# MTD 1238 Drive Belts



## Jay W. (May 8, 2020)

Hello all,
I am looking to identify the correct belt sizes for this MTD 1238 7-Speed lawn tractor. As you can see, there's no deck so i am only looking for the [2] drive belt sizes. It seems as though the previous owner put the wrong size belts on and when I replaced those, they were much too loose. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

Welcome the the forum. Have you looked to see if there is a sticker under the hood that gives numbers for maintenance items? I've searched Jackssmallengines, parts lookup and if you have some model and serial numbers, you should be able to select the proper belts.


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## Jay W. (May 8, 2020)

Thanks for the reply. Half of the number was scratched off but I found the right size belts, 53" and 43". These are what I put on but they seem to fit really loosely and I think as a result the machine drives very slowly.
Model is 139-652-000.
Thanks again.


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

Do you have the belt routed inside the idler pulley?


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## Jay W. (May 8, 2020)

Yes I do.
I think that I have a seized up variable speed pulley. It doesn't move up and down as it should. Do you think this could be my issue with the slow operating speed?


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

Hmmm... does the idler make the belt nice and tight, or is there something rusted or binding the center pulley from moving back to tighten up?


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## Jay W. (May 8, 2020)

It actually seems quite loose. I'm going to definitely check on the idler pulley to see if maybe if something is preventing it from tightening the belt as it should. That definitely sounds like it could be the issue. Thanks for your help! I will update you later on.


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## Longhorn294 (Oct 13, 2019)

The rear belt is spring loaded and should be tight all the time. Possibly the spring broke or maybe the needle bearings in the top and bottom of the vari-speed pulley are frozen up. There's several things to check...


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