Those darn riding lawn mower belts

Shortly after we moved into our current house, I went to Lowes and purchased a Husqvarna YTH-2448 lawn tractor to use in keeping our 3 acre yard in shape. Talk about a mower, that thing can really cut some grass! But after using it for just a few hours the drive belt broke.

Being the handyman extraordinaire that I am, I figured I would simply replace the belt myself. After all, the manual included a handy guide to changing the belts, complete with a nifty “exploded view” diagram. So off to Lowes I went, and after purchasing a replacement belt I hurried home to slap that baby on!

Well, let me tell you, the manual didn’t say anything about needing a Ph.D in mechanical engineering in order to successfully complete the task. After hours of frustration, my brother Glen and I loaded the mower onto his trailer and we hauled it to our local lawn mower repair shop. Of course they had trouble with the installation as well (it took them all of 10 minutes instead of the 5 that I had estimated), but install it they did, and that lean, mean mowing machine cut acre after acre of grass for the better part of the next two years…

Then disaster struck. Early this past spring the other belt broke (the one that drives the blades), and once again I pulled out the manual and looked at the diagram that shows how to replace it. It sure looked simple enough, so I entertained the thought of replacing this one myself. But when I actually laid down and peeked at the tangled mass of belts, pulley’s, idler arms and all sorts of other associated pieces of hardware, I thought better of it.

Through the grapevine (AKA Cheria’s cousin Danny) I found out that there is a lawnmower shop a mere 3/4 mile from my house. Not wanting to bother Glen again for the use of his trailer, I decided to simply drive the mower over there and have the broken belt replaced. So down the road I went on my bright, shiny lawn tractor (that was a bit dirty since it had never seen water nor soap). I garnered all kinds of admiring looks as I drove past house after house until I finally reached the mower shop. After about a 10 second diagnostic exam, Brian looked me straight in the eye and gave me the bad news: the blade drive belt was broken and it would have to be replaced. After digesting this news flash, I told him to go ahead and replace it. And once again, the task took longer than expected (it must have taken him at least 5 minutes)!

Brian spent some time blowing almost 3 years worth of dried grass from the underside of the mower deck, then he replaced the blades as well. When he had finished lecturing me about the importance of preventative maintenance, I paid him, expressed my sorrow for all the trouble I had put him through, then hit the road for the trip back home. Once again I saw people looking on in admiration as I passed their houses on the way back home. That is until it started raining. And raining harder. And then raining harder still. By the time I pulled the mower back into my garage, I had a nice, clean Husqvarna YTH-2448 – and I was absolutely soaked to the skin.

Looking back on my experiences with replacing the belts on my lawn tractor, I can honestly say that I feel a real sense of accomplishment. I now have a newly revived lean, clean, mean, mowing machine, as well as all of my fingers and toes. Life is good when you’re a handyman extraordinaire!