How to Adjust the Drive Belt Tension on a Murray Mower

If the belt on your Murray riding mower starts to slip you will hear a faint to loud squealing noise coming from the deck. If you inspect the deck you will see a built in belt tensioning system called an idler pulley. The pulley connects to a spring and forces tension onto the belt. When the belt stretches to far, the idler pulley runs out of room within the spring to compensate. Unfortunately, the only way to adjust the belt is to replace it with one that meets the correct length requirements. A belt stretched beyond self-adjustment no compromises the integrity of the mower.

Blocks
Wrench set

Instructions

- 1
  Lift the mower deck to its highest position and place wooden blocks under the front, left and right sides. Lower the deck onto the mower.
- 2
  Remove the bolts that hold the front tow torsion bars onto the bottom of the Murray mower with a wrench.
- 3
  Remove the two bolts that hold the rear of the mower deck onto the underside of the mower.
- 4
  Slide the mower deck forward and remove the belt from the clutch pulley located under the engine.
- 5
  Remove the Murray mower deck from the wooden blocks and slide it out from under the mower.
- 6
  Pull the belt off the pulley system and then place the belt onto the pulley system. There are two pulleys, the jackshaft pulley and the idler pulley. When routing the new belt, the belt rides around the outside of each pulley.
- 7
  Slide the deck under the mower and place it back onto the blocks. Slide the belt around the clutch pulley.
- 8
  Slide the deck backwards and line up the mounting brackets. Secure them with the original bolts and your wrench.
- 9
  Pull the Murray mower deck to its top position and then remove the blocks.

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