How To Remove Deck From John Deere X300

[Muriel Trettin]

Ihave a X300 with the 42" inch deck. It only has the one belt that runs from the engine pulley. I started having belt breaking problems last summer. Had several things happen that I though might have caused belt to jump off. It seems if belt jumps off it cuts the belt into or ruins it. One time I thought a stick might have got on top of the deck. Another time I found a rock wedged in a spindle pulley. I then found a bearing going out on the spindle. since then I think I have had three belts break without finding a good cause for it. The first two belts were some belts I got from V-Belt supply. They were Kevlar mower deck belts. I though probably just not a good quality belt. The next belt was a Gates BladeRunner belt which also broke. I checked the deck over and found no problems so I installed the other Gates BladeRunner belt I had on hand. Those belts are about to break me and then the aggravation of having to remove deck and remove those dang things that are supposed to keep the belt from jumping off so the new one can be installed. Is the belt JD sells any better than the Gates belt. Of course if something is making it jump off it won't really make any difference.

Having to replace spindle bearing says the deck probably has lots of hours and if so, suggest checking the bushings on all the pulleys and pivot points. Many of those are plastic on my 54" deck and needed replacing by 500 hours. As for Deere belt being better? Got about 500 hours out of the original Deere mower belt before deciding it looked a little tired and needed to be replaced. Never an issue keeping belt on with the caveat of 54" deck has separate belt for engine PTO to deck independent of the belt that powers the three blades.

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