How to replace drive belt on Craftsman rear drive mower?

Hi guys, I need some assistance.

A friend of mine got a new mower and gave me his old one. it's a Craftsman 6.75 hp, rear drive self-propel with a bagger. The drive belt on it is really stretched out and slips a lot. He had a new belt for it that he gave me, but no owners manual, and I'm not having much luck finding a guide to replacing this belt online.

Main reason I want to find a guide is because this mower uses a "clutching idler" drive system, so I'd like to know what needs to come off to replace the belt and what doesn't (so I don't screw anything up).

Thanks for any help!

 

Check the searspartsdirect web site; given the model number you should be able to download the manual. They may even have a video showing the change.

Sometimes you have to loosen or remove the engine mounting bolts to get enough slack to change the belt.

 

I don't know what model you have, but generally you take off the blade, the blade mounting adapter, and the plastic cover under the mower. The belt should come off from there. You may or may not have to remove a belt guide or two to get the belt off the pulley(s).

 

Yours is probably similar to mine. Not a fun job, but not insurmountable. There are some belt guides that have to be loosened to allow you to get the belt on and off the pulleys. They're just 2" or so long metal studs that sit right next to the pulley. You loosen the nut on them and they can be moved out of the way. That's after, as I recall, removing the belt for the mower deck.

 

Well I found the manual on the sears parts website...not very helpful. They show an exploded diagram of the drive wheels but make no mention of how to replace the belt, must be something they want you to take in to their service department.

I'll see if I can get a picture to show you guys what it looks like. This one has all of the belt drive (except where it comes off the engine) above the mower deck, no cover undearneath.

 

I just dove in and did this yesterday. You guys were right, there was a cover under the deck (little difficult to get off there with all the grass and crap. Feels like you have to take a dozen parts off just to remove the belt, but I got it replaced and operational again.

However the problem seems to be not with the belt but with the pulley off the mower crank that drives the wheels. There was a washer of some sort that seemed out of place when I took the blade off...I think it was originally a wave-lock washer (any temper it had was long gone, it was practically annealed) that was supposed to go under the belt retainer (which is not where it was when I took everything apart). So, the self propel does nothing at any setting under half speed, the belt is just slipping on that pulley.

Wondering if replacing that washer would cure that or if other parts are defective as well? Everything looked pretty good under there but I can't tell for sure.