Narrow frame mule drive rebuild issues
 

2 years ago I decided it would be a good idea to fix my mule drive since the holes on both idler pulley brackets were egg shaped and the 1/2'' rod was wore out. so I replaced the 1/2'' rod and I ended up drilling the holes out on both brackets and welded in some bushings. well I guess I did something wrong cause the v-belt that goes from the pto to the mower deck would not stay in place, it would either roll or pop off. I ended up havng to put some washers in between the 2 idler brackets to space them apart and after much swearing I got the belt to stay in place (for the most part) but now if I raise the mower deck all the way the belt hits the deck big time. Ive looked and I can find 1 of the brackets relatively cheap (the big one). the smaller bracket is another story (very pricey). anyone have any ideas?

How about a pic a little further away so we can actually see what you have.....

Looks like the belt on the right side is not twisted right, and the pulleys are too close together. :bigthink:

I certainly agree. Those pulleys look way too close together. The belt from the PTO should track down and pretty much be perpendicular to the bar holding the pulleys.

Cub Cadet 123

kinda hard to get a clear picture with the mule drive on the tractor, and actually the pulleys are farther away than they should be. I had to put all those washers in between the 2 idler brackets just to try and line stuff up. I was hoping someone would have made new brackets and would have a how-to on making them. ill try and get some better pics of what I did.

Ok got some better pics, the first 2 show what I did to the mule drive, note the washers between the brackets, (normally on NF mule drives those brackets are together) The 4th pic shows the belt hitting the mower deck when up all the way (didn't do that before)

The right pulley in the second picture is on the wrong side. You can tell by looking at the rub marks behind the pulley.

Download a manual from the tech section for your Cub Cadet and mower. It should show you how the pulleys should go.

Nope, the pulleys are in the correct position

The pulleys are straight up and down, like they are going to be used for a tiller. They should be angled to match the trajectory of the belt coming off of and leading to the pto.

Hard to tell from the picture but the one on the right doesn't look too bad, the one on left needs to be bent WAY in at the bottom.

What tractor is this on? and can we see pics of the deck attaching points on the rear of the mule drive.

If I recall correctly I ended up straightening the smaller bracket during a swearing fest while trying to keep the belt on and not rolling. I'm also wondering if the pivot holes in the top of the brackets were on an angle and maybe when I drilled the holes out for the bushings I unknowingly screwed the angle up:bigthink::bash2: