Walker Mower Drive Train Belt Slipping

[mcambrose]

I have three walker mowers with speedup kits that are having problems with belt slippage on the wheel drive train. I don't know how to figure out if it is the belt on the transmissions or on the engine. I notice this when i take off fast the belt squeals and it feels as if the idler pulley bounces up and strikes the underside of the seat or the mower body over the grass catcher. I have to slow down and ease forward on the forward speed control or it keeps slipping. I notice this more when I am scalping yards. I have tried new belts on both the engine and the transmission and this does not solve the problem. I do have the larger spring on the idler pulley on the drive belt from the engine for the speedup kit. Do the drive pulleys on the transmissions wear out? I don't see any grease on the pulleys, but I wondered if a blob of grease might have fallen off one of the grease fittings where I great the unit and cause the belt to be slightly slippery. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[ericg]

We have eight Walkers and this problem affects units with or without the speed up kits. We find that more often than not, the pulleys wear out. When the belt sits in the pulley groove, it is supposed to sit slightly higher than the pulley. We were finding the belts sitting below the pulleys and once the belts were removed, the pulley was very shiny which is indicative of belt slippage causing our driveability problems.

Eric

[topsites]

One thing that will cause this type of problem is worn bearings inside the pulleys,
usually if a belt can wear a pulley that is because the bearing has been worn
out and gone without replacing far too long.

Now if that is not the case, such as all the bearings are good, then it could be
a manufacturer's problem, but the reason I point the finger at the operator is
because this aspect of maintenance is frequently overlooked.

So that would be the first thing is to check all the bearings for wear, belts have to be
either loosened a lot or taken off for this, the next thing in line would be belt tension
but you can't have good tension with worn bearings so check all pulley bearings first.

[ericg]

Mcambrose, did you find the cause of your driveability issue?

Eric