a PM I can help you out for cheap. but I just looked at what tractor you have, not sure I've heard of a 520HE? is this the plastic hooded tractor??

Actually I don't think it is or should have an E in there. One time I ordered some parts from a place and the people there told me it was a H E model. It's a 2004 model with a 48" deck if that helps any. I got this tractor awhile back and it only had 6.5 hours on it. My old Bolins had gotten to the point where it was more a fixer than a cutter and I had to get something I didn't have to work on so much. I'll have to give it to the old girl though she was good while she lasted and probably cut a couple million miles of grass before I finally retired her. I donated it to my church and we sold it at a yard sale to get money for our youth center. I cranked it up and loaded it on the guys truck and he cut grass with it for a couple more years before something let go in the engine and then it ended up in it's final resting place at the scrap yard.

I happened to be in the store the day this old guy came in fussing about his new WheelHorse and the way it left large unchopped grass on his lawn. They did every thing they could to try and fix it so he would be happy but he was not going to be happy with anything that didn't completely mulch everything in it's path. Basically it was like this, he bought this tractor because his wife liked it because it was red instead of grey and it had a steering wheel. He wanted a Dixie Chopper but didn't want the grief that would be inflicted on him if the little woman didn't get her way so he settled for the WheelHorse but neither liked grass clippings left on the fresh cut lawn so he ended up getting what he wanted in the end.LOL

The owner of the store was a friend of mine and I asked what they were going to do with his old one and he said I'm going to sell it to you, which he did after it was completely serviced and he even put on a brand new mower deck just to make it look like I Really got something for my $2200.00.LOL He must have really socked it to that other guy with his Chopper because he showed me the paperwork from when he bought the WheelHorse and he paid almost $5500.00 for that machine, I don't know what he paid for the Chopper mower but I do know it was a lot more.

Sorry I have a bad habit of rambling on but I'll shoot you a PM to talk to you about one of your used setups. My pulleys probably will need replacing before too long because this deck has a lot of hours on it because I cut grass at the church 3 nights a week during the summer for 3 seasons before they finally got a lawn service to take over. Then I keep my grass along with my next door neighbors cut and I also use it for a bush hog in my woods to keep the under brush down, I know, I know it's not supposed to be a bush hog but it don't seem to mind at all unless one of those pesky tree stumps that gets burried under the pine needles and finds my mule drive as you call it.LOL Thanks for your help and I'll be contacting you.