Started the tractor this morning for snow clean up, part way in the tractor heated up. Shut her down to check things out to find a broken belt! I have been looking at this for a good hour now and it appears that I would have to almost pull the front of the tractor off to change it. Does anyone have any experience or tips they could give me to help change one of these?
Need Help with MF 231 fan/altenator belt
- Thread starter nstractor
- Start date
rickavm
New member
nstractor said:
You should be able to put the new belt on by putting belt over one fan blade at a time To get it over the fan. Then you can slip it over the pulleys.
The fan is not what concerns me. Where the drive for the pump comes off the crank is. Pulling that shaft is easy enough but is is in front of the crank pully that causes the concern. Even with the shaft removed there would not be enough room to slide the belt over the crank pully.
Jerry/MT
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I don't understand the problem! You should be able to slip the belt over the fan and get it on the waterpump pulley(the fan and waterpump are generally on the same shaft), then slip it over the crankshaft pulley, and then put it over the alternator/generator and then adjust the tension. What am I missing? Got any pictures? Do you have a front pump driven off the crankshaft for hydraulics on this tractor? if you do, you'll have to remove the pump drive and then put the belt on.
Last edited:
METinPA
New member
I changed mine a couple of years ago. I don't remember all of the specifics, but was relatively easy and didn't require any removal of major components. I did have to remove a the side guards on the outside of the tractor so I could get to the belt. There is enough space to slide the belt between the pulley and frame. It was a tight fit, but I think that I was able to fit it in when I turned the belt sideways (narrow side of the belt). I then put it over the fan pulley and then routed it over the rest of the pulleys and tightened everything up. It was a relatively minor job (ten-twenty minutes). The area looks tight, but you have enough room (barely) to slip the belt in and change it without any major disassembly. It has been working fine so far.
fireman4074
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I have to put fan belt on MF231s. How did you get the belt on? This the problem that I am facing.
Working on Rust
Bronze Member
I do not know about a 231 in particular but every Massey I have ever seen with a front pump is a real big job to change the belt on. The front of the tractor needs to be taken apart. The much easier way is to cut the old belt off and use Fenner Drives Power Twist belt. It is expensive for sure but beats removing the axle with a snow storm coming. We had to put it on when the new alternator had a smaller pulley than the old one and the belt would no longer tighten. It has been over 300 hours now and now problems at all, just normal tensioning.
pmsmechanic
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Can you take out the three bolts holding the flange onto the pulley? Then, is there enough room to slip a belt through between the pulley and the flange? If no to both questions then you need to either take the front end apart to change the belt or do what Working on Rust suggested.