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Okay, lets get started tearing this baby apart. First remove the handles and cables. The removal is pretty straight forward with just a screwdriver. You can re-attach the throttle cable later or you can control the engine speed at the throttle control near the carburetor. You will most likely have a second cable coming off the handle to the flywheel brake, a safety feature introduced onto walk behind mowers in the early 80's. Remove the cable at the handle and the brake lever next to the flywheel, you can leave the brake lever as is just flopping around ( it may create some drag on your motor ) or you can easily secure it off to the side. If you're not sure which side the lever should be positioned, just pull the starting cord. If it's difficult to pull, the brake is on, if it's easy, the brake is off, now tie the lever off with a twist tie or wire in this position.
Some of these blade hubs can get seized onto the shaft pretty bad
after many years and acres of cutting grass. Spray some kind of rust loosening compound onto the area
(WD40, RustBuster) if this doesn't work, you will have to use a pulley puller to
remove the hub. We schmoozed our local machine shop proprietor into lending out his puller
for free, we just left a deposit so he knew it would come back. Now, while your
underneath and have the WD40 handy, spray the 3 or 4 mounting bolts you will find holding the
motor to the deck. Spin the bolts out and remove your motor for the next couple of steps.
The rear end of the lawn mower deck is a very convenient spot to mount our alternator with a
couple of simple metal brackets. But you have to cut a slot in the back of the mower in order
for the belt to reach from the motor pulley to the alternator.
You need to cut the slot 6" wide by 1" to 1 ½" tall on the rear vertical side of the lawn
mower deck. You can cut this slot quite easily by using an Oxy/Acetylene cutting torch or you can use
a grinder with a cutting wheel. And if you're in a really energetic mood, you can cut it by using a
hacksaw.
We need to know exactly where the belt will come through the back off the mower deck, so we know
where to cut our slot. So, let's install our motor pulley briefly so we can line up where our belt
is going to come out the back. Place the motor pulley as far up the engine shaft as possible and
yet still give it enough room to clear all obstacles such as mounting bolts. Now, look through the
grass discharge chute. Place a straight edge on the bottom of the motor pulley and determine where the path of the drive belt will end
up coming out of the back plate. Mark this spot. Now make this spot the exact center of your 6" by
1 ½" slot. Remember your belt is only ½ " thick so you will have plenty of clearance in case
the spot you marked is not exactly centered.
Make sure to remove your motor once again before you start your cutting. Now cut your slot using the methods
described earlier. If you decide to use a hack saw, you might not be
able to cut a "slot." Instead you will have to cut an entire 6" wide piece out from top to bottom.
No problem, just bolt a strip of metal or angle iron for a crosspiece along the bottom of the mower deck,
to give it some strength again.
On the left hand side is our pivot bracket which we cut to a 7" length. On the right is the
adjustable bracket, cut it to a 9" length. The pre-cut slots on this angle iron will allow you to move the bracket front to back so you can have the belt tension adjustment you need.
On both brackets we want about 5" contacting the mower deck.
Now drill mounting holes on your mower deck 6 ½ " apart width wise and 2" to 3" inches along the
length of the bracket depending on the pattern of the slots on your angled bracket material. Drill
your holes 3/8" thick with the first set of holes ½" from the back edge of the mower deck.
We extended the slots in the right hand adjustable bracket by cutting the metal with a hacksaw so
we could have a wider range of belt adjustment. Use 5/16" bolts with lock washers, now fasten the
ends closest to the motor. Even though we selected a relatively flat mower deck, we still have
some uneven contouring to deal with. No problem, we just use spacers on the two mounting bolts
closest to the edge. Use whatever you have lying around your house, in our case thick washers
and a couple of ½ " nuts worked perfectly.
When you get there take 2 pulleys off the shelf with the same diameter as your alternator and motor
pulleys. Next place a ½" belt around them and stretch the belt out. Do this until you find a
length of belt that matches the measurement you marked down from your project at home. Don't do what
I did. I drove down to the store with my whole project in the trunk of my car, then ran back and
forth into the store exchanging belts until I found one that fit, all the while looking like a
complete dork!
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