A mower deck belt tensioning arm having a sheet metal body with an idler pulley rotatably mounted to a first end of the body. A spring is connected to a second end of the body biasing the idler pulley against a belt on a mower deck rotating a plurality of blade pulleys. An integrally formed in bushing is between the first end and the second end of the body, the bushing having a straight section length greater than the thickness of the sheet metal body and pivotably mounted around a spindle secured to the mower deck.