how do i change drive belt cant get belt on front pulley becacause of guards.

a1murphy@msn.com, May 2008

the project is really easy provided you have some basic tools and take your time. 1) remove hood,2) drop and remove cutting deck, 3) remove front bumper, 4) remove exhaust, 5) block front and back wheels as a high as you can get them to gain access underneath 6) remove battery cables,7) remove spark plug insert 3/8 rope into plug hold to stop enginer turning, 8) using a 5/8 wrench remove PTO 9) undo 4 engine bolts one will require removal of the LH steering rod, 10) push engine backwards and the belt will clear the raised chassis lip enough to come off the pulley.
11) reassembly with new belt. takes about two hours.

John, November 2011

I actually unbolted the engine also, and removed front bumper and bracket that muffler mounts to , then the engine was very easy to move , also all I did was to unplug the electric clutch to simply be able to get belt on pulley that was kind of obvious . it took me 4 hours but a chunck of that was to investigate all options, as one guy said he bent his pulley and I already knew those are difficult to remove so I wanted to avoid that and I did !!

Rob, May 2011

I was not able to remove the drive pulley either so I just used a metal bar and a hammer and bent the 3 tabs just enough to slip the belt on the pulley. Then I bent the tabs back like they were so that the belt would not come off.

David, August 2010

I just had the same problem. I unbolted the engine and slid it back just enough to get the belt past the guides.

Dave, April 2010

What part of "The drive pulley won't budge" do you people not understand?. I have some problem. The drive pulley (not the cutter deck pulley & PTO, which have been removed) is frozen to the shaft. It's made of such soft metal that any attempt to pry it just bends it (junk). The belt guards cannot be removed because they are bent tabs which are part of the frame.

psmith, October 2009

Having same problem! Drive pulley wont frigin budge. Even tried a puller on the pulley. All that does is start to bend to pulley..

Kevin, August 2009

you could just take the guards off and replace the belt

gd, June 2009

1-remove mower deck. 2 disconnect elect. clutch 3 unbolt pulleys from crank shaft. 4 remove belt from idler pulley bhind steering plate. 5 pull upper crank pulley down about one inch remove belt .6 install new belt reassemble pulleys

bblack, November 2008