Craftsman 247.290000 Operator's Manual page 135

5.
Remove t he remainingbow-tiecotterpinssecuring the deck to the unit, as
shownin Figure 35.
k. j
Figure35
NOTE: Thebow-tieclipsshouldbe re-installed fromthe top down.
6. Movethe decklift lever into the top notchon the rightfender t o raisethe
deckliftarmsup andout of the way.
7. Unplugthe wiring pigtailfromthe decksafetyswitch.
8. Carefully remove the PTO cablefrom the rearof the cuttingdeckby
removing the bow-tiecotterpinwhichsecures i t. Remove t hespringfrom
the deckidler bracket. S eeFigure 36.
f
Figure 36
9. Gentlyslidethe cuttingdeck(fromthe left side)out from underneath the
tractor.
Changingthe DeckBelt
NOTE: It ispossible to change the deckbelt withthe cuttingdeckstill installedon
the tractor,however i t ismucheasier to remove the deckfirst, change the deckbelt,
thenreinstallthecutting deck.
Tochangethecutting deckbelt,proceed asfollows:
1. It iseasiest t o change the deckbelt byfirst removing the cuttingdeckas
instructedearlierinthissection.Skipthisstep if deridingto change the deck
belt with the mowingdeckstill installedon the unit. Otherwise, remove the
cuttingdecknow.
2. Ifchangingthedeckbeltwith the cuttingdeckstill installed o n the unit,
lowerthe cuttingdeckto the lowestcutting position.
3. Remove t he deckbeltfrom aroundthe unit'sPTO drivepulleyasshownin
Figure 33.Simply roll onesideof the beltoffof the pulleyandthenwork
it offthe pulleybycontinuingaroundthe pulleyuntil the beltisoffof the
pulley.
4. Pullthe belttowardsthe front of the unit, pullingit throughandout of the
belt keeperbracket, s howninFigure 33.
5. Remove t he deckbeltcoverbyremovingthethreehexboltsthat secure it.
SeeFigure 37.
Figure 37
Remove t he belt keeping spacer b yremoving the hexbolt thatsecures it. See
Figure 38.
Belt KeeperI-lexbolt
Figure38
Change the belt, thenreinstall t he all the components removed in the
reverse orderbeginning with the idlerpulley,andlastlythe beltcover.
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