well the mower is running but and there is always a but problem is cutting deck belt first one was way too big so went down 1 size still too big so went down again now the belt is on and goes tightish when deck is engaged (motor not running) and loosih when dis- engaged,problem is when motor is running and I go to engaged the belt it stalls the motor and the belt starts to come off the engine pulley. do I need to go down another inch to get it to work right.
gear box seems ok,but is a bit hard getting it to stay in neutral as you can't tell when it 's dropped into neutral this is the ironing any bugs out stage been a few small things sorted now except the last few bugs.
There is a massive resistance problem for it to be able to stall the motor, something must be obvious to cause this, belt getting caught on a guide or something I would think. My thoughts would be to drain the oil and petrol out, remove the battery if it has one and tip the mower on its side so you can see what is going on. Engage the cutter deck and rotate the motor slowly and see what the belt is doing
One additional suggestion if do want Norm suggests and that is remove the spark plug so your not fighting the engine's compression. I do know some mowers here a too tight of belt will overload the engine especially when the engine is small for the deck size.
For belts coming off make sure all your belt retainers are in place and that normal alignment is maintained. Now if this is a hybrid then you will have problems until you find the correct belt alignment position may take changing drive pulley and or additional belt retainers. Here my Bolens 38" cut if weren't for the belt retainers the belt would fall off every time I disengage the deck as the belt is that loose in disengage position. If I put on a belt that is only an 1/2" shorter it overloads the engine.
As belts sizes you went down one size are you referring that you dropped a full inch or a fractional inch? An inch can be a lot depending on the belt size.
As for binds as Norm refers to while checking things check the idler pulleys and spindle(s) bearings for rough spots as these will cause binding under load. I have idlers with only rough spot to hang under heavy belt loads and snap belts.
well finally got back to working on mower ,I changed the cutting deck belt again and went back up a size from the one I had on it (as it was causing the engine to stall when deck got engaged. that problem is solved for now anyway,had it running engaged deck engine stayed running belt came off again. this is all that's stopping me from using the damn thing getting rather cheesed off with it now,
And as I don't know what was on this mower when it was originally pulled apart I don't know if there is anything missing off the cutting deck or if there is supposed to be a belt keeper around the engine pulley as there is not one .there are no belt retainers on this machine ,this time when I put the belt on after fitting cutting deck end first I twisted the belt into a figure 8 to see if this would make any difference nope off she came. it coming off the engine pulley end.
so would anyone have any photos of a colt 5 or 8 cutting deck belt fitted ,I did try to take some pics of my setup but a few weeks back my computer crashed and I lost everything off the drive.[img]/https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=43203www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=43203[/img]
as it is now the cutting deck belt runs straight from cutting deck to the engine pulley. that's it.
Hi Sounds like you are having a bit of a hard time with the old girl, looks like you're engine pulley isn't correct. I just had a look at mine, although older these didn't change much over the years. It definitely has a belt guard on the deck, and the engine pulley has a very large lower sheave so the belt doesn't drop off when disengaged, I can take a better pic tonight if it helps.
the pulley that's back on it is the original one that was on it when it was running ,so what size,number belt have you got fitted the one that is on it at the moment is a B58, the B57 is too tight and the B59 is to loose just falls off .
Ok well I had a look at mine, and as it is the early model it has the shorter B56, after looking through the IPL's yours should have a b59. Is it only falling off when disengaged? I did also notice an adjustment on the disengage arm on that model, check if it has been played with. Apart from that if everything else is right and you're spring is good, I don't really know what to suggest. All of the IPL's definitely show the engine pulley having a very large bottom sheave, there was only ever a retainer on the deck pulley, I think I noticed you're pulley had some damage in you're other post, could that be something to do with it?
Just to add to my last post, check that the lever doesn't disengage too far, which will be in that adjustment, the belt should be loose when disengaged but still in the v of the pulley
well got mower over on its side and found the adjuster it looks like it's been messed with as it has a large piece of old conveyer belt and its fairly worn and loose,but the nuts at the bottom won't budge not even with the air gun on it so sprayed some penetrating fluid on it , according to the colt 5 drive system diagram spv43 sheet 2 it is supposed to have 2 nuts either side which it does but between that it is meant to have spring washers/flat and a buffer looks like it would be a metal one ,so cant tell yet if this bit is missing ,until I get it apart. not a lot of room to get spanners onit.
Got to be careful with those impacts. Some are gutless wonders and some like my AirCat can literally snap frozen bolts in two. I snap a few of my impact extensions in two especially when using cheap Chinese ones. That what I get for 1300 ft-lbs of break away torque. Even the gutless wonders may not be running at full power due to airline restrictions.
As for belts falling off double check that all the belt retainers are in place. Many home DYIers leave these off as they feel they are unnecessary. Even shops do it sometimes as they have inexperienced techs.
update got the adjuster part off the mower and looking at the rover diagram it is not the original someone in their wisdom has made this up using threaded bolt and a piece of twisted flat bar cut to suit then after fitting to mower instead of getting the correct parts they used 2 pieces of conveyer type belt instead of the buffer that is supposed to be there. then fitted it all to mower ,now that its all worn away that would explain the belt problem in one .
the thredded bar with the nut did shear off but the types of nuts that are on there don't look as though they were meant to come off once fitted, no great loss I'll get it sorted out .
To be fair to all the repairs/bodges we see, these were all most likely done before the internet explosion where there seems there is a manual or a repair method or where you can actually find parts to repair these machines. Even today there will still be plenty of older people repairing machines and they still don't know how to use the internet, they have done it all their lives and will continue to fabricate parts to get things working again. Over the next 20 years these people will disappear and I doubt the next generation will bother repairing anything, because they have not grown up in a situation where dad repaired his shoes so automatically his son would do the same. Things changed when it became cheaper to buy another pair of shoes than the leather and glue to repair the old ones
I have fixed the cutting deck lever and it is now straight as it should be, belt has enough tension on it to stay on and can be adjusted ,with engine running (deck dis- engaged it stays on)but once deck is engaged the engine shuts off ,so the only thing I can see that may be causing the problem is the 2 safety switches this machine has on it,this is the only electrical wiring on it. it could be difficult getting new ones the same as these .and as these are about the only things not replaced on this machine I'd say this is the cause of the problem. anyone no the best way to fix this issue?
well there is a light at the end of the tunnel ,got mower running again,and got the deck turning with belt still on ,finally though still a few small issue's to sort out nothing major, changed the spacer on the engaged lever to a thinner one though still not to happy with it ,as the lever will only got half way forward but deck turns ,but could jump out easily so I'll pull it off and either make a smaller spacer or leave it off ,and see how it goes, though one thing that was causing problems but have now fixed was that it was supposed to have a belt tensioner on the jockey pulley well there wasn't one,so I have made one up and in the process of fitting it this should pushed the cutting deck belt back when disengaged and forward when engaged so I 'll see how that goes shortly, and where the jockey pulley was fitted it did not have a spacer at the top nor the bearing bush at the bottom, it does have now . I did have it out for a short test run last wk/end for a small mower it gets along pretty damn quick ,once these last few things gets adjusted it'll be out for another run, it has been a slow process but getting there and making progress . and as someone previously pulled the deck off and then put it back on after patch welding in places not all the original items where put back on.
