Bush Hog finish mower.....???

[SABULA FARMER]

Ok I bought a used 60" bush hog rear discharge finish mower. I am beside myself. The guy I bought it from was a mechanic and the things I found wrong are bewildering.
I used the mower at the begining of this year, all was fine. I noticed oil pouring out of the counter shaft seal...dude had the oil filled clean to the top of the gear box...not good. I replaced the seal, all seems good there so far. Now I keep throwing the belt? Why? I adjusted the tension so the belt was tight, but I used it tonight for about 15 minutes and it threw it. Is it a bad belt? Bad pulley? what can cause this? It has to be something simple, I dont see anything wrong or I should say anything obvious.
Suggestions?

 

[kebo]

Ok I bought a used 60" bush hog rear discharge finish mower. I am beside myself. The guy I bought it from was a mechanic and the things I found wrong are bewildering.
I used the mower at the begining of this year, all was fine. I noticed oil pouring out of the counter shaft seal...dude had the oil filled clean to the top of the gear box...not good. I replaced the seal, all seems good there so far. Now I keep throwing the belt? Why? I adjusted the tension so the belt was tight, but I used it tonight for about 15 minutes and it threw it. Is it a bad belt? Bad pulley? what can cause this? It has to be something simple, I dont see anything wrong or I should say anything obvious.
Suggestions?

You want my suggestion..... never let him work on any of your stuff!!! :laughing:

 

[whistlepig]

Ok I bought a used 60" bush hog rear discharge finish mower. I am beside myself. The guy I bought it from was a mechanic and the things I found wrong are bewildering.
I used the mower at the begining of this year, all was fine. I noticed oil pouring out of the counter shaft seal...dude had the oil filled clean to the top of the gear box...not good. I replaced the seal, all seems good there so far. Now I keep throwing the belt? Why? I adjusted the tension so the belt was tight, but I used it tonight for about 15 minutes and it threw it. Is it a bad belt? Bad pulley? what can cause this? It has to be something simple, I dont see anything wrong or I should say anything obvious.
Suggestions?

Take the belt off and check to see if all the pulleys spin freely with no roughness. Also pull and push up and down on the pulleys to see if there is any up and down play or side to side in the spindle/pulley bearings. Belt throwing comes from misalignment or a pulley locking up.

 

[SABULA FARMER]

Take the belt off and check to see if all the pulleys spin freely with no roughness. Also pull and push up and down on the pulleys to see if there is any up and down play or side to side in the spindle/pulley bearings. Belt throwing comes from misalignment or a pulley locking up.

I can only find one pulley (the tensioner pulley) that has some play. I dont think that it is enough to thow a belt though. I did note that the belt was in bad shape after looking at it? I saw ehere the belt was actually thinner in a few spots, and it is cracked pretty good. I hate to spend the money on a new belt just to have this scatter again....

 

[LD1]

Ok I bought a used 60" bush hog rear discharge finish mower. I am beside myself. The guy I bought it from was a mechanic and the things I found wrong are bewildering.
I used the mower at the begining of this year, all was fine. I noticed oil pouring out of the counter shaft seal...dude had the oil filled clean to the top of the gear box...not good. I replaced the seal, all seems good there so far. Now I keep throwing the belt? Why? I adjusted the tension so the belt was tight, but I used it tonight for about 15 minutes and it threw it. Is it a bad belt? Bad pulley? what can cause this? It has to be something simple, I dont see anything wrong or I should say anything obvious.
Suggestions?

IMO, an overfilled gearbox and a belt that wont stay on that you have no idea what is causing is hardly enough to say the guy was a bad mechanic.

First rule of buying anything used (car, tractor, mower, implement, etc) is to check all fluids. If it were me, I'd have checked the fluid before I even ran it.

As to the belt not staying on, if there is no/or very little play in the pulleys, chevk to make sure they are all level and not bent or anything. Sometimes an idler pulley bracket can get bent and not be straight or level with the other pulleys. If all that is good, then do the obvious and replace the belt.

 

[wedge40]

I'm thinking if I had something that kept throwing belts, I'd probably sell it.
Maybe the guy you bought this from thought the same thing.



Wedge

 

[SABULA FARMER]

IMO, an overfilled gearbox and a belt that wont stay on that you have no idea what is causing is hardly enough to say the guy was a bad mechanic.

...Ok a guy who knows little about bush hog finish mowers. This problem hasent just surfaced, it was doing it when the previous owner owned it and I am sure he just forgot to tell me.
This is a reason why I dont like buying used stuff, period.

 

[Carykong]

Replace your belt. Test your mower at idle,no load. Raise your mower deck to highest position at idle and observe pulley and belt function from a safe distance. If you cannot observe your belt and pulley from a saft distance,put a mirrow under your deck and observe. The gremlins will come out and good luck.

 

[LD1]

... This problem hasent just surfaced, it was doing it when the previous owner owned it and I am sure he just forgot to tell me.

If he didn't tell you anything, how can you be certain that HE was having problems.

Maybe he wasn't mowing as heavy of grass??
Maybe he wasnt running a full 540 rpm??
Maybe he had the belt tension adjusted differently???
Maybe the belt has deteriorated significantly since he last used it????
OR..............Maybe he did know and that is why he is selling???????

TOO many variables. If everything looks and feels Ok, just replace the belt and be done with it.

I am not too familiar with the mower you are talking about, but my 261 JD 3PH mower threw the belt quite often at the beginning of last year. Never had a bit of problem the year before. The last time it threw, it cut it into so I had no choice but to replace. Checked all the pulleys and everything was good. Threw a belt on last year and havent had a problem since.

 

[Deadman]

My buddies are mechanics, and they don't do any maintenance work to their stuff. they are so sick of doing that stuff at work, so when they come home, they don't want to mess with it anymore. One of them never changes his oil in his ATV, and every year he blows one of them up (brand new machines btw). Its just amazing seeing a mechanic treat things like that. Its no wonder stuff never gets fixed right at most shops.