Help Lx277 pto/deck problems.

[DIESEL-FUMES]

Greetings..I will keep this as short as possible. which is pretty much impossible for me..
Anyways, I have a JD LX 277 that I bought new many years ago. I always have kept up on maintenance on it and other repairs. But this time it was due for the make over..
I rebuilt the carb, adj lifters and etc. Plus. I did a complete rebuild of the deck. Filled in the thin rusted metal and installed all new spindles, pulleys, belts, idler arm, serviced the transaxle. I also replaced the pto as it was becoming loud and wouldn't always engage. The problem I now have. after I hooked the deck back on and the new deck drive belt it really started to squeal and make all kinds of noises when I engaged the pto. I had to order the pto and I did this with the original pto still installed. So, I just chalked it up to the old pto. Which, after I replaced it. I found the bearings where defenitily worn out. Not seized but not smooth.. Once I received the new pto and installed it. I double and triple checked everything before engaging it. Well, it did the same thing. Only not nearly as bad.. the deck pulleys and system does move freely. Not hard to rotate by pulling the drive belt. It is harder than before but only because of the new belts. As the old ones where original and where about ready to break. So finally here comes the question. Eventhough I am a somewhat experienced grease monkey. I am at lose at what I am missing. The pto clicks in just fine with the belt not on.. I dont see anywhere on the old pto and the new pto where you can adjust it with the feeler gage. Atleast I dont see any adjustment areas..
The deck runs freely. With the new pto. It's not as loud. However, it by far to loud and the blades seem to never get up to speed. When they do they will slow down.. the belt first seemed tight when I installed it. However, now it has slack. I dont have a repair manual for this tractor to find out what kind of slack. One thing that I did notice after I leveled the deck it seemed like the belt was slipping a little more.
So I would appreciate any help or
Ideas.

something I might be missing
.

 

[DIESEL-FUMES]

The slack on the deck drive belt..

 

[tomplum]

You are saying that the primary deck belt has slack- correct? Are the mounting holes at the rear draft arms horribly worn? It's one of those follow the chain kind of things. If the deck positioning is proper, the belts and spindles OEM, one would think that your tension spring is fatigued.

 

[Richard001]

Does this location in the circled area have interference with the deck mounting?

I think that Tom P is correct, the main drive belt or the belt on the deck are not tight enough.

Richard

 

[gengine]

Can you more closely describe your squealing? I'm asking for a metal on metal, which can squeal but usually has a grinding tone to it, or a rubber meets steel squeal, which may go away with a little run time, but be back with a cool off period, or come and go due to load conditions.

 

[gengine]

Are your new spindles or pulleys the greaseable type?

 

[DIESEL-FUMES]

Thanks everyone. Sorry I didnt get back sooner. Everything on the deck is 100% new. All new spindles. Greased properly. New main drive belt, brand new deck belt and brand new deck drive belt. I had picked up a new steering drag link today and then I will install the deck once again. I can rotate the deck by grabbing the drive belt when its not on. It turns freely and not binding. It is a little tight but I'm pretty sure its due to everything being brand new. Once I get that far I will post what I find. Thanks again everyone for youre help. It's greatly appreciated...

 

[DIESEL-FUMES]

Does this location in the circled area have interference with the deck mounting?

View attachment 3869817

I think that Tom P is correct, the main drive belt or the belt on the deck are not tight enough.

Richard

Not that I could see..

 

[DIESEL-FUMES]

So here is the update. I put the deck back on and trippled check everything.. the deck soes move freely if I pull it by the drive belt.. I had put a brand-new oem deck drive belt on it and now its way to loose after trying to engage the decknall these times. Stupid question. Would the belt stretch that much ?
After trying to run it the pto still does squeal. Plus just like before I rebuilt it. I would have to sometimes move forward in order to get the old pto to engage.
I have taken the pto off twice now to check for shavings or any other debris.. nothing. I also thought maybe the key was maybe slipping. But its solid.
This is all that I have done.. all new spindles, idler arm bearings. All new belts. Main drive belt included. I also put on a new pto switch.
I did record a little video however, no matter how much I shortened it the video was still to large to upload. So, I put it on my personal YouTube channel if anyone wants to hear the noise that I am talking about. I couldnt find my little tripod otherwise I would have recorded it from underneath..

I appreciate any help..

 

[gengine]

My hearing is shot, but I hear more of a grinding than a squealing. I see from the evidence the belt is rubbing the tensioner arm, as in the black paint is removed, exposing yellow and bare metal. But that would happen only if the deck was adjusted wrong, so it would only happen if the deck was at full height when engaged. To me, it sounds like grinding, which tells me the clustch in the engine mounted pulley is having issues. Is the PTO a switch? or a lever?

 

[oldnslo]

In looking at the top view of the mower deck I am questioning the long spring running from idler arm to hook on front of the deck. Does the deck belt idler tensioned by that spring move independently from the the main drive jack shaft tensioned by the arm on left side of mower deck.

If yes this is totally different than 54” deck on my X540

As an FYI I recently had an incorrect length belt from Deere. It was supposed to be approximately 146 inches long and measured 150 inches. Might want to see if Deere lists length of belt in question and check that it is correct.

 

[tomplum]

Specifically, did you use the M143019 primary belt M154958 secondary belt? The spindle pulleys OEM M131814?

 

[DIESEL-FUMES]

My hearing is shot, but I hear more of a grinding than a squealing. I see from the evidence the belt is rubbing the tensioner arm, as in the black paint is removed, exposing yellow and bare metal. But that would happen only if the deck was adjusted wrong, so it would only happen if the deck was at full height when engaged. To me, it sounds like grinding, which tells me the clustch in the engine mounted pulley is having issues. Is the PTO a switch? or a lever?

The pto is a switch and I just put in a new oem switch..as for the paint..you are correct. That happened before I leveled the deck and I did have the deck up at the time...

 

[DIESEL-FUMES]

Specifically, did you use the M143019 primary belt M154958 secondary belt? The spindle pulleys OEM M131814?

To be honest it dont remember the part number on the belt.. I thought that I compared it to the old one and they where the same...however, I'm not sure if I did it on that belt or not... I know that I did it on one of them.

 

[DIESEL-FUMES]

My hearing is shot, but I hear more of a grinding than a squealing. I see from the evidence the belt is rubbing the tensioner arm, as in the black paint is removed, exposing yellow and bare metal. But that would happen only if the deck was adjusted wrong, so it would only happen if the deck was at full height when engaged. To me, it sounds like grinding, which tells me the clustch in the engine mounted pulley is having issues. Is the PTO a switch? or a lever?

It also made the same noise with the old pto. I have taken the clutch off 3 times so far. I also felt the clutch after I shut it off. Plus before I put the new clutch back on I ran the tractor for a while then I checked the main shaft to see if it was hot. Which would tell me somewhat if the main bearing was bad. But it wasn't hot. Little warm but not hot....

 

[tomplum]

To be honest it dont remember the part number on the belt.. I thought that I compared it to the old one and they where the same...however, I'm not sure if I did it on that belt or not... I know that I did it on one of them.

Well, these are things that you need to know. There is a common like belt used on the X series 48C deck which is just a couple inches longer than the one you require.

 

[DIESEL-FUMES]

I did get one for the lx277 with the 48" deck. They did give me the right deck belt. But that doesn't mean that they gave me the right one.. I will take it off tomorrow to measure. If I remember right it does have the part number on it. But my big concern is the pto..

 

[DIESEL-FUMES]

Specifically, did you use the M143019 primary belt M154958 secondary belt? The spindle pulleys OEM M131814?

I will check the belt tomorrow. If I remember right it has the part number on it.. the deck turns just fine. The big thing is the pto that makes the noise. Because that is also how the old one sounded before I changed it....

 

[oldnslo]

I will check the belt tomorrow. If I remember right it has the part number on it.. the deck turns just fine. The big thing is the pto that makes the noise. Because that is also how the old one sounded before I changed it....

If PTO noise is the main concern have you tried isolating different parts of the system to see noise shows up.

1) Run PTO without the belt to the mower deck. This will check the PTO under no load.

2) Remove belt on deck that runs the blades. Then attach deck to the tractor and install primary deck drive belt from tractor to deck. NOTE: triple check the deck idler can not hit deck input or jack shaft.
Run PTO is there noise. This would check PTO with side load from belt tension.

3) Install secondary blade drive belt and run. If noise shows up it would point towards some problem on the deck itself.

If memory serves me correctly on the 54 inch deck on my X540 the secondary idler and the main input tensioner arm can loosen and tilt a little allowing the spring to rub on the pulley under certain conditions. I noticed shiny wear marks on the spring which lead to that discovery.

 

[DIESEL-FUMES]

Thank you ! I have tried no load and Load on the pto manytimes. I also have taken the pto off to check everything out.. the deck itself spins no problem. When its off I can roate it by the drive belt. Also, after I run it and shut it off I have felt every spindle and idler arm to see if anyone of them are hot. They are all cool..
My son in-law is here today so I am going to do a better video.. its somewhere in the pto area.. I just hope its not the main bearing... thanks for youre imput...