How to adjust the slipping belt on my John Deere L115 44 inch snowblower

[gzimmer]

I have a John Deere L115 lawn tractor that has an attachment that works but seems to make loud noises when the auger is engaged and when actually attempting to blow snow. I think that the problem is that the spring loaded idler on the drive is popping up and down because the belt is too loose? Does anyone have any suggestion as to what the problem might be, or is all this thumping and banging normal, when the tractor is not moving and the snowblower auger is engaged there is no noise until I actually blow snow. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Jerry

 

[Leejohn]

Flat spot on belt or idler spring needs replaced.

 

[oosik]

Welcome to TBN & the forum. Replacing the idler spring should tighten the belt and stop all the "noise".

 

[Richard001]

I have a John Deere L115 lawn tractor that has an attachment that works but seems to make loud noises when the auger is engaged and when actually attempting to blow snow. I think that the problem is that the spring loaded idler on the drive is popping up and down because the belt is too loose? Does anyone have any suggestion as to what the problem might be, or is all this thumping and banging normal, when the tractor is not moving and the snowblower auger is engaged there is no noise until I actually blow snow. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Jerry

Jerry,

The problem comes from the fact that your engine is a single cylinder and there is a long span of time between power strokes. When the engine fires on the power stroke, the belt stretches and the idler moves to take up the extra slack. During the next two rotations of the engine crank, there is no power being generated and the belt relaxes and the idler moves back. This repeats it self for every power stroke. This is what is causing the idler to move back and forth. This action is normal under load. Unloaded, the belt does not stretch and thus no idler bounce.

A few things come to mind. Look at the belt layout on this page:
John Deere - Parts Catalog

Make sure that the idler (item 36) is in position and that you have the belt on the correct side of it.

Make sure that the idler arm, (item 11) is securely fastened to the frame with the bolt. (item 12)

As someone else has suggested, replacing the spring, (item 39 I guess) may help.

If all else fails, you will need to install some sort of friction device on the idler arm. May be a washer between the frame and the arm with just enough tension from the bolt to slow down the movement.

Richard