# LT1000 Blades stop when mowing? Why?



## johnhoward28 (Jun 9, 2016)

*Craftsman LT1000 Loose belt problem. What's wrong?*

My Craftsman LT1000 run great, but I have been trouble with the blades stopping or slowing down when mowing anything but lite grass. I am not talking about motor binding under a load here, just the blades. When I am mowing and I hit a medium heavy patch the motor does not bind, but the blades stop. If push the clutch and sit there for a while they will slowly gain speed. In the past when I hit a rough patch, the motor would bind under the load but the blades would keep going and if the patch was too much, it would actually stop the motor unless I hit the clutch. But now, the motor does not even sound like it is under a load and the blades stop. I have looked at the deck and I can't seem to find anything wrong. The belt seems fine and all the parts seem to be okay, but the belt does seem loose when the blades are engaged. If I push the idler flat pulley inwards towards the the mandrel pulley, it tightens the belt up. Right now the idler flat pulley is loose to swivel outward away from the mandrel pulley. Is the idler flat pulley supposed to be able to swivel? Or is it supposed to be in a fixed position?

Here is a picture to give you am idea pf what I am saying. This not my mower deck, just a picture of one that looks similar to mine that I found online.


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## johnhoward28 (Jun 9, 2016)

Well, I think I may have found the problem. I think my blade clutch cable has stretched. I noticed that even with the blade drive handle fully engaged the mandrel pulley still had about an inch more to travel to tighten up the drive belt. So I used some pliers to pull the cable out further and clamped it off with a pair of visegrips. It mowed much better and the blade did not stop unless I was mowing through heavy grass. It is still not as good as it was, but a lot better. I ordered a new clutch cable and drive belt from Sears, and will see if that fixes the problem.


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