OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions On Cox Ride On Mower Frames Cox Orion - Belt Squeaking Madly

Hi to all, i have an old cox orion xl ride on and for the last few months i have noticed a belt like squealing sound when i have lowered the deck down, but now its sqeaking badly at any height i have the deck positioned , it also has developed a shaking of the body at times, every now and again.
Trouble is i have never worked on a ride on before and the operaters manual is pretty useless only showing the parts and numbers with a diagram that needs an expert to understand.

I need to get the deck off to have a good look at what is going on but don't know were to start, so any help would be most appreciated.
thanks in advance for any info.

It sounds as if there is a possibility the cutter bearings have seized and the cutter belt is slipping. You can check that by stopping the engine, disengaging the cutter clutch, pulling the spark plug lead off and making sure it does not fall back onto the plug, then trying to turn the blade plate by hand.

Thanks for the very quick reply, ok, is the cutter clutch the lever you adjust the heigth of the deck when about to mow ? sorry i am not ride on savy yet.
Just pulled my lower back so i will get back to you soon as i can.
thanks.

No, the cutter clutch is a safety device: usually you can't start the engine unless it is disengaged, and someone has to be sitting on the driver's seat. There are microswitches under the seat and on the cutter clutch to make this happen.

The purpose of the cutter clutch is to make it as difficult as possible to hurt yourself. So, you can't run the cutter when you aren't sitting on the mower, but you can stop the cutter when you are moving the mower from place to place, in case you run over the dog.

On a cox the "cutter clutch" IS the lever that lowers the deck, when you lower it the belts pull tight and it spins the blade. On most of the older ones I have seen there is no safety switch on them.

Thanks for that Joe. In that case, the most likely cause of the belt screeching full-time may be that the deck movement is compromised: the deck may not be lowering all the way, so the belt does not tighten properly. A second possibility is that the belt is worn out and bottoming in the pulley grooves, causing it to slip.

My original explanation - seized cutting disk spindle - is only the third most likely cause of the problem. However it is by far the easiest to check, so it should be done first. If the blade plate rotates freely, you can eliminate this one and focus on other causes of belt problems. Note that if the belt is at fault, not the bearings, you would not expect to have continuous squealing unless you were mowing at the time.

Thanks guys, i got a mate to lower the lever and spin the blades, it made a groaning like sound whilst rotating the blades
Actually when he started to release the lever to lower the deck at first it made a clunck sound and the deck moved a bit then it just lowered down as normal, i hope this makes sense.

tubby, you need to rotate the blades by hand, not under engine power. Of course you must not touch the blade plate until you first make very sure the engine can't start or run, so you disconnect the spark plug lead before you go anywhere near the blade plate. Tuck the plug lead somewhere so the end of it can't flop back onto the spark plug through sheer habit.

With the deck raised so the belts are slack, turn the blade plate by hand and see how it feels. It should spin freely with no rough feel and no noises. If it passes that test, we can eliminate the spindle bearings as a possible problem, and move forward.

Ok, no engine power was used [we don't want to loose our fingers ] spark plug lead was not connected either time but the second time with the deck raised he spinned the blades and they ran freely no problems.
thanks again for your help.

So, the spindle is OK, and you have a slipping belt for some other reason. Is this a two-belt setup, with one belt for spindle drive and another belt for wheel drive? If it is, we need to find out which belt is slipping.

1. Does the deck move the same amount vertically as it did back when the belt didn't squeal? You said the movement of the deck is jerky: it hangs and then drops. It sounds as if something may be sticking there, and perhaps the deck isn't moving to where it has to go.

2. Look at the bottom of both of the belts, and at the bottom of both grooves in the pulley, and see if there are signs that one of the belts is touching the bottom of a groove.

At the moment i can't get down to check the setup,as i have severe lumber back problem and laid up in bed unfortunatly, but would love to know what to do when i am mobile again.
All i know is that looking from the rear of this mower there is a gear and chain set up on the left hand side.

The operaters manual has diagrams which an expert like yourself wouldn't have a problem understanding, if you could possably have a look at this link which may answer your questions.
http://www.coxmowers.com.au/files/cox/pdf/2500%2025j1.pdf

Oh yeah, the vertical movement of the deck has remained the same as it was prior to the sqealing sound.

Thanks very much, what a terrific forum.

Blade plate is free.

Replace the belt for the blades. Before you do check to make sure the pulleys are not worn. If you ask how to that its my opinion that you should not be fixing your own mower.


Not sure how hard belts are to do on a Cox. But i would suggest putting a new drive belt on it at the same time.

I have been checking out the cox manual diagrams this afternoon and now understand the setup, pretty simple simon stuff really, makes me laugh when people get so full of themselves that they are quick to form opinions of others who they really know nothing about, they seem to forget they had to start from scratch themselves in the past.

Anyway a big thanks to grumpy for your help, i hope you have a great week end mate.
regards
tubby

Bob is trying to help, tubby - he doesn't want to be the cause of anyone getting hurt.

Remember the cutter belt has a spring-loaded pulley to keep tension on it. If that spring is not stretched when the clutch is engaged (that is, deck is lowered) then the belt will slip. If the spring doesn't stretch, the belt is worn out or something else is wrong. If you find the belt is worn, you will have to replace it as Bob said.

You should also check the drive from the engine to the clutch. That belt may be worn, or there could be a problem with the clutch due to wear. Since you have at least one part that is slipping, it makes sense to check everything while you are working on the mower. You'll also learn more about it that way, which is useful for the future.

I'll leave this thread open tubby, I hope you'll come back with a report when your back improves and you can work on the mower.

My sincere apologies to Bob then, the last thing i want to do is upset anybody who is trying to help.

I will write back when i have fixed the problem/s, thank you everyone for sharing your knowledge, i really appreciate it.

regards
Tubby

Sorry. I missed an important word and a comma.


You questioned the pulley.
I was suggesting that if you could not look at a pulley and confidently make a call on its useability that you should not be repairing your own mower.


Yes i jump to assumptions.
I make no appologies and take no offence.

The thingy is broken on my do-hickey, help me.
Its the internet, its not you and your machine in my shed and us going over it.

Ive had a guy here flip a running mower over to check the blades, lucky he did it in front of me so i could stop him. I assume the worst.

And then theres people that think they are over competent. IE: tennants improvements. Hang around for a bit and this will explain itself.

It wasnt my intention to insult your intelligence.

No worries mate, the internet can be a great in some ways. like sharing experience in certain fields that others have little knowledge in, but in others ways not to good at all, like when your not talking face to face eg- [ in a shed having a beer together or a mechanical workshop ] typed words can be easily mistaken for their real meaning.

At the time I did take the pulley comment the wrong way, my mistake,before I retired I was used to working on 1/2 million dollar coaches every working day for many years, so you could well understand the pulley comment really did make me laugh, it was a rare thing to read, but can understand your carefullness, i was always being told i worry to much about what others were doing, but seen to many stupid and costly errors made over many years.
I hope you do have a great weekend Bob,
regards
Tubby,
My great grandson wants to take over the old cox repair job now, my back is knackered so i am sure you will hear from him shortly.
all the best to everyone.