RCK60B-22BX deck shake

[Scrounger]

Finally, have a problem with my Kubota deck. Its been pretty flawless since I bought it.

The issue I have now is that the belt seems to have more slap than normal and the deck is slightly shaking enough to make you feel it in the seat of your pants.

Could bad blades be the cause of this or an overly loose belt? I pulled the belt off and it looks fine but then I was surprised the belt tensioner arm actually lays on the deck. You can see where its worn off the paint.

I'm going to regrease everything and run without the blades on to see if the deck still vibrates.

Matthew

 

[diesel85]

The tension should not be wearing the paint off your deck. Sounds like a bad bushing -- similar to an automatic tensioner on an engine.

I'd replace it and go from there.

Have you replaced the belt since you've owned it? If not, I suggest doing that while you have it apart.

Also, be careful when untensioning the belt, that spring is under a lot of tension, and wear thick gloves and use a large flat head screw driver to "grab" the belt. Not your fingers. If it slips, it can potentially lope off your finger(s) and/or crush it.

 

[Scrounger]

The tension should not be wearing the paint off your deck. Sounds like a bad bushing -- similar to an automatic tensioner on an engine.

I'd replace it and go from there.

Have you replaced the belt since you've owned it? If not, I suggest doing that while you have it apart.

Also, be careful when untensioning the belt, that spring is under a lot of tension, and wear thick gloves and use a large flat head screw driver to "grab" the belt. Not your fingers. If it slips, it can potentially lope off your finger(s) and/or crush it.

The belt looks fine. You can see in the pic where it's rubbing. Not sure how to tell if the bushing is bad.

 

[Scook222]

If it’s bad the pulley will have up and down slack if you lift one side of the pulley like a bearing that is going bad.

 

[Scrounger]

Well their all solid but the arm may be bent. I知 at a loss right now.

 

[Scook222]

The bracket could be bent, it looks like the bracket is what’s rubbing on the deck. IF the bracket is rubbing the deck like that and all the bearings, pulleys, and blades checked out fine, the bracket it probably rubbing on the deck when cutting and making the belt slap. Are there bushings or bearings where the bracket attaches. If so the might be worn. The easiest way to figure out if the bracket is causing it is to put a thin coat of grease on the bare spot and on the bottom of the bracket where it rubs. Once you do that, start the belts and look for the belt to slap less. If you can only put it on the bare metal that’s fine too. Do the same as previous and look on the bottom of the bracket for grease. Either way, the grease should help identify if it’s the bracket rubbing causing the problem.

 

[Dave M7040]

Often a belt develops flat or burn spots where it has slipped on a pulley.

In this condition it acts like a flat spotted tire and generates vibration.

Someday, you will need to buy a new deck belt. Buy it now and try it.

If the problem goes away, you have found the cause. If it does not then you have a belt for the time when you will break one.

Rusty pulley greatly accelerate belt wear.

Kubota, on the mmm decks I have read up on, recommend at the end of the season the deck belt is removed and the pulleys cleaned to prevent corrosion.

Dave M7040

 

[robertm]

Cleaning the caked grass, grease, and dirt off that tension pulley sure wouldn’t hurt.

Did you check your spindles? I’ve had one bad spindle on other brand decks go bad and cause balance issues across the deck.