# Murray drive belt falls off



## FELT

I am at my wits end. The drive belt on my murray lawn tractor falls off nearly every time I start it up to do something. I shut it down, get off, re-string the belt and then am some times able to do what I want. I replaced the original belt with a new one and the same thing happens. I loosened the clutch spring so that there is more tension on the belt and it still happens. I just had the motor replaced and the mechanic said the belt never fell off for him for the 5 times he tried it. When I brought the mower home yesterday, I started it on the trailer, put it into gear and no drive, the belt came off. Any help is appreciated other than a can of gas and a match. It is a model 40542 A


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## Hoodoo Valley

Welcome to the forum FELT! Sounds like the egine and subsequint drive pully are out of alignment with the next pully, or the pully itself is bent or not on the shaft correctly. Someone will have a better suggestion I hope, but that would be my first guess! Can you have someone run it and you watch it as they try to get the belt to come off, providing the engine speed is slow enough, perhaps you could see it actually happen and gain a better insight as to where it's taking place.


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## dangeroustoys56

Sounds like someone took the belt retainers off - there should be a couple around the front engine pulley and a couple around the trans pulley - if those are on- the belt shouldnt come off- as TB mentioned, couple pullies could be misalligned as well - youll need to get underneath it - what makes me sorta suspicious is the engine replacement- sometimes with different motors, the engine pulley will sit either closer to the motor or further down away from the motor - thatll effect the belt placement as well- the belt should be perfectly level from the front to back .


I had that issue with my modifed MTD- the pulley on the transaxle was just slightly higher then the variable pulley and it literally ate thru 3 belts super quick till i figured out the belts werent level.


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## nelpi

I had a similar problem with a Craftsman LT1000 mower I recently acquired. The belt keeper bracket which keeps the belt in place at the transmission pulley is made of fairly easy to bend metal. This part on my mower was bent in such a way that when the brake was applied and the belt loosened there was room for the belt to drop down and off the track. When the brake was released and tension applied again to the belt it would come off the pulley. I re-formed the keeper so there was less room for the belt to drop through and this seems to have fixed the problem. This mower is made by Murray and sold under the Craftsman name.


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## chrome98

I am having the same issue. I just replaced the drive belt as I do every year and never had this problem before. Belt jumps off at clutch pulley where there are TWO keepers. The keeper towards the front of the tractor rubs slightly on the V portion of the belt the other I can slip a credit card between the keeper and the belt. In either case, the belt keepers are doing their job as I have to pull them out a bit to get the belt back on each time. 
I did adjust the brake as well just before I replaced the belt. Is it possible I adjusted the brake to tightly and the belt tries to moved a braked transaxle and jumps off?


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## jhngardner367

Welcome to the forum.FELT !
Can you post your tractor's model/serial #'s,as well as the engine's ? It will help greatly , in identifying the problem.

Chrome98,
Did you use an OEM belt,or an aftermarket one ?
Many times , to save $ ,owners(and even some shops) will use an aftermarket belt. But MTD/Murray/and some others have specific sizes,and any difference could cause a failure.


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