2166 PTO belt being thrown, troubleshooting and reassurance

[blackcloud77]

I have a 2166 that's been 'new to me' for the past couple years. So far it's been doing great with only a couple issues here and there, just mowing my father-in-law's 1/4 acre residential lot.

Last weekend, I started it up as I normally do and after about 20 seconds, it threw the PTO belt off. I put it back on and continued mowing, I got about 10 more minutes out of it and it threw the belt off again. I am not sure if the belt broke this time, or was just thrown off and got chopped by the blades. When I went to investigate more deeply last night, I found the belt wrapped around the blades, and multiple deep cracks in it; as though it got beaten by the blades. I doubt this somewhat though, because my logic tells me once the belt is thrown, the blades might not have a whole lot of torque behind them, maybe not actually enough to cut a belt. This is pure speculation; it's entirely possible the freewheeling blades are indeed what chopped up the belt. I say chopped, but it was only broken in (I think) one place and with the aforementioned damage.

Another thing I have been noticing for the last year or so seems to be making slightly more sense as in it's probably related, but still not giving quite a clear picture. I have noticed that while mowing and on a turn, I do smell a bit of rubber burning. Only when turning though. Knowing the belts don't have anything to do with steering and mostly 'it's still running so hurry up and get the damn job done' attitude... I didn't pay much more attention to it.

I had read about aligning/leveling the deck probably a year or so ago, and I did that job per instructions here on the forum about that same time. I did notice last week when experiencing the problem that the adjusting nuts on the deck's front hanger hadn't stayed put. Problem is, I don't recall if I snugged them back up before or after the belt was thrown the second time and met its maker.

I read a number of threads before attempting to diagnose the problem last night, so I removed the deck, hosed off some debris and with the deck belt still installed, spun it by hand. With no real reference to go by, it didn't seem as though there was anything amiss. All pulleys and spindles moved pretty smoothly without a whole lot of resistance. This seemed OK so I was distracted from removing the deck belt and checking each piece as I should have. At that point I decided to put a new belt on while paying closer attention to the twists, and just see what happens.

The next part might have saved me shredding a brand new belt.

Angry at the time, but in retrospect it may be a blessing...it turned out that the CC belt I bought at Tractor Supply was the wrong belt inside the correct packaging sleeve. The package showed the correct part number, 954-3055A, but when installed back to front, it rose about 12" above the PTO clutch, LOL! I checked the bar code on the belt's plastic cuff against the code on the sleeve, and indeed...they did not match. So the 'let's see what happens' part never happened.

So. Right now I'm thinking I need to remove the deck belt, check each pulley and spindle. Also, get the tractor on flat ground and check the deck alignment/leveling, again. I read one other post from a guy that was shredding belts and replaced the mule pulley, after which all was fine. I don't really have any other ideas, and the rubber smell while turning (with my limited knowledge) isn't pointing me in any specific direction besides checking what was already mentioned on other threads. Hoping for some guidance, ideas and anything I may be overlooking.

Oh, and my choke vibrating its way closed every 8-10 minutes is annoying if anyone has any quick and hot tips about that.