wbeatty

Hello all, I'm in a quandary. I have a GT3100 that has had two Vacuum Actuators fail. I'm including a couple of pics. I tore the failed unit apart to get an idea of what happened. The bottom brace on the bellows is bent like a V as if too much vacuum was applied.
After the first one failed, I pulled the deck apart (its about 9 years old and is well used)
The PTO pulley and shaft spin freely when disconnected, a couple of spindles had to much play so I decided to give it some loven and gave her a new set of spindles. I replaced the idler pulley assembly on the deck as well. Put the belt on and I can turn the shaft with one hand. I put the deck on the tractor and the new vacuum actuator as well. fired it up and engaged the PTO... 30 seconds and the new vacuum actuator failed the same way as the old.
Any Ideas?

side note, on this model the actuator and the solenoid are separate assemblies.

Attached Images

  

wbeatty

OK found it. the spindle spacers/caps were riding on the body of the spindle, creating drag that fed back to the PTO pulley where the vacuum was enough to cause the Vacuum Actuators to fail.