Proper Route to Install a Belt on a John Deere 48-Inch Mower

Safety

• To avoid injury from moving or hot parts, follow a few key safety precautions before beginning work on your mower deck. Park the mower on a flat, level surface; parking it on a slope can be dangerous. Stop the engine and make sure you lock the parking brake. Allow the engine to cool completely before beginning the belt removal and replacement process.

Belt Shields

• The belt shields protect you from moving belts in the mower deck. Without the three shields, a moving belt can rip your hand or foot off. The moving belt can also throw out debris, which may result in eye or other bodily injury. Before removing the mower belt, you must remove the shields to get to it. To remove the shields, open the three latches and remove the center shield then the two outer shields.

Removing the Belt

• Lower the deck completely by turning the crank located on the front of the mower. Locate the spring attached to the mower bracket and remove it with a spring puller -- available at a hardware or specialty store. Locate the gearbox and loosen the two cap screws located on the front of it with a wrench. Then remove the two bolts and two spacers on the rear of the gearbox with a wrench. Take a picture or draw a diagram of the belt routing around the various pulleys. Lift up the gearbox with a pry bar and remove the belt from under it then gently lower the gearbox. Unwrap the belt from the pulleys.

Installation

• Lift up the gearbox with a pry bar and place the belt around the pulley under the gearbox then lower the gearbox. When starting at the gearbox, pull the belt so that it goes around the pulleys in this order: over the gearbox pulley then under, over, under, over and under. This is the same, no matter which direction you start. Make sure you don't twist the belt. After installation, replace the two bolts and spacers on the back of the gearbox and tighten the bolts to 50 ft.-lbs. with a torque wrench. Tighten the two cap screws on the front of the gearbox. Use the spring puller to reattach the spring to the bracket then reinstall the three belt shields -- start with the outer shields and finish with the center shield.