John Deere blades not turning

[GramaRN1]

I have a John Deere LT155 with Freedom 42 deck. I replaced a broken timing belt and damaged deck belt but now my blades won't turn. It is trying but made a very loud, high pitched "screaming" noise. I followed diagrams and videos to be sure I put everything on correctly. Any ideas?

 

[Hoss710]

sounds like either a locked up hub , and or tensioner pulley.

 

[oldnslo]

Confirm the belt is not caught on anything. Some styles of decks it is easy to get the belt on the wrong side of one of the belt guides. Would also confirm blades turn by hand

 

[dougtrr2]

I would triple check the diagrams and videos first. Look closely to make sure the drive belt is not on the outside of any of the guides. I did that once on a 318 and shredded the brand new belt before I realized what was going on.

Next step would be to remove the drive belt from the engine PTO pulley.

Engage the PTO witout a belt installed. Should be no noise and the engine shouldn't bog down. Just doing that to ensure the PTO is not an issue.

As suggested above, try turning every spindle and pulley by hand. If one is locked up you will need to replace it.

If everything turns freely, completely remove the drivebelt and reinstall. I recommend completely removing it because there is a chance there is a small detail you missed the first and second time around and you will catch on this install and your problems will go away.

Please let us know what the outcome is, even if it is slightly embarrassing. We have all made silly mistakes, we just don't always fess up.

Good luck

Doug in SW IA

 

[Williy]

Lower the deck but make sure the blades are free and put the
belt to see if anything is binding if its binding then raise the deck
and see if you can turn the blades by hand if free you need to
drop deck as the spindles are OK and remove the belt then check
to see if pulleys are free then replace your belt making sure you
have installed it correctly

willy