My drive pully wore out on the gearbox and seperated into two parts. I need to install new output bushing at axel, pully and spacer. Has anyone done this? What is the oil or grease inside the gearbox? Thanks

Richard , Sorry just some of my Canadian Satire Bro ! Honestly back in the Day all Lawnboy mowers had to run on OMC 32:1 or 16:1 Oil Mix Ratio's . Having been involved in Motorcycle and Snowmobile Racing and Tuning for over 40 Yrs , I found this absurd . I replaced the OMC Marine Grade Oil with , then more Modern KlotzR Caster based oil at 50:1 , some of my Buddies claimed I must be running Nitro Methane fuel due to the increased performance (horsepower) and pungent smell of my Lawnboy lol ! P.S. Currently I use Amsoil Sabre Synthetic Oil @ 50:1 , since Klotz is harder to find locally. P.S.S. Nitro Methane is a High Performance Blended Racing Fuel utilized within Top Fuel Funny Cars and Dragsters Dude ! Kinda like mixing High Octane Gasoline with Nitrous Oxide....Roflmao !!!

Loger, I might be missing (or misunderstanding) something here. I hope I don't offend anyone, but both of you DO understand that the idler wheel IS the belt tensioner, do you not? The back side of the belt rides against the idler wheel, and the spring pulls the wheel into the belt to tighten it against the pulleys. Click on the link marked "Troy Bilt owner's manual" in my first post, and go to the section on changing the deck belt. There are two illustrations. See the instruction to use a ratchet in the idler bracket and rotate it counterclockwise to relieve tension on the belt (in order to remove the old belt.) When installing the new belt, you have to use the ratchet to rotate the idler wheel toward the front of the tractor in order to stretch the new belt around it. When you release it, the idler will snap toward the rear of the tractor, and as it does so it will push against the BACK of the belt to tighten the belt against the pulleys. This method is commonly used on mower decks. I have five riding lawn mowers/lawn tractors in four different brands, and all of them employ this method of tensioning the deck belt. The most common mistake folks make in installing deck belts is to fail to realize that the BACK of the belt is what should be in contact with the idler wheel, the inside, or V-shaped part of the belt rides in the pulleys that turn the blades. Note that there are two idler wheels, but only the one toward the left side of the deck is a tensioner - i.e. on a movable bracket. The idler on the right merely changes the direction of the belt's travel.

More info. After a beer tonight, got underneath the tractor and found the belt stuck in between one of the idler pulleys and its bracket above. The belt came to a screeching halt and, of course, wore off at the crank pulley. Come to remember, it did that last time, too... (he says, foreshadowingly). Thinking over all the thoughts here, I looked at that particular idler pulley (one of the flat ones where the back of the belt rides, immediately off the crankshaft pulley) and it appeared to be worn more at the top than the bottom, toward its bracket. I messed around with it further and noticed that its bracket -- a bellcrank that has another pulley that controls the tension when the brake/de-clutch pedal is released -- was wobbly rather than pivoting in one plane. I removed that bellcrank and the two pulleys on it and found the spacer that it pivots on was worn, as well as the hole in the bellcrank it fits into (both are held onto the tractor frame with a bolt). So here's my theory: this bellcrank pivot point wore to the point where it was tilting downward at the front (toward the crank) and was both wearing the top edge of the belt (in previous times I found evidence of that) and/or popping off the top edge of that leading pulley and getting caught. When it got caught, the belt stopped and the crankshaft pulley wore through it. This reasonably explains all the symptoms I've been seeing. For further reference, I found no evidence that the belt was riding deep enough into any v-pulley groove to bottom out; the parts book shows the same crankshaft pulley assembly for both engines. Tomorrow I call a Simplicity parts dealer to see if the bellcrank, spacer, and pulleys are still available. If so, then ~$100 in parts (including a new belt) and I'm "back on the road." I do have the Jonesin' for a new lawn tractor, but this ole gal has been so good for me it's hard to "quit her"... Thanks, I'll keep you posted. - GA