Fan belt came off on MX5400

Edwardo

New member
Oct 9, 2021
9
7
3
Auburn, AL
I was doing some brush clearing with my grapple and the battery indicator light came on. I stopped and everything looked ok with the battery and proceeded to head back to the house. About a minute or two later the engine heat light came on. I noticed that the fan belt was off. I shut it down and walked back to the house for lunch. An hour later I was able to get the belt back on but it was frayed with a string wrapped around the fan shaft. My question is how hard is it to replace a fan belt and did i likely do an damage to the engine?
 

PoTreeBoy

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Equipment
L35 Ford 3930
Mar 24, 2020
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WestTn/NoMs
I was doing some brush clearing with my grapple and the battery indicator light came on. I stopped and everything looked ok with the battery and proceeded to head back to the house. About a minute or two later the engine heat light came on. I noticed that the fan belt was off. I shut it down and walked back to the house for lunch. An hour later I was able to get the belt back on but it was frayed with a string wrapped around the fan shaft. My question is how hard is it to replace a fan belt and did i likely do an damage to the engine?
I doubt you did any damage to the engine due to overheating. And replacing the belt on that tractor shouldn't be very hard. Just take the tension off and work the belt around the fan blades. You may need to loosen the fan shroud, but probably not.

However, something made the belt come off. You said you had been grappling. Grappling is notorious for letting branches do damage to front grills etc. And branches have been known to stick up and even dislodge the radiator. So you need to check carefully that nothing is bent to make the belt alignment off or is rubbing the belt.
 
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Edwardo

New member
Oct 9, 2021
9
7
3
Auburn, AL
I got a new belt and didn’t have much trouble getting the old one off and new one on except that the old one was loose, had turned sideways, and several of the threads had frayed and wrapped around the fan shaft; they were much trouble getting them all out.
 
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