mower unit smoking!

[grabbit]

Have a Yanmar 146 which I just bought. Used for the second time and mowing unit slowed down and started smoking like crazy..almost caught grass on fire.
Smelled like burning rubber.

The blades and belts rotate easily by hand, belts look ok. Do not see any obstructions anywhere. I had just greased up the deck when I bought it.

Any suggestions?

T.

 

[Laneman950]

I get this a lot on my riding mower. It is always an obstruction, either a stick, grass buildup, or wire wrapped around blade shaft. If you're sure there are no obstructions try starting it again and engage the blades. Sometimes whatever was blocking it falls off.

 

[Ifixcars]

I would take a close look at the belt routing, and belt guides etc. See if it's rubbing on something. Trust your nose, if you smell rubber burning it probably is.

 

[woodchuckie]

Yea that and that and make sure any idler pullys will spin easy.

 

[john_bud]

did you grease up all the spindles? Any that are loose? Had one loose the bearing and it got HOT, burned the belt pretty bad after it shot hot metal everywhere.

jb

 

[grabbit]

I ran it again tonight, no smoke, but did smell, and belt melted in several places and kicked off!! It was too hot to touch.

Prior to running again, I inspected it again and cannot find any obstructions. I could move belts and blades with ease. I did grease the 3 ports a couple weeks ago.

Are there bearings in there that need to be replaced? If so, does anyone have directions on how to fix, p/n etc?

When I bought the tractor a couple weeks ago the seller did prewarn me the mower unit was super loud, which it is. He said he checked the bearings and appeared to be ok. ?? It has 1600 hours on it.

 

[Volfandt]

Every thing you're reporting here sounds like a bad bearing, either in one of the spindles or idler pulleys or even more than one.
The only way to test is to remove the belt tension to where you can easily spin each spindle and idler pulley independantly. In this way you can find the offending bearing.
A good bearing will spin easily, feel smooth and not make any loud noises. A bearing that labors to spin, or feels rough or makes any kind of unusual noises is bad.

Good luck

 

[grabbit]

The 3 main spindles with grease ports spin ok. yes, they were recently greased.
There is one pulley, without a grease port (is this the idler pulley?) that catches once in a while. I poured some gearlube oil over it to let it soak in.

IF I were to replace it, are there generic brands I can install without costing an arm and a leg?

Ordered a new mower belt and cost me $90!! I thought my JD $30 was expensive. If I knew YM parts were hard to find and expensive, would not have bought this. Just afraid of melting off the new belt, which will get expensive real fast!

 

[bncsauve]

To generate that kind of heat the belt has to be sliding on one or more of the pulleys. As stated earlier, an obstruction, a bad bearing or mis-routing or tensioning could cause it. A too loose belt would slip on good pulleys and bearings and cause the problem. If everthing spins as its supposed to, I would check the routing and belt tensioning device very carefully.

 

[BTDT]

Tractor Supply usually has a good selection of pulleys.

You may be able to replace the bearings in the pulley you have, might be easier to go that route.