# 2000 Murray 12.5 40 wide body Drive belt problem



## yobry1 (Mar 17, 2012)

Hi all, I'm new here. Everytime I shift into any gear other than reverse or 1st, the drive belt comes off the engine pulley. I just adjusted the clutch(made sure the belt was just loose enough to not cause friction but tight enough so it wouldn't come off,so I thought) and it came off again. Now for some reason I can't get it back on and completely removed the clutch rod to make sure I could put it back on and pushed the tension pulley all the way till it hit the frame and still not long enough to get it back on the engine pulley. Granted the belt is old, but I thought being old would mean it's stretched a little so it would be easier to install. Any ideas?
Thanx for your help.


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## BBY_Murray (Jun 14, 2011)

*It's sounds like you may be routing the belt incorrectly. Do you happen to know the model # so I can pull up a schematic to see your motion drive set up?. Meanwhile, attached below is the proper clutch adjust procedure for most late model Murray lt's.*


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Usually thats where the problems are centered- old belts. Belts have a hard life, heat, slippage, stretching- usually replacing the belt helps with drive issues.

That happened on my 99 murray hydro - was sluggish, didnt engage right, so replaced it with a better belt and it ran flawless.


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## yobry1 (Mar 17, 2012)

Ok,I replaced the belt a couple days ago with a Murray OEM belt, re-adjusted the clutch and it worked fine as I mowed 3-3 1/2 hours per day for the last 2 days. The property is 2 1/2 acres and the area I have been mowing has not been mowed in about 2 yrs(lots of blackberrys and 1/2 to 1in trees,i know I shouldn't be mowing down those trees but will be replacing deck belt and blades when finished), and I'm 236lbs which shouldn't make a difference. I stopped at about 3 hrs yesterday(all was still running fine) and went to the store for more gas. When I got back to mow round the hose, I put it in 1st gear and the new belt slipped off tranny pulley, put it back on, came off again as soon as I released the clutch. So I re-adjusted the clutch again since I worked so hard with such bad ground to mow and figured it had stretched a little, again it came off as soon as I released the clutch so I gave up for the day. Today I removed the deck and battery to see what the problem is and noticed thru the battery hole that the tranny pulley leans down toward the rear and up towards the front of the tractor, so I removed the rite rear tire and have pics to share. What I also noticed is the tranny brackets mounted to the outside of the frame are bent upwards where they mount to the tranny towards the front of the tractor and have also been welded (by the previous owner i suspect). Would this cause the belt to come off like this? The bad area of the property is also a little rutty and very rocky(moved rocks out of the way when I could see them) so this made for a very bumpy ride and I used 1st and 2nd gears only while mowing and 3rd and 4th when not cutting(very bouncey ride when going faster).Should I try to straiten those brackets out or buy new ones? How can I remove them where they are welded(both brackets on each side are like this)?


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## BBY_Murray (Jun 14, 2011)

That sure looks to be your problem. If it were mine I would put it on my trailer and go to my local machine shop and have them cut off the existing brackets and fab me new ones if they could do it cheap enough. But, if I did not not have access to a trailer or a machine shop, I would remove the transaxle and persuade the brackets back into their original position with a big hammer and hope to not do un doable damage. They won't be as strong as before but as a lawn tractor that rear should really never be under enormous stress.

BushBoneYard


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## Hartgry (Feb 17, 2017)

Murray 12ic/40
Just got marching starts first time clutch down in gear no movement,back or forward am I doling something wrong or is it a bigger problem


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## yobry1 (Mar 17, 2012)

Drive belt may have come off. If so maybe worn out(stretched, cracked)belt, clutch may need adjusting, cotter pin could be missing, or make sure the neutral switch on back of tranny is pushed in, check these first, and lastly tranny may be bad. Check/download the manual. Good luck.


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