Belt adjustment for a 44A mower deck on a 1250

[sbuck]

I've recently picked up a Cub Cadet 1250 with a 44A mower deck.

I'm trying to troubleshoot why it's tearing up the PTO belt.

Based on this thread - I believe the correct belt is IH-117465-C1 which when I look it up, that's V-3/8 X 79.

I tried to order that specific belt but the company I ordered from took forever to ship, so I eventually cancelled my order and got this off-brand belt - also a V-3/8 X 79.

I hooked everything up and gave it a test run. It cut some low grass for a couple minutes w/o issue, so I moved on to some really overgrown grass (about 1.5 foot tall; deck was as high as it could go) and it did a row before the belt started smoking and I turned it off.

The belt is in tact, but it got chewed up around the edges and was clearly about to fail.

To help troubleshoot this, here's some info:

Mule/belt tension:
I can not get the belt to tension according to the instructions in the manual/the diagram on the front of the mule. When I push or pull the right pulley (which I understand is used to adjust the belt) as far back or forward as it goes, it has no impact on the spring-loaded pulley on the left. It's almost like the belt is too big.

Here is a video I took showing this, as well as the routing of the belt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC_16tFq9q8

(You'll note in the video the deck is a bit worse for the wear with rusted out spots. I will patch that up once I confirm I can get it operational)

Spindles:
I greased all 3 spindles on the deck. They all appear to spin fine.
The middle spindle is the only one with some play up and down and feels springy. Not sure if it's supposed to be this way or the spindle is toast?

The track for the belt on the middle spindle was also bent a bit in one part that I straightened out. All three spindles do have some rust/wear that I could do a better job cleaning up if you suspect that's the problem.

Thanks in advance for any insight!

[R Bedell]

First, welcome to OCC........

With regard to the PTO belt, it is "highly" recommended that you use an OEM Cub Cadet belt (IH-117465-C1) in that it is constructed to handle the bends and twists for this application. As an alternative, one could use an "Agricultural" type of belt, in that the construction is similar. Either belt will be more expensive than the hardware store variety, but in the long run, well worth it. Don't ask how I know this.

Belt alignment is important for optimum use and life. See this link.... Alignment

Get the OEM belt, make the necessary adjustments as seen in the link, and you should be good to go.

Bear in mind, this assumes all the pulleys and bearings are in good working order.

[darkminion_17]

Mule/belt tension:
I can not get the belt to tension according to the instructions in the manual/the diagram on the front of the mule. When I push or pull the right pulley (which I understand is used to adjust the belt) as far back or forward as it goes, it has no impact on the spring-loaded pulley on the left. It's almost like the belt is too big.

I think your left idler pulley arm is seized up so it will not put tension on the belt. Remove it and grease it up.

[sbuck]

R Bedell - Thanks for the welcome!

And noted on the name brand belt! Assuming that's not the underlying issue though? The reviews on the off-brand belt I got report success with it on their cub cadets. I've got to assume there's something else wrong with my setup that would cause such an immediate failure. And under this assumption, I'm glad to be troubleshooting with the $10 belt vs the $48 IH belt. :-) Once I get things sorted out, I'll invest in the brand-name belt.

The alignment diagram you linked to is helpful, thank you. The adjustments don't seem to be working though.

I think darkminion_17 might be on to something:

I think your left idler pulley arm is seized up so it will not put tension on the belt. Remove it and grease it up.

I'm going to try this tomorrow and will report back.

[athomas]

Originally Posted by darkminion_17

I think your left idler pulley arm is seized up so it will not put tension on the belt. Remove it and grease it up.

Agree ! you should be able to push that left pulley back by hand and hook it in the notch to replace belt, then keep your fingers out of the way when released cause they will spring towards the front with enough force to pinch your fingers hatefully hard, yours doesn't appear to move ! As far as belts I've had good luck with Stens belts , the cub belts are good, but pricey !!

[bllwnkl]

Agree, that one side is stuck. Both sides should move.

[sbuck]

Update:

I pulled apart the mule and cleaned/lubed things up. The pulleys were stiff and I got them rolling more smoothly.

After reassembly, I was able to get the left pulley arm to push back into the big notch for adding the belt, so that appeared to behave more like it should.

While I was doing this, I took a closer look at the deck and found the middle spindle has a lot more play than I remember. Here's a quick video showing that...

This appears to cause things to really buck around when engaged - Video here...

I was able to mow a few test rows before it threw the belt off the front pulley, and then upon inspecting the belt I can see it was getting really torn up.

From research here on this forum, it appears I have two options to replace this spindle:

The early style are what's called water pump bearings they look like the bearings in the pic. The later spindles use tapered cup and cone bearings.

IH-ST745
http://www.cubcadetpartsnmore.com/#/...0-A/0074200002
IH-ST745 $159.08

759-3479P
http://www.cubcadetpartsnmore.com/m5...ssy-w-o-p.html
759-3479P SPINDLE ASSY W/O P Your Price $159.08

Ouch - That's about half the price of what I picked up the mower and deck for!

I found a used deck that's in better shape than mine on FB marketplace and is $150 - now I just have to get the seller to reply to my messages. : \

[R Bedell]

YUP, that center pulley is in terrible shape.

[Dart1917]

Your bearing might be fine but the stamped housing is probably beat up. The housing should hold the bearing tightly but over time the flanges get bent and the spindle can move up and down. Then if the spindle bearings can turn in the housing they will wear the housing until the bearing can move around. You can make it better if you remove the spindle and straighten the flanges. I like to bend them a just little the other way so that when bolted together they pull tight.

[R Bedell]

I agree with Dart. Pull the spindle off the deck, dismantle it, and see what you got.