• This community needs YOUR help today!

    With the ever-increasing fees of maintaining our vibrant community (servers, software, domains, email), we need help.
    We need more Supporting Members today.

    Please invest back into this community to help spread our love and knowledge of all aspects of IH Cub Cadet and other garden tractors.

    Why Join?

    • Exclusive Access: Gain entry to private forums.
    • Special Perks: Enjoy enhanced account features that enrich your experience, including the ability to disable ads.
    • Free Gifts: Sign up annually and receive exclusive IH Cub Cadet Tractor Forum decals directly to your door!

    This is your chance to make a difference. Become a Supporting Member today:

    Upgrade Now

Cub Cadet 1554 Mower Throws Belt

IH Cub Cadet Forum

Help Support IH Cub Cadet Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Doug in NJ

Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2024
Messages
5
Location
New Jersey
Interesting, but need help. I have a Cub Cadet 1554 lawn tractor that I bought used, which has a 54” mower deck attached. But my deck continuously throws its serpentine drive belt. The problem is the PTO pulley is attached very high on the tractor belly while the corresponding pulley on the mower deck is approximately 1 inch lower that the level of the PTO pulley. In other words, my PTO pulley is out of alignment with my mower pulley…therefore I throw the drive belt. Any thoughts on how to align? Doug in NJ
 
Interesting, but need help. I have a Cub Cadet 1554 lawn tractor that I bought used, which has a 54” mower deck attached. But my deck continuously throws its serpentine drive belt. The problem is the PTO pulley is attached very high on the tractor belly while the corresponding pulley on the mower deck is approximately 1 inch lower that the level of the PTO pulley. In other words, my PTO pulley is out of alignment with my mower pulley…therefore I throw the drive belt. Any thoughts on how to align? Doug in NJ
Since the deck is adjustable up and down, the pulleys will likely never align in that regard. This is normal. The actual problem is likely one of the following:

Worn or incorrect belt
Belt tension too low
Improper belt routing
Missing belt guides
Worn spindle, idler, or PTO clutch sheaves
 
Since the deck is adjustable up and down, the pulleys will likely never align in that regard. This is normal. The actual problem is likely one of the following:

Worn or incorrect belt
Belt tension too low
Improper belt routing
Missing belt guides
Worn spindle, idler, or PTO clutch sheaves
Thank you very much. Are the belt guides restrictors bolted into the deck?
 
Doug, I had similar experience with recently acquired 1554. After parking on flat surface it became obvious with the deck down.The deck hanger in front was the issue it did not hold the front up high enough in any position..I raised the front of the deck by tightening the hanger until it was a bit past level..problem solved,hope it works for you..
 
Thank You very much. Yes…the front end of the deck does hang very low. There is a roller on that front…and I am going to replace it. My situation in interesting…all pulley and mandrels turn free and smooth, I bought an installed a new belt, belt tension is very tight…so because of your help, I am narrowing down my issues. Thank You All!
 
I may have missed this but is this a cub cadet belt (954-0642) or an "equivalent" TSC/amazon/ebay/etc belt? those belts typically do not have the HP rating for a mower deck (or any thing else on a mower) if the belt is aftermarket it could be unable to make the turns or has stretched out or is just a poor fit.
 
Doug-Doug..Some folks don't know this but commonly v belts are different angles on the side..A 5/8 belt under some numbers may be a 19/32 under another name.It's alaways best to stick with mfg number because belts and pulleys were meant to be together....I occasionaly use gates belts because they crossover exactly
 
Back
Top