Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Problem with Riding Mower

Hi, folks!

My first post! Great to be aboard!

Need some advice from you good people about a problem with a riding lawn mower.

Mower is a 502.254190 Sears Craftsman 10HP 5-Speed.

The engine runs fine.

The mower won't go anywhere in any forward gear or reverse.

When releasing the brake/clutch, as the pedal reaches the end of its upward travel, one can hear a "rubbing" sound, like a moving part brushing against something else.

Also, what is the safe way to get to the underside of the mower, if that is what I need to do to assess the problem further?

I'm no whiz mechanic. I've done routine maintenance on autos to include replacing belts and brake pads, etc. and have standard auto/household tools (sockets, wrenches, etc.).

Thanks in advance!

Steve

Sounds to me like the cluch needs to be adjusted or its wore out, get out the owners manual if you have one. It should tell you how to adjust it. If you dont have one lets hope somone here can help. As for getting underneith it Ive seen lots of people hang them from tree limbs but that always scared me. If you can Id say leave it on the ground and pulling the deck off may help alot.

good luck

Hello Steve, and Welcome!

It sounds to me like the belt has come off the transaxle pulley, and the noise you hear is probably the idler pulley hitting the engine pulley (coming back to far since there is no belt for it to sit against).

There is another possibility. Has a rear wheel been removed recently? If so, the axle key may have fallen out, and the axle could be spinning inside the rim.

Deck removal will aid in accessing the underside. You may try putting the rear end up on jackstands too.

This is a manual? make sure the drive belt hasn't popped off. Haha, just noticed I posted the same time as cheese... Do take the deck off though..... makes things alot easier.

Is this a front engine or rear engine rider? If rear, it won't be much help to remove the deck. Being a ten horse, I'll bet it is a rear engine.

Engine is located behind the operator, if that's what you're asking.

All...

your responses so far are most encouraging! I believe I can handle a belt problem, if ya'll can help me figger out best and safest way to get at it. :)

If you go to sears.com and look for repair parts, entire you model #, and you can get diagrams of how it is put together. That will help you in figuring out not only how to get to it, but how to take it apart and put it back together again.

Since this is a rear engine rider, it will be of no help to remove the mower deck. And being a rear engine rider you'll need good patience to work on this. Lift the rear of the machine up onto safety jacks and have a look in there (under the engine, below the frame) and you'll see what I mean. Use Pendragon's advice and print a copy of the exploded view of the belt system as this will greatly help you. Then use alot of common sense and keep the cuss words to a minimum if the kids are around. And you'll likely need them to assist with the foot clutch to release tension and give slack. Good luck and let us know.

Man, you guys are GOOD! :)

Thanks to Pendragon I now have in hand print-outs of the drive assembly schematic and parts list.

Looks like I have one belt (drive belt) connecting two pulleys...a transaxle pulley and a stack pulley assembly.

A third pulley appears to be an idler or tension pulley.

Okay, so, as far as getting to the underside. I have no jackstands.

I do have two car jacks and some concrete blocks.

I also have a chain pulley (manual) and some extra chains.

The gas tank has only a little gas in it. Does anything bad happen if I flip the mower on its side?

If thats not a good option I can

1. raise the rear on car jacks and lower it on cinder blocks, OR

2. raise the rear with the chain pulley and safety it with additional regular chain. The lifting point would be a live 15" diameter oak tree limb.

Your suggestions?

Steve

I'd go for the chain hoist I suppose. Don't flip it.

I saw this was a rear engine rider to begin with, and that's the only reason I did suggest removing the deck. You can't access the belt from behind the tranny, you have to get in front of it. The deck is in the way for that. It's a pain to change that belt anyway, so everything you can get out of the way is a plus. The deck is easy to remove.

Unless you plan to drop the tranny, I would pull the deck, get under the mower, remove the belt keeper bracket from around the stack pulley (may have to loosen the tranny to allow enough wiggle room to get it out) and start replacing the belt. This is assuming the belt is in fact the problem.

Okay, it's the drive belt.

I rolled the mower out in the open and just started looking around inside the mower with a flashlight to get familiar with where everything is.
I could see the small pulley at the top of the pulley stack...with no belt on it. I started feeling around that area...and out comes the broken belt.

I've only had a few minutes here and there between work and other chores to mess with this so far.

So, tomorrow I'll go get another belt.

In the meantime, I'm not finding a "deck" on my parts list anywhere, so can I get some clarification here?

Thanks!

Steve

The deck is what shrouds the blade/blades.

the drive belt is under the drive system section

looks like its #54 here http://www3.sears.com/Paul/Leadimage.asp?productTypeID=1509200&brandID=0247&modelDesc=10%20HP%20MOWER&modelNumber=502254190&documentID=00051574&documentTypeID=PLDM&documentClassCode=PM&titleType=DRIVE%20SYSTEM&titleID=00002&

part #37X65 from sears , "BELT, MOTION DRIVE" costs about $9.50

the deck is the mower housing