JD 214 deck belt woes

Hi all.
I have a 214 which came with the snowblower attachent installed and the deck unattached.
So now it"s summer and for the life of me i cannot figure out the belt run.
It looks to me like there must be something missing because the deck had horizontally arranged pulleys while the motor PTO is vertical.
Can anyone help me out with a picture, diagram or description?
the previous owner is a huge drive away but he says all the parts are there...

If it is like my Cub Cadet is, there is a mule drive on the front with 2 pulleys. The belt goes around the engine pulley, down onto these 2 and then onth the deck. I can't find a good picture, but you can probably google mule drive and get some ideas.

Brian,

It sounds as if you have a Cub with a longitudinally-mounted engine.

The 214 engine is mounted crosswise.

Marcus,
Do you have these idler pulleys mounted below the pulley on the crankshaft that drives the mower?

<img src = "http://jdpc.deere.com/pimages/MP32/MP3202_________UN01JAN94.gif">

The belt wraps around the crankshaft/clutch pulley, then down around the idlers and back and down to the pulley on the mower deck.

Marcus:

Are having trouble with the routing of the belt from the engine to the deck, or the deck belt?

If it's the deck, on the 47 model deck, it is like this decal shows:



On the engine to deck belt, do you have the older PTO lever on the dash (large yellow knob) or the electric clutch model that just uses a switch? I am only familiar with the older style. I had a 214 for 10 years, but sold it 15 years ago when I got my 855, but I will try to go through the steps by memory as best that I can:

Loosen the T handle that sticks out of the front of the black front plate. The spring might come unhooked. Remember that it will have to be re-attached before tightening.

If you had a snow blower mounted, disregard the outer pulley which is only used for that implement. The belt groove you want is on the large, cast iron PTO cone portion of the pto clutch. Swing the little tin keeper out of the way so that you get the large steel bracket to pop off. You need to do this so that you can get the belt over the pto cone. Dangle the belt down and replace the pressure plate steel bracket and tin keeper to retain the cone.

The belt runs reward through the two pulleys that Bob shows. The backside of the belt runs against the flat idler pulley, and the tapered side goes on the Vee idler pulley. Continue to route the belt to the deck and place it on the drive sheave. Check on the idlers that the belt is on the pulley and under the guide (#9 in Bob's illustration). A lot of folks run the belt over that guide and it will chew up a new belt in a matter of minutes.

Now go to the front and turn the T handle tight as you can. This will pull on the spring and the idler pivot bracket and that will keep the belt in tension when the deck moves up and down. Now move the pto lever forward and see that everything moves free and correct and then disengage it. It should be tough to engage (they added a stiffer spring during a factory recall) and pop right out when you snap it back.

Now you can try it out. Run it at idle for a bit and listen and sniff, in case you ran that belt over the idle guide!

If you are having problems attaching the deck, I can cover that as well.

The belt goes around the middle pulley on the pto, then on the front side of both of the tensioner sheaves below the pto. The sheave furthest towards the back of the tractor routes the belt to the right side of the deck pulley, as you are sitting on the seat. The sheave furthest forward on the tensioner routes the belt to the left side of the deck pulley, as you are sitting on the seat.

Here is a picture from weekend freedom machines.

Steve

You are correct. I tried to find a good image online to post back but couldn't.

You guys are the best !!!

Thanks a lot, I'll try it again with this info

Thanks guys, now the belt is on and the deck runs well, BUT, now there's another problem.

For the life of us, me and my mechanic neighbour can not see how to suspend the deck from the tractor fully.

We have it slung on the tractor by the main supports but the height adjustment/lever connection has us totally stumped.

There are two spare lugs on the deck and we have two bars which presumably connect to the lugs and which are then attached to the raise/lower lever on the left side.
The lever, when moved, shows me one mounting possibility for one of the bars but even that's too far inboard. It's crazy, how hard could it be? hahahaha

Right now the deck is on the tractor and working, but it's essentially just running on it's bogey wheels, we have no way to raise it.

I hate to ask, but you guys really came through for me before so........