Is it age or just too much going on? I took the deck off my John Deere L130 today to sharpen the blades like I have so many times before, but this time, I forgot how the belt goes back on! For the life of me, I couldn’t get it, so I searched the net and found nothing but junk, from ehow to wiki-xyz and none had anything useful.
I had to look at the manual which was also cryptic but finally figured it out, so I decided to take a photo of my l130 belt routing and draw a diagram along with the picture. Simply click on the thumbnail to see the large routing photo.
My diagram won’t win any prizes, but it clearly shows you how the belt routes around the wheels.
By the way, if you have this tractor and have not read my page on John Deere stalling or better yet, my section on Deere’s junk transmission they installed on these guys, then do so – it will save you a LOT of time!
Jim – thank you so much. I spent over an hour laying on the driveway trying to figure out how to put the belt back on my LA130 after I knocked it off mowing heavy weeds and brush. The John Deere manual was completely worthless (did not even show the correct number of pulleys) but with you diagram I had the belt re-installed in 3 to 4 minutes (knowing I had already removed the shrouds and blew out all the dead grass built-up). One note if you ever redo this let people know one pulley is spring loaded so if they take a large screwdriver they can pry the pulley allowing the belt to slip right on and in my case it also let me get the belt between the guide and pulley since I could not get the pulley off.
Please Disreguard my comments about the belt direction I was completely wrong and I apologize for not checking my l130 belt direction.
The diagram was very helpful but i believe the direction of belt travel is wrong.
I believe the belt needs to turn in the opposite direction and pull on the spring pulley to reduce the shock when the blades start to turn or when the blades hit a solid object.
Your diagram is perfect for those of us who are only mechanical engineers on the weekend.
Your diagram was perfect. I tried several possibilities but with out your diagram this task would have taken much longer than was necessary. Thanks.
THANK YYOOUUU! Laying out here in the grass right now! The bearings on the idler pulley swarmed so i just replaced that & was LOST! Lifesaver & lawn saver, indeed!
Thanks, the diagram hit the spot!
Your diagram was a great help but I cannot get the belt between a guard that has a spring attached to the deck I have tried to take the pulley off to slip the belt around have all the right tools but nut is way to tight and just don’t want to round it off, tried to bend the guard just a little won’t budge either and …… thanks for the diagram post
Thanks for the photo, mine shows the 42″ which is different but it helped, thanks again.
My drive belt for my John Deere L 130 came off and i can’t figure how to put it back on. Your photo and comment will be a really good help please if you can Thank a lot….Not the deck beit but the drive belt it won’t move….
Belt came off and I couldn’t figure how it goesback on, so thank you for the picture!
Thank you buddy!
That was a huge help!!! This tractor is my girlfriends ex husbands so I had no help and wasn’t expecting the dag-on belt to come off. Thank you for posting this!!