How tall is "tall grass"? Are the blades sharp? Set the deck up a little (3") and maybe take only half of a swat at a time?
Is the deck a 1/8 - 1/4" lower in the front compared to the back?

 

I cut 2-6" off most of the grass while mowing in low range. I had a few areas which grow really well which were probably 10-12" high. I cut these areas with the deck up and then lowered the deck while mowing slowly.
The blades were sharpened last fall. This is the 3rd cutting since sharpening the blades.

 

Is the adjustment screw too short? Maybe broken at some point and not replaced or repaired?

 

I have a second mule drive which I'm repainting. The screws are both the same length.

 

I was under the impression that the space between the spring coils should be the same as the coil's wire diameter. Finally, are the belt and pulleys free of oil and/or grease?

 

The belt and pulleys are clean and free of oil/grease.

 

The tension spring only needs the thickness of a nickle between coils to work correctly. While the lack of more adjustment seems weird, if you can get that much tension, it should be ok.

My first guess would be that the belt is not an original. Did it come from a dealer with the Case/Ingersoll part number?
All the non-OEM belts I've seen are 1/2", while the OEMs are 9/16" wide.
The only other guess I can think of would be pulley wear on the clutch or deck driven pulley, but that seems very unlikely.

Maybe with a few good pics, one of the folks here can spot something amiss.

 

The C23808 belt was purchased from one of the supporting vendors. I've mowed with it 3 times now. The belt did seem to be a bit hard and not as flexible as a brand new belt should be. I've had this issue with belts from two different supporting vendors. Its almost as if the new old stock belts are going bad. The snow caster belt I bought was good and soft like it should be.

 

There is an RM deck update kit. It would have a bearing the adjuster. The early RM decks had a shaft that went through the front of the deck as a pivot. That was a disaster and quickly wore out. The update kit comes with a shaft that gets welded to where the pivot pin was. Then you get a bracket that pivots on the solid pin.

I can say from experience, put anti-seize on this bracket and pin. I had one that was so locked up a 5 lbs hammer would not move it. This was before I had a torch.

If your belt does not have the part # printed on it, it is not OEM and could be any size as it is a substitute.

 

The update kit comes with a shaft that gets welded to where the pivot pin was. Then you get a bracket that pivots on the solid pin.

I can say from experience, put anti-seize on this bracket and pin. I had one that was so locked up a 5 lbs hammer would not move it. This was before I had a torch.

If your belt does not have the part # printed on it, it is not OEM and could be any size as it is a substitute.

Good catch! I thought I mentioned checking the idler pulley and tension spring but it got left out of my reply.

A lot of the decks I encounter have a non-original spring. And, they seldom work well!

 

The kit is expensive and I am cheap. If I were to need to refurbish one of the decks needing the kit, I would drill the slot were the shaft was and sleeve it did the original shaft. The fix then is just what is called an axle spacer then.

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I swipe errored that.
I would use a sleeve and the original shaft. Weld the sleeve in were the shaft wore a big hole already.

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Matt, can you take a picture with the deck all the way down so we can see the routing of the belt around the idler? Bob

 

Bob - I will post some pictures. Need to get them off my phone and resize them.

Can I run a wider drive belt like the snowcaster uses? Looks like the length is 72.5"
http://manuals.casecoltingersoll.com/ServiceManuals/Belt Guide Manual 9-51590_watermarked.pdf

 

 

View attachment 58330 View attachment 58338

I suspect this has more to do with levelling the deck, following my discussion just now with Matt.

Does anyone else have an old style RM48 carriage/mule drive, set up and properly levelled. A photo matching Matt's would help here. I think the carriage is supposed to be much more flat to the deck, as in the not so great picture I've inserted above.

Unfortunately all the machines I have here right now are RM60's or new style carriages ...

Brian

 

The number on the belt is correct? That belt looks awful deep in the pulley grooves.

 

That belt is fraying. The pulley looks like there's heavy rust on it. You can't use any pulley with heavy rust. That is not looking like an OEM belt. The part number will be on the belt if it is. Many places sell what they say are Case belts, but they are not. That is very important.

The dealers on this site will sell you the proper belt.

If that pulley is as rusty as the picture looks like it is, you need to fix that.

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The belt for my RM-48 Secondary that I purchased from Salem Power filled the groove of the pulley to the outer edge, I can only think that you did not get the correct belt looking at those pictures. Can you measure the belt width? It should be 9/16" if I remember correctly. Brian at Salem or Bill at Barneveldimp should be able to verify that.

 

The straight story on belts

http://casecoltingersoll.com/showth...ead.php/25981-OK-to-use-non-Ingersoll-mower-belt?p=243081&viewfull=1#post243081

 

Agree that the drive belt appears to be a little narrow. After looking at the picture of the left side of the mule drive, something doesn't look right but need to check the mule drives on my two RM48's later to confirm my suspicion.

 

Judging from picture #4, it looks like the belt maybe too long. It appears that the left idler in much lower in comparison to the right and the spring is hardly stretched at all. Have you removed the deck belt guard lately and cleaned out around the deck spindles? Grass can get pretty packed in there. In my book, 10 to 12" tall grass is pretty tall.

 

I installed a new C23949 belt inside the deck and cleaned the grass out before this last mowing.

My grass isn't normally 10-12" tall. I usually mow every week.

 

The belt actually looks like it is bottomed out in the pulley. If the narrow part of the vee actually touches the bottom of the pulley, it looses most of it's ability to transmit power. The work is done on the sides!
It's been asked but I haven't seen the answer: is the Case PN printed on the outside of the belt?

 

The belt is very close to bottomed out on the RM44 drive spindle.

 

Sharp blades and a new Ingersoll belt will work wonders :mechanic:
I put on a new set of blades and new belts and it was unstoppable, the grass hadn't been cut sense last July. :wtf::thumbup:
Going to take maybe two more times but it cut like a monster, there grass laying every were if I ran over it twice it looks good (cut it up in little peace's) I'm real happy with my new to me tractor.:nana:

bigman :thumbup:

 

I'll add my voice to the "OEM belt is better" chorus.

And I was a bit hard to convert. I got away with it on my RM44 (sold). Kinda had to, because it was before I knew about this site and its dealers. The nearest Ing. parts dealer to me, was 1.5 hrs. one way.

So, I tried a bunch of em over the yrs. Never did find one that works as well, or lasts as long, as OEM

 

The C23808 belt was purchased from one of the supporting vendors. The belt currently measures 0.435" at the widest part.

 

The belt currently measures 0.435" at the widest part.

The belt should be .5625 at the widest.

Your belt is marked correctly, and I assume it's the proper belt for your model year of tractor and deck, but it's not the correct width. Something is not right here. I would ask for a replacement/exchange.
I am sure they will work with you on it. Call them...

 

Matt
Did you check your pulleys for any nicks or sharp edges, :thumbup:
You can see in the one pic the belt is cutting into something :thumbup:

bigman :gums:

 

Here is an older RM48 showing the leveling rod ... at about 1/2 the available threads on the rod. Unfortunately not mounted to the tractor, but was properly levelled when it was taken off.

Brian

 

Thanks for your help today Brian. I will attempt to level the deck again tomorrow. I will also post more pictures of the RM44 drive spindle.

 

My deck is still not mounted as it's been raining so much and when it's not my wife has a Doctors Appointment. Hopefully next week will be the solution to her medical problems and it will dry out and clear up so I can get the new bearings installed and start cutting with it. I just went out and looked at my leveling rod and it appears to be in the same position as the picture you posted Brian.

 

Yesterday I installed a new C23808 belt with my better rebuilt mule drive (new bushings and tension spring). I also cleaned up the RM44 drive pulley with a wire brush and leveled the deck. With the tensioner coil spring gap set to about 1 ignition key width (per Brian) the drive belt is very loose. I increased the tension one turn on the tension screw and did one quick lap around my house. After mowing I found rubber dust on the mowing deck. I increased the tension to about 2 spring coil widths, wiped the rubber dust of the mowing deck and did a few laps around the house. No rubber dust. I mowed all 1.38 acres yesterday with periodic checks for a slipping belt but didn't see any signs of the belt slipping. When I was done I noticed the belt tensioner screw had turned and the belt tension was again low. I also noticed the tensioner pulley oscillates up and down about a half inch with proper spring tension. Perhaps the oscillating tensioner pulley is causing the tensioner screw to come loose? If anyone has any suggestions for the tensioner screw coming loose or the belt tensioner pulley oscillating up and down I would appreciate it.

I am going away for a few days, so I might not respond right away.