Unfortunately, the drive pulley will not clear. You have to raise the engine above the deck after removing the blade and driver and separating the engine from the muffler plate (I think - it's been several years since I looked under a 10323). It is a huge hassle to install the new belt. One more reason I divested myself of 2-cycle Lawn-Boy mowers. Most of the time you can't get the pulley off the crank either. On the new 4-cycle LBs it's so easy a caveman could do it.

thanks saxman1,
ha ha. that's a good one. looking at it that's how it seems. i was sort of rushed when i got into it. a big deal for a belt. it looks like one bolt of four around the transfer pipe is even going to be hard to get at.
thanks again, pete

I've got a similar LawnBoy, (model 10301), and my belt
will need changing soon. I have heard, on this forum,
that the pully will come off the drive shaft. It
supposedly has a set screw that is hard to find.
I'm not looking forward to that project.

Your belt must have had a catastrophic injury being a 2004. I have a number of these with belts as old as 10 years still working great.

Oops, I mis-read the original post. Mine is a 1994,
which means my belt is almost 15 years old. But it
sounds as if the design hasn't changed in those 10
years.

fordtech,
thanks for your response. i don't know what would be a catastrophic injury. it's stretched and frayed. slips going up hills. a lot of hills. steep too. 4 years of those conditions seems tolerable. just surprised at the labor intensive procedure for a drive belt if i'm looking at it right. like i said, i was rushed first looking at it. i'll get back to it at the week end. it'll run with the bail tightened up, but those cables break trying to make up the stretch.
lbpod, i looked quickly at the IPL, and saw the pulley group. the pulley would still have to get past the plate collar. this mower trims/cuts 1.5 acres. mulches leaves as well. i have an old simplicity 7116 tractor. all those belts can be changed with no or few tools. again, it just surprised me at the procedure for this.
thanks, pete

You donot have to remove the pulley,just the 1/2" bolts that attach the engine to the engine mounting plate. And as above said the blade adapter.

lb1kenobi, thanks for answering, i don't think or see any reason to get off the pulley. the pain looks like it will be that plate collar. i still have'nt looked at it yet, but i will tomorrow. i have those 3 bolts of the motor off. the motor is just sitting off to the side. it's that blade adapter that's in the way. does it need to be pulled? the metal plate that the blade and mulch fan are bolted to. that to me looks like the problem. like i said, i'll try to get to it tomorrow. i don't want to waste any ones time 'til i look at it.
thanks again for all the follow ups.
pete.

I just replaced the one for my 2002. It's a job, but only marginally tougher than replacing the belt on my 1993+ish JD walkbehind.

You have to 1) remove plastic cover over gearbox/pulley; 2) remove the cage over the belt on top the gearbox; one of those allen screws broke off on mine; 3) remove blade; 4) remove the backer for the blade; this took some doing on mine; lots of PB Blaster soaking and finally using an old dent puller to yank it off; 5) remove cover to the exhaust loop; 6) remove exhaust loop and the 2 bolts @ 1/2" there; 7) remove the 2 other 1/2" bolts holding the motor to the aluminum casting for the exhaust loop; 8) pull motot shaft through; 9) remove old belt and put new one on pulley. Then do reverse of the above. You DO NOT have to move that pulley on the motor shaft.

RichSchmidt_GW. I HAVE A LAWNBOY MODEL 10323 and while replacing my engine to transmission belt discovered that the pulley on the engine seems to be lower than it should be to drive the transmission. Could this engine pulley slipped down? The belt wants to ride up the engine shaft and miss the engine pulley. Do you know how to lift the engine pulley up? I was replacing the drive belt, but it won't motivate the transmission since the new belt slips on the engine shaft. Two days work so far. Help.

Pete and others, why not shoot it. ? Except I think I would use a heavy explosive so nothing was left of it. Just think, no more hours replacing the drive belt. No more expensive LB oil to mix with gas for them super gas guzzlers. The noisey engines that makes your ears wring for hours after mowing. No more wheezing and gagging 2 strokers, that smell bad, The cheesy setup that drives the wheels and more. Honestly I think they were designed in Disneyland. I destroyed my Lawnboy with a sledgehammer and it ended up being the happiest day of my life. This is just my view.

Junco59, all that drama and all was wrong was a dirty carb you could have cleaned and saved the thousands you spent on junker chinese mowers since.

RichSchmidt.

Continued: with my pulley in the right place the LB 10323 should go for a while. It does burn lots of oil/gas mix, but the power is there. Thanks

Yep Loctite or Safety Wire Bro !

Thanks for the LOCTITE tip. All help is appreciated. Lawnboy 10323 runs great. I had a hi tech motor cycle shop bore out my carb jets slightly and the engine runs smoothly, too. Power to spare. New Drive belt works well once I located the set screw and raised the engine pulley into its proper place. Much, much thanks.

Nothing like the smell of Nitro Methane from a well maintained Lawnboy ! lol .

I understand it may be a joke, but what do you mean by "the smell of Nitro Methane? This is an honest question.

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 !!!