OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions on Rover Ride On Mower MTD Rover Raider 1438 cutter deck belt tension

LRT,

One other thing that I did not mention was the pivot arm where the bolt goes through could be partly seized up with dirt and a suggestion is that you remove the bolt and clean up the area and grease it so that it runs free.

Thanks Bruce, I will do that.

I tried moving the engagement cable spring from the 38" hole to the 42" hole next to the pulley. It now cuts wet cape weed without slipping. I will try it tomorrow without cutting anything as its so wet the belt is getting wet.

Does this mean the holes have been stamped incorrectly?

I'm also surprised that the tensioner pulley is angled down. Seems the person putting it together didn't pick up on that?

Some extra photos.

Here are a couple of videos

This is it idling with the belt engaged:

This is running at wide open throttle (WOT):

I think you may have found the problem and that the idler arm is mounted incorrectly. Look at lower right of your image. The pivot point bolt appears to be in the 42" hole and not the 38" hole. This throw the left spindle brake out alignment too.

But since is working moving back to 38" setting may just problems again.

Here is a picture of the belt tensioner bracket. The pivot bolt was in the hole stamped 38. The engagement spring was in the hole indicated by the white arrow. I have moved it to the hole with the green arrow. The belt is much tighter but not as tight as I would like.

Boy the first image sure looked like it was in the wrong pivot hole but I must have been seeing something that wasn't actually there.

To me then you have a belt that is too long for your setup. I had only one case where it was necessary for me to put on a belt that was 1/2" shorter on the "F" deck. On the "G" and "H" decks the spindle pulleys can take a 5/8" (B section) but I don't think the "F" spindle pulleys are deep enough and the belt retainer covers would bind on the belt. With moving only the engagement spring your just pulling the idler around more which appears take up the surplus slack in the belt. Did you ever measured the outside circumference of the new belt to be sure someone at the factory didn't mis-labeled the belt? I know it happens as it has happen to me.

I don't know of a 1/2" (A Section) belt that would be just under the 77" since your supplier PN indicates the your new belt was 77.2". Your side of the big pond might have one but not my side. You could always try a 77" Kevlar belt. I know it is only .2" shorter but it could make all the difference as the face profile may be different. Not all belts labeled 1/2" are actually 1/2" wide.

Just thinking of possible solutions..Sometimes you just got use something that will work. Basically you got to re-engineer it at times.

Hi AVB,

Yes I did measure the outside circumference. It is exactly 77"

I can easily obtain the black A section belts in many sizes but they only last a short time compared to a Kevlar version.

One other thought is drilling a hole 1/2" back from the 42" spring hole to get a little more tension.

Sorry I had miss where you posted that but I see that now as I do reread long threads. That K-Force B195404062 being only 77" will be a belt I will need to source from another vendor then as my mower and customer's mowers uses the 77-1/2. Here if I put on a 77" my mower it will shake itself to pieces as it overloads the 15.5 hp OHV engine. Here the MTDs can be very picky about belt sizes. I spend more on them than any other mower when I have belt related issues. Just something I learned to deal with. It is also getting worse as now I am finding many of the IPL have the wrong belt sizes listed especially for the older mowers. This I keep a record of for a particular customer in my files.

I supposedly you have already checked the Z bend on the cable at the engagement lever and that engagement lever isn't bent out of place.

The drilling a new mounting location for the spring hole is an option, just make sure you can hook the spring in and that it doesn't infer with the belt. Another option would be create a new mounting point for the engagement cable mount. Don't know if yours currently welded in place or bolted; of course, bolted version would much easier to relocate. If welded then it depends on your skills at metal fabrication and welding. Hopefully you know what I referring to as to the cable mount.

Knowing Kevlar belts can fairly expensive at times but you also try a cheaper 76" black belt but it probably will too short and won't disengage properly as I am thinking you are needing something in the range of 76-1/2". If it works then upgrade the Kevlar version.

Hi AVB,

I haven't checked the engagement lever nor the Z bend as it seems virtually impossible to get at without drastic surgery to the body cowling. Do you know of a way to get at it?

Yes the engagement mount is bolted and has a spare hole. I'll try moving that back before drilling a new hole for the spring.

Thanks for the advice over using a black belt to test first and then upgrade to a Kelvar.

I have never seen the Rover Raider and probably won't so I no idea what is involved. Just look at it like a jigsaw puzzle that might help.

One thing I do know thing are a lot harder to work on mowers and other lawn care equipment then it once was and all these aftermarket parts that don't meet specs are not helping things. I have also running into mowers that I got half disassemble just to get wrench to a bolt that was change from a carriage bolt to a regular hex cap just to change out an idler pulley.

Hi AVB,

To me it looks as though the transmission has to be dropped so you can reach up between the battery box and the outside frame paneling. I'm tempted to hand it back to the customer to see how long the belt lasts in its current state. If I adjust the tensioner further back the pulley is going to hit the RH brake mount. So any more adjustments will require a shorter belt.

I find the same problem working on more modern cars and even tractors. So much has to be removed to get to the part you need to replace. For example, some cars require the engine mount and bracket to be removed to change the fan belt! This means a 15 minute job turns out to be a 3 hour job.

Well good luck with it as we are as far as we can go currently.

Here on mine the battery box is removable but I still only have limited access. I am changing out variable to trans drive belt and you got drop the trans just the belt off and on the pulley. I actually on my second drop in two days due to belt supposedly being the right size; being not in spec. It would shift into high gear and I was pull up on the clutch to get it shift. What found was the belt though being label correctly wasn't 35.25" but instead was 34.75"; way too tight to work properly as created too much spring load. I was changing the belt simply because I had wore it out after 5 years and got to slipping in the lowest gear range. Now the same vendor is saying the replacement is 35.8" so I am having to buy the more expensive MTD OEM belt. It going to take few days to even the belts in. At least I found out about this before taking apart a customer's mower. Believe or not a customer that will need the same belt came in yesterday late so I am ordering 3 to 5 of the belts today.

I know exactly what you mean about a 15 minute turning into a half day or longer job. I decide to start working ATVs a couple years ago; just to get to carb it is royal pain. Then there was the one that the front differential was needing rebuilding. Took 4 hours to get it out and it only comes one way with virtually no clearance. It took same 30 minutes to just to put it back in and that was a piece cardboard protecting the seal and using rubber mallet. I when said virtually on clearance I mean barely could get a feeler in between the differential and the frame. Then another 2 hours to bolt it and everything back in place. Things always seem to go back faster but I think that is because I know where everything goes back.

And when it comes to automobiles it is a pain there too. When I growing up I could do about anything with just few tools. Now you got at least partially pull the engine to get access to anything and need a shop full of tools and lifts. Heater cores was once was simple to access and change out; now you got to pull the whole dash assembly just to get to them 1 to 2 day job. I only one vehicle so I am just driving it without heat so I stay home on those cold days.

Hi AVB,

Yes ATV's and UTV's can be really hard to work on. I pulled out a carby on a USA manufactured Honda TRX 500 a few weeks ago. What a job that was! Then it came back later after the muffler broke away from the exhaust. That took 3 hours just to get the pipe through the frame.

A lot of the Kubota UTV's I used to assemble and pre-deliver had rollover frames that wouldn't line up without die grinding the mounting holes just to get the bolts in.

I'm sending this mower out and will report back with news about how it's going. Many thanks for your help over it - much appreciated.