how do I fit the tensioner spring on a mountfield sp470?

How do you fit belt tension spring to mountfield sp470 lawnmower?
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The spring clips onto the gearbox, which is found over the end of the belt pulley inside the plastic rear baffle. The gear box is sits on the wheel drive shaft and is not fixed to the mower frame, so it has some twinting movement. The spring clips to the gearbox and to the rear plastic frame and pulls the gearbox in the opposite direction to the belt. This small amount of tension is sufficient to allow the belt to engage and drive the wheels. If you wheels will not turn it could be this spring has broken or stretched but it could also be that the clutch cable (linked to the black handle) has stretched or your belt has broken or stretched. If you are sure it is this spring that needs replacing then it is tricky to access and you need to at least turn the mower upside down to access. Drain petrol and oil first and disconnect the spark plug lead also. If you cannot find the attachement point then you may have to remove the gearbox, or if you need to remove the gearbox, this is done by removing the wheels, then the drive cogs. Be careful as there are small pins and drive bits inside the cogs. The gearbox removeal is a relatively tricky job and may be better lest to the experts or an experoenced home mechanic.

flexwing
July 2016