Thank you very much for posting this video. My 1 year old TimeMaster produced some smoke while cutting overgrown grass - and then the blade stopped rotating. When I called one of the local Toro dealer, I was told there is a 2 and half week wait and belts are not covered under the 3 year warranty. So I started looking for a way to fix it myself, found your video, and all it needed was tension adjustment. You saved me a lot of time and grief.
Thanks for this video. The blades on my mower would not engage and I used your video to fix the mower in about 15 minutes. Many thanks for saving me a service call.
I’m going to have to do this to mineI just bought it last week and already have used it 3 times. I consider it a normal break in for cables to loosen up after the first few uses. Once you make the adjustment a time or two, you should hopefully not had to do it again for a while. These are excellent mowers. .. Same thing happened with my Honda HRR216. I needed to adjust the drive cable for the transmission not long after I bought it.
this is awesome, i just got my first timemaster and the screeching noise was driving me nuts. my wife was like what kinda cheap thing did you buy lol .
Thanks so much for the video fix. Exactly the problem I had, just two weeks longer to happen than yours. Wouldn’t handle barely tall grass and blades would stop. So I did what you said and presto back to good. Thanks so much, I’ve got many lawns to go.
Thx, good video. My 2016 TimeMaster eats those upper blade pulley v-belts and I'm always looking for the cause. Idler pulley doesn't seem sloppy but that 'brake arm assembly' (as shown in Toro parts diagram) jumps around a lot. Could be cheap belts too, but your video was useful.
Thank you so much for this video. It save me a lot of time and money. All I had to do was loosen up that bolt pull the cable snug and retighten it and now the blade turns without lag. Thanks again. Great videos by the way I am learning a lot from them
Thank you very much! I recently bought a Toro and every time when I use the blade a weird noise comes out from there, after this video and after adjusting the tensioner pulley no more noise
People don't realize that they are spinning two heavy blades and all of the pulleys and the timing belt each time they pull that bail handle. It takes a few seconds for everything to get up to speed from a dead stop. I've always engaged that bail handle fairly slowly versus slamming it into "gear" as demonstrated here, and have had ZERO issues with belt squeal and still have the original belt on the machine for the past six mowing seasons.
My mower blade stopped suddenly so I doubted it was the cable adjustment but hoped it was. I put a mark on the cable with a sharpie before adjusting it. Still did not work then I noticed that the smooth belt was off the motor pulley. Took off the keeper on the large left pulley and was able to get it back on. Nice that they use all 3/8 “ bolts. Sharpie mark let me put cable back like it was now it cuts fine. Hope this is not a repeating problem
I bought mine yesterday from the depot the the pace systems as extremely loose barely going up hills Btw I perform all your mods today favorite one has to be reclocking the pull rope pure Genius
On the left side of handle there is a knob. Use that to loosen the cable then pull it slightly tighter and turn knob to tighten in place. The knob is a clamp for the the transmission adjustment. I should do a video on that.
I found the fix if you bought a new timemaster and it squeals. It's so simple. I think I can see it in this video. Once you take off the pulley cover, there is a cable running near the engine that is not installed correctly. Unscrew the metal piece and slide it toward the skinny part of the cable(to the right) then bring it back with the cable in the loop. Once tighten I turned on my mower and not only no squeak, there was a powerful roar. Hope this helps. It the only cable running through the front I believe.
are u saying cable should go through hole on adjuster. also when i tigthen cable it moves brake away from pulley what is proper way just brought first use thinking about returning also it appears pulley is movibg side to side when blade engages. thanks '
Is there a way to keep the blade brake arm from vibrating like crazy when the blades are engaged? I break a blade drive belt (V-belt) every year and all that vibration is probably contributing to this.
Not sure. I think the belts break because of the tension from the volume and thickness of the grass. The wet grass causes more friction and stress most likely causing the belts to break.
i just had the SAME thing happen. I wanted the blades to engage more quickly as I pulled the bar back. clearly went too far with it and had too much tension. 1.5 mows later, bam, belt starts smoking, fraying and comes apart. now i know :/
These damn cables break all the time. The sqeaking is fine. The issue is if the cable isnt tensioned enough the belt will slip and the blades wont spin at the right speed. Also if yoy engage it fast like youre doing its much more likely to break the cable
it makes that noise because you engage the blade too quickly. if you slam the blade engager too hard it will eventually rip up that belt or break the cable. you must give the blades and belt time to engage properly. we use these mower at my job for about 5 hours a day 6 days a week with about 400 houses. if you take care of them properly and treat them good they last a long time.
is the belt and pto pully supposed to get really hot? my idler and Pullys seem to spin free with no noises or grinding but belt and pully that runs blades gets very hot. also, idler pully jumps around a lot when engaged. Thanks for any help
I swear to god. My neighbor has this mower and it squeals so bad when he engages the blades. I told him it didnt sound right but he told me it had done that noise since new. Next time I hear that mower I'm going outside and fixing it for him.
Check to make sure the blades turn maybe you froze up from a bad bearing the motor can’t turn a seized bearing replace bearing and should be good as new
Thank you very much for posting this video. My 1 year old TimeMaster produced some smoke while cutting overgrown grass - and then the blade stopped rotating. When I called one of the local Toro dealer, I was told there is a 2 and half week wait and belts are not covered under the 3 year warranty. So I started looking for a way to fix it myself, found your video, and all it needed was tension adjustment. You saved me a lot of time and grief.
Thank you friend. I have a mountain of mowing here in my place in Tasmania . You put me back to work as I had same problem - Steve in Tassie
Glad I could help
I have the same mower and it was bogging down with any cutting. After adjusting the tensioner it works great! Thanks for your video.
THANK YOU! I was scratching my head, trying to adjust the bolt in the front near the belt. APPRECIATED!
Thanks for this video. The blades on my mower would not engage and I used your video to fix the mower in about 15 minutes. Many thanks for saving me a service call.
I tried the same and then saw this video. Beats 115/hr service.
I’m going to have to do this to mineI just bought it last week and already have used it 3 times. I consider it a normal break in for cables to loosen up after the first few uses. Once you make the adjustment a time or two, you should hopefully not had to do it again for a while. These are excellent mowers. .. Same thing happened with my Honda HRR216. I needed to adjust the drive cable for the transmission not long after I bought it.
this is awesome, i just got my first timemaster and the screeching noise was driving me nuts. my wife was like what kinda cheap thing did you buy lol .
Thanks so much for the video fix. Exactly the problem I had, just two weeks longer to happen than yours. Wouldn’t handle barely tall grass and blades would stop. So I did what you said and presto back to good.
Thanks so much, I’ve got many lawns to go.
Cool!
I had the exact same problem. Kind of dissapointing, but easy enough to adjust. thanks for the tip !!
Great video. Right to the point. I need to change the timing belt. Needed to see the belt pattern. Thank you.
Thx, good video. My 2016 TimeMaster eats those upper blade pulley v-belts and I'm always looking for the cause. Idler pulley doesn't seem sloppy but that 'brake arm assembly' (as shown in Toro parts diagram) jumps around a lot. Could be cheap belts too, but your video was useful.
Thank you so much for this video. It save me a lot of time and money. All I had to do was loosen up that bolt pull the cable snug and retighten it and now the blade turns without lag. Thanks again. Great videos by the way I am learning a lot from them
Thank you very much! I recently bought a Toro and every time when I use the blade a weird noise comes out from there, after this video and after adjusting the tensioner pulley no more noise
Thanks So much for posting this Video. It has really helped! Thanks Tina
Thank you very much for posting this video. Very helpful.
People don't realize that they are spinning two heavy blades and all of the pulleys and the timing belt each time they pull that bail handle. It takes a few seconds for everything to get up to speed from a dead stop. I've always engaged that bail handle fairly slowly versus slamming it into "gear" as demonstrated here, and have had ZERO issues with belt squeal and still have the original belt on the machine for the past six mowing seasons.
Thanks for the video. Fixed my issue!!!
Great vid. My time master squealed from day one.
Thanks
Thank you tons, I had the same problem. Blessings to you
My mower blade stopped suddenly so I doubted it was the cable adjustment but hoped it was. I put a mark on the cable with a sharpie before adjusting it. Still did not work then I noticed that the smooth belt was off the motor pulley. Took off the keeper on the large left pulley and was able to get it back on. Nice that they use all 3/8 “ bolts. Sharpie mark let me put cable back like it was now it cuts fine. Hope this is not a repeating problem
Haven't had that problem, but a great tip.
Thanks for the video. Problem solved in a few minutes. No kudos to Toro for this assembly flaw.
Thank you very much!!! Happened to me after 6 mows!
I bought mine yesterday from the depot the the pace systems as extremely loose barely going up hills
Btw I perform all your mods today favorite one has to be reclocking the pull rope pure Genius
On the left side of handle there is a knob. Use that to loosen the cable then pull it slightly tighter and turn knob to tighten in place. The knob is a clamp for the the transmission adjustment. I should do a video on that.
Cheaper Than Dirt Videos
Yes sir that’s exactly what I had to do
I found the fix if you bought a new timemaster and it squeals. It's so simple. I think I can see it in this video. Once you take off the pulley cover, there is a cable running near the engine that is not installed correctly. Unscrew the metal piece and slide it toward the skinny part of the cable(to the right) then bring it back with the cable in the loop. Once tighten I turned on my mower and not only no squeak, there was a powerful roar. Hope this helps. It the only cable running through the front I believe.
are u saying cable should go through hole on adjuster. also when i tigthen cable it moves brake away from pulley what is proper way just brought first use thinking about returning also it appears pulley is movibg side to side when blade engages. thanks
'
Is there a way to keep the blade brake arm from vibrating like crazy when the blades are engaged? I break a blade drive belt (V-belt) every year and all that vibration is probably contributing to this.
Not sure. I think the belts break because of the tension from the volume and thickness of the grass. The wet grass causes more friction and stress most likely causing the belts to break.
thank you for the video. my mower had the same issue
Love your vids brother keep up the good work helping up out
I did this two mows ago and this time the belt broke so I suppose you can get it too tight
i just had the SAME thing happen. I wanted the blades to engage more quickly as I pulled the bar back. clearly went too far with it and had too much tension. 1.5 mows later, bam, belt starts smoking, fraying and comes apart. now i know :/
These damn cables break all the time. The sqeaking is fine. The issue is if the cable isnt tensioned enough the belt will slip and the blades wont spin at the right speed. Also if yoy engage it fast like youre doing its much more likely to break the cable
Water seems to seep down the cable and sit there until the cable rusts and breaks. The breaks are always rusty.
Perfect, thank you for the help.
Thanks mate appreciated i hot the same problem
Beautiful big mower with problems
it makes that noise because you engage the blade too quickly. if you slam the blade engager too hard it will eventually rip up that belt or break the cable. you must give the blades and belt time to engage properly. we use these mower at my job for about 5 hours a day 6 days a week with about 400 houses. if you take care of them properly and treat them good they last a long time.
Agree
is the belt and pto pully supposed to get really hot? my idler and Pullys seem to spin free with no noises or grinding but belt and pully that runs blades gets very hot. also, idler pully jumps around a lot when engaged. Thanks for any help
is there a adj too make the drive sytem tighter so it grabs harder
This video saved me today
Grate. Thanks for the help. I just got this same mower for $200 on Facebook and when I engage the blades it turns off. Do you think this will help it?
maybe try slowly engaging the blades, if you do it too fast that will cause it to stall
My 30 inch. Just started sputtering its basically brand new, a month and a half old. Do you think it could be the fuel filter?
Could have water in the fuel. Not sure.
Mine did the same thing after 3 hrs. I just replaced for a new one
I swear to god. My neighbor has this mower and it squeals so bad when he engages the blades. I told him it didnt sound right but he told me it had done that noise since new. Next time I hear that mower I'm going outside and fixing it for him.
i bet you have went through a buntch of blade belts. Toro gives specific instructions to slowly engage the blades. gives the belt time to catch up
That mower is 3 days old? I have same one and is 7 years old and looks newer than that. You could have at least hosed it off before doing the video.
I use this mower every day. I filmed it when I made the fix. Just keeping it real.
Thanks man u just saved some money!
That cable should be in the loop for it to work properly on its own.
Thank you
Thank you!
Thanks.
Your very helpful, thanks,. 👍
what would cause the mower to shut off when the blades are engaged?
Not sure, might be blockage under the deck such as grass clumps or possibly string wrapped around pulley.
Check to make sure the blades turn maybe you froze up from a bad bearing the motor can’t turn a seized bearing replace bearing and should be good as new
That's what your mower looks like after 3 days of mowing? What are you guys mowing up there... spinach farms?
Rains all the time. Our soil here is clay, so it gets messy.
Thank you soooo muchhh
Helpful. Thanks.
Nice video.
The belt on mine is too tight and is constantly engaging the blades. Anyone have a fix?
Loosen the cable !!
I've posted a video on adjusting the blade engagement cable. Check it out.
Great Video!!
And he's standing there with a curved shaft weed eater.🤔
Thanks for the info. If you really want to improve your mower, check out my vid on the Timemaster.