I know, you want pics of my "new" Wheel Horse and mower deck, but I haven't taken the time yet...too many projects going on at once!
Here is my dilemma- The PO of my unit had repairs made to the deck, to wit: the pulleys on the tensioner have been replaced, with what I am going to call the new style pulleys; flat pulley on outside and V pulley on inside, with a new NAPA A136 belt. According to the lovely lady at my local NAPA store, this is an "A" section 138" belt.
Okay, now the deck idler pulleys are very rough, and need replacing. The quills are in good shape, so nothing to fix there. The deck idler pulleys are the "old" V pulleys, for the 8 sided belt.
In checking the IPL's (sorry for the B&S verbiage) it seems when the deck P/N was superseded to 05-37SC02 from 05-37SC01, the belt changed to a V belt from the eight sided belt.
Soooo, it seems all I need to do is to change the deck idler pulleys to the 02 numbers, and I am good to go. That is, if the new belt is a proper replacement. NAPA has no belt listed to replace the 110265 belt on the newer deck.
I know you guys have more experience than me in these matters, does anyone have input?
Thanks, rick

Hi, Rick,

I've got a 37" SD deck (05-37SC01) that I rebuilt for my 312-8 so I have some familiarity with the critter, but part of this discussion has me a little confused. You say the tensioner now has the flat and V pulleys, but the deck itself appears to have the original pulleys for the 8-sided belt?

Here's where I hope one of the fellows with more experience chimes in: if the belt routing remains the same, I'm not sure how anything but the 8-sided belt would work. Is there any chance the PO had a different deck on the machine and put the 37 SD back on just before selling it to you? That would explain the change in pulleys on the tensioner while still having the 8-sided ones on the deck.

I'm at work so I can't run out to my tractor to confirm my suspicions, but thinking about the way the belt travels I'm not sure a regular V-belt will work without twisting in some gawdawful way.

Oh great gurus of the Horse - your input and opinions, please?


Duff

Hi Duff-
The PO had the tensioner pulleys and deck drive belt replaced, at a well reputed outdoor power equipment shop. Another example of why we take care of our own equipment, right? So now I have a hybrid, LOL!
If the new belt is a proper replacement for a 05-37SC02 deck, I will just replace the deck idler pulleys with the -02 numbers, and be done with it.
Thanks for your input...
rick

I think the PO replaced the tensioner pulley with an incorrect version. On the 37 SD decks, both pulleys in the tensioner (mule drive) are V-belt pulleys. A flat pulley will not work. All other mule drives like this for Wheel Horses do in fact use a flat and V combination, so the repair shop may have just assumed your's was the same.

The 8-sided belt (I thought it was 6-sided?) will NOT work on a flat pulley. All of the pulleys in the system should be V-belt style.

The 37SD system uses a single belt from the PTO all the way around the tensioner and across 4 pulleys on the deck. All of the other decks use a seperate belt from the PTO to turn the top of the center pulley on the deck, which is a double pulley. The lower half of the center pulley has a second belt that stays on the deck when you remove it.

Good luck with this project. The 37SD is sorta small, but the quality of cut with it is excellent.

Kevin

My mistake on the polygonal belt, don't know where I got the 8 from. I have never seen the correct belt for the 05-37SC01 deck, 8 just stuck in my mind from something else.
To make this easy, does anyone know the specs on the 110265 V belt used on the 05-37SC02 deck that superseded the 05-37SC01 deck?

are you sure p/n 110265 is a v belt. i use p/n 110265 belt on my rototiller 07-36tl04 and it look like a 6 side belt about 138 1/2 inch long

http://i1.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/ec/76/4ddb_1_sbl.JPG

The 05-37SC02 is showing flat idlers and a V belt on the IPL. The front tensioner has one flat idler and one V idler. I have no other information on the belt - other than the already-mentioned 110265 part number.

Here's the routing diagram from the manual:

Man, those two 90 degree twists to make the belt work with flat idlers and pulley must be rough on the belt and the pulleys? I'd guess you'd want to keep the belt tension fairly high as well to keep it from derailing.....

Oh well, learned something new!

Duff

According to my Wheel Horse belt chart part # 110265 is cross section HA ( 1/2" wide 5/16" thick), 141 inches long. It is shown as the correct mower drive belt for the model 05-37SC02 from 1990.

For deck #05-37SC01, from 1989, it calls for mower drive belt #111178. It is a cross section HAA (SIX sided belt, 1/2" total width x 13/32" total height.) , 140.5 inches long.

It sounds like maybe Napa and the repair shop that changed the pulleys had numbers going back no further than 1990 and assumed that since the decks were the same size all the parts were the same.

I'd go back to the store with the right numbers and see what I could find. You may have to find the right pulleys also.

Okay, thanks for all the input! Since the belt that came with the mower is not the correct length, I am going to keep the mower original with the correct replacement parts.
Thanks again, rick

You think that's bad, Duff......
The 1965 RM-425 rotary mower deck and the WH sickle bar mowers make that belt routing scheme look mild!

Didn't I read somewhere on this site a while ago that the WH engineers could have put a man on the moon....if they could use a belt drive to get there?

Duff

I beleive i remember reading that as well..its one of those things that kinda sticks with ya