Thanks for the video! My LA-145 quit yesterday in the middle of mowing. I smelled burnt rubber and figured the drive belt was at fault. I got the belt today and did the replacement as you showed, it went very well. My biggest problem was getting the mower deck back in place, but after some strong-arm tactics, all is well and I finished my mowing!

Thank you You were the only one that showed the stud in back on the drive belt

You saved my life. My transmission drive belt had jumped the track. Nothing in the Manual about it. What they call the drive belt is really the mower deck belt. All I needed to do was remove that "stud" from next to the back pulley. Didn't even need to jack it up or remove anything else.

Great video! The "little piece of metal sticking out that aligns with a groove" is a design method referred to as "keyed". You are correct... too many KZfaq videos are guys saying a lot about nothing without solving anyone's issue.

OMG THANKYOU! There are so many people with videos on how to replace the drive belt, but they all seem to cover the obvious stuff. I would have never guessed that the little stud in the back unscrewed. I would preparing to take the fiberglass body off the mover and access the stud from the top. Same with the steering linkage. This is an easy job once you know all the little tricks, and your's is the only video that seems to cover it all. The toughest part of the entire job is really getting the various nuts loose. This takes a braker bar and in some cases a helper to hold things from moving, but hopefully the next time I have to replace the belt the grease I added to each nut will make it easier. By the way, I have a John Deere D130, but your hints still worked for me! Thank you so much for your video!

Thank you!!! Bought a used John Deere la145 and it needed a little work including changing the belts, your video was an excellent guide for changing the drive belt. ❤

Great video! I did this repair over the weekend, only thing I did differently was to use an impact wrench to get the big bolt out of the PTO clutch. Worked perfectly. Thanks for the detailed steps and advice!

Thank you for taking the time to video this! Very helpful!!!

Thanks for posting, this is going to be a big help as I'm going to change the drive belt along with the steering assembly. 8 years on an $1800 LA145 mowing 2+ acres, there's almost always something to fix on this thing. Thanks again!

Great video. Short and to the point. This is a belt that is often forgotten as it is not visible as the deck belt. While i was checking a wiring problem, I found the belt and mine is shot. Thanks.

Excellent video & was very helpful on my L140 mower. The hard part for me was removing & replacing the guide pin at the transmission pulley. Also the old belt removed had like caterpillar tread on the inside of belt & I though the parts guy may have given the wrong belt, however every thing worked out good. Thanks

Good video... except for one step which is unnecessary. You didn't need to remove the PTO (Power Take Off) sheave (pulley) and clutch assembly. I just did this job last night (before finding this video!), and all you need to do is disconnect the electrical connector to the clutch, remove the plate with the belt retaining tabs (two 15mm bolts) and remove the little metal arm that maintains the clutch in position (the one at the end of your video). Once the belt is off of the transmission sheave and the idler pulleys, it can slip over the PTO sheave. Otherwise, everything else you showed is exactly right.

MAN, what a great video! I am in the midst of starting this on a 135 and have it jacked up and ready to go. I was ready to remove a WHOLE lot of unnecessary stuff. Thank you very much Mine may be a little easier yet because of a manual PTO so its just a cable and may provide better access to put the belt on

My LA 135 is starting to act up and was wondering what's involved. Thanks for the soldier work.

This video was a tremendous help thank you!

Thanks a lot for this video it helped me a lot I had my belt changed in no time.

Fixing to start this job. Great video.

Hi Al, great explanation and thanks for doing this video.One easier way to hold the engine in place (without removing the fan grill and using a breaker bar) is to simply remove one sparkplug and stuff about 3 feet of 1/4 inch line into the cylinder space. I find this is sufficient to stop the engine from turning.

Great video thanks for the straight forward info.

Thank you so much ..finally a good video. Your correct so many wrong videos ...this one is correct and helpful.

Thanks a lot for the video...Your the Man.

Good stuff!! I've got every thing ready go...soooo your Vedio has really help! Thanks

Thank you so much! Very helpful!.

thank you for the video I was not having any luck looking for instructions also the slot on the clutch shaft is called a keyway

I just did mine today. Took me about 1:20. I probably spent 25 mins cleaning all the (15 years of grass build up) out of the frame, steering plate etc. Hardest part was the guide rod (stud) in the back and initially removing the clutch. My parking brake doesn't work so I strapped the pedal forward.

Great video - very helpful

All this to replace a belt! Thanks alot john deere!

So, this is pretty good, but it appears that my La145 is different in that the belt guard towards the front isn’t a bolt-on guard, but integrated with the frame. I had to take out four bolts around the front pulley and “jack up” the engine about 3 inches on the backside in order to get the belt off the front spindle. Huge pain, but the rest of the instructions were great. Thanks!

May God bless you for sharing this. I watched another video from Daryl (very good ) but it was an older or different model than the one here. I had only watched part of this one, but the part about pulling the steering wheel shaft was very, very helpful. We did drop the pulleys off the engine, since I did not watch all of this. Getting the back belt guard/stud out was a real pain, I need to get a longer wrench or get a wrench head for a ratchet to get that thing out. But thank you, and thank God for helping us to get this done. I noticed one person commented on getting the pulleys off, and we had issues with that too. Tried using a pry bar and wouldn't budge them. Thank God again, I simply grabbed the pulley with my hand, putting pressure on both sides, and it came right off!

AWESOME video; THANKS

Thank you SO much!

I have the same tractor didn't take off hardly anything for the main belt replacement. I lowered the deck slip belt over trans fan pulley first. The engine pulley had 2 guide pins with a bolts for adjustment. Just loosen the pins with bolts & replace the belt.

Thanks for the help. :-)

Thank you good info

Correct wrench size is 15 mm. the top of the pin has a hex fitting-5mm i think

very nice, thank you

hey man here's a tip take the hood off lift it using a chain hoist or come a long to lift the mower take the deck loose in the front it's so much easyer than having to lay on the ground that's how I do it but take the hood off they are very brittle and will cracked hope you like this tip u can do it how u like just trying to be helpful cheers

Good video and thank you. Amazingly clean machine....any secrets there? I have saved your video and will re-visit you should I need more instructional. Thanks again.

How long is the drive belt? Anybody have a part #? Is it the same belt as the mow deck?

Two thumbs way up

Video saved my ass

Who doesn't have an air compressor? Go to Harbor Freight, get a half inch air impact wrench, the $20 one will be good enough. No more barked knuckles. You can get a set of impact sockets if you wish, they will take the pounding better but a standard socket will work for all but the most demanding bolts. My 3/8 inch one got the 15 mm nuts off the small pulleys. It might not work on the crankshaft one though. However I have 1/2 inch one and an one inch for those very stubborn bolts, I even have an electric 1/2 one. People without an air compressor can use one of those.

So what pulley did you not have to take off? I see nothing different on yours than others I have watched.

Almetcalf, Awesome video and it has really helped me with the installation of my new drive belt, but I'm having an issue, and wondering if you could give me tips? I installed my new drive belt starting at the rear of my mower. From there I fed it all the way up to the front pulley, but it was REALLY tight! I had to use a ratchet-strap to install the front pulley on to mower shaft because the new belt was about 1/4 inch short. I'm assuming this is because it is a new belt? So, I have the drive belt on the back/transmission pulley, and I have it on the front/engine pulley, but like I said, it is REALLY tight. I have my brake pedal engaged, but I'm having a hard time with the two plastic, idler pulleys. There is hardly any slack to feed driver belt through. Is this because the new driver belt is new, or am I doing something wrong? Thanks for ANY help... Frado

What is the belt size for drive

What size belt is it?

5:55 "knuckle buster" defined for the average Joe ..

The idler pulleys are stuck on my la110. Any advice on how to get those off? They are plastic so I'm afraid of damaging them.

Buddy...buy an impact. Even a 18v one :)

An i thought cub cadet was a pita . I just searched this to see if most mowers were about the same . Its ridiculous how hard it is to replace the drive belts on most of these mowers . jmho ....

Drive belt on 175 John Deere transmission belt Kawasaki 420

My LA145 does not have the removable belt guide plate on the front pulley. It is one solid sheet of steel. Not sure how to reinstall the belt with the belt guides in place.

All you had to do was pull the tensioner pulley, leave the stator attached and trany attached,, just the guard bolt at the trany pulley and the guard plate..oh and the steering shaft. no need to remove that stator at all.