hydrostatic drive belt problem

[Eric_Phillips]

I have a Ferris ProCut 32 that has hydrostatic drive. There is a belt that comes off a pulley on the engine shaft, around the pulley on the hydraulic pump and it tensioned with a spring tensioned idler pulley. My research found the belt is 5/8" x 40". It took awhile but I found one. The reason for replacing it is the old one shredded. After I replaced it the mower moved very slow and would barely make it up a slight slope. Usually when done mowing I lower the throttle on the mower and the hydraulic pump or the drive motors groan a little when moving. With this new belt and the engine running full throttle I was getting a groan. I do not hear any slipping of the belt. I measured the belt I took off and it was only 1/2". The back side of the 5/8" belt is level with the pulley flange. the springs on the idler pulley are not pulled super tight, they look similar to how the old belt was. Any ideas what might be wrong?

 

[oldnslo]

Can you physically see the all the pulleys turning while under load? Going from 1/2” to 5/8” I would question if V of the belt is making good contact with V of pulleys and just slipping from minimal surface contact.

 

[mrmikey]

I realize that V belts drive off the side but saying that, I think the belt should be deeper in the groove, I've not seen one that rides that high. Wrong profile maybe that's bottoming out?..........Mike

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Maybe you have a B belt where you should have an A belt.

 

[Eric_Phillips]

Thanks for the information. Sounds like maybe I got incorrect information and it does need a 1/2" belt. The belt is a real pain to change since it is tucked up underneath the mower.

 

[mini14]

My scag tiger cat has recently started to eat them once a month. Can change it out in 10min. Now I had a toro z master a long time ago that would go thru them every 2 months but it took a long time to change that one. Had to remove clutch brackets on it. Got rid of it