Quick questions - The drive belt on my LX176 just went after 11 years. I'm having some trouble getting one of the pulleys off. I'm trying WD-40 to loosen one of the nuts but it's stubborn. In addition, the one pulley that is stuck is on the bar underneath the tractor that swivels, so it's hard to get leverage. Is there anything out there that can loosen bolts better than WD-40? Second, how did you get the drive belt over the pulley for the transmission? Is it possible to snake the loop up through the fan blades above the pulley? I took the seat off my tractor hoping to see the fan, but the tractor fender assembly covers the fan. I can't see how this whole process can take only an hour! Any help would be greatly appreciated! My lawn is starting to grow fast, and the local Deere dealer has a 4 1/2 week wait for repairs!

Well, I set off to replace my belts in this way. Undoing the engine bolt worked eventually, though I had to heat it up with a gas gun then hit the end with an impact wrench. Unfortunately that's where things fouled up. The pulleys were seized on. I tried a seriously strong puller, which only bent the pulleys out of shape. So - lateral thinking........ The things that are stopping the belts coming off are the keeps - two rods down the sides of the pulleys. It turns out that they are only held on by half-inch gripper nuts at the top, and are easily removed. Now the belts are free to drop off the pulleys. Further round the system there's a silver coloured link thing. Undo the bolt at the link end, then undo the nut holding the pulley. Shift the pulley out along its shaft so that the belt can clear the keep. There's a big spring in the way, but you can manoeuvre the the belt round it. That gets both front belts off and back on. I haven't tried to get the short belt at the back off, because it looks like you have to take the rear axle off. Bernie

Go to this link: http://www.toro.com/home/index.html Click on "Look Up Parts" under "Customer Care" Input this model number: 33-08X301 (or 33-08X303 - I am not sure of the differences) This is for an '85 model - yours is this or very close. I think you will find that owners, parts, and service manuals are available. If you do the purchase, it may be available for free via download, or at the most there may be a charge of $ or $5 for them to send you printed copies. Looks like a fine little rider to me, the 8HP Briggs should be plenty powerful for this deck and millions must've been made, the transmission is standard stuff, the rest is basically pulleys and brackets and a bearing or bushing here & there, bottom line looks to me like an easy unit to get going and keep it going. Ed

Put a clothes pin or other similar contrivance on it next to where it retracts into.