AJP
New member
- Joined
- May 7, 2013
- Messages
- 3
- Location
- Canada
- Tractor
- Kioti DK35, JD2520, JD455, and two tough old Craftsmen
I have just 70 hrs (from new) on a 2520 .. some of which was expended while plowing with a blower attached... and the mower belt self destructed. Not too eventful but was pretty tough to cut grass! Local JD dealer sold me one for $120 (+/-) Canadian. I whined about the low hours but to no avail.
The new belt had a white coloured sheathing that I don't remember on the original - certainly no trace of white when it broke. So I am thinking "AHAH!!" they had to update the old belt (note to self: must have been faulty) ... anyway with the tractor backed off the MMM it was obvious that grass had lodged itself pretty thoroughly under the belt sheaves (pulleys) so I decided to remove the drive over ramps (only 2 nuts each) in order to have clear access to the all the sheaves. Incidentally once the tractor is backed off the MMM the mystery of how the belt is "threaded" around the sheaves is solved - a very clear diagram is centre and back of the mower deck showing what goes where.... but I digress.
Working steadily for 10-15 minutes with pressurized air I pulled/blew all the grass etc out from under the sheaves .... however it was troubling to see more and more fine and not so fine gravel being blown out from under and around the various wheels etc. It became pretty clear that the excessive amount gravel being blown out of the deck simply wasnt helping extend the life of the belt! In fact I am convinced that large pieces of gravel initially upset the belt which eventually killed itself on the sharp edges of the pullies.
So now I decide my son is to blame -- obviously he drove over the gravel driveway with the deck lowered and "scooped" some gravel onto to the deck which resulted in the failure. It certainly couldn't be my fault!
At least thats what I thought until I was slowly idling across the driveway (with mower deck at the highest position) when I could not help noticing that my "TURF" tires (both front and back) were very carefully picking up gravel lodged between the tread AND, frequently, depositing the gravel on the mower deck!!!! Which of course would find itself eventually deposited by the vibrations under the sheaves! Mystery Solved!! Given the amount of gravel on the road edges etc etc ... I am going to have to make this pressurized air treatment a standard maintenance practice. or switch out the TURF Tires.
The new belt had a white coloured sheathing that I don't remember on the original - certainly no trace of white when it broke. So I am thinking "AHAH!!" they had to update the old belt (note to self: must have been faulty) ... anyway with the tractor backed off the MMM it was obvious that grass had lodged itself pretty thoroughly under the belt sheaves (pulleys) so I decided to remove the drive over ramps (only 2 nuts each) in order to have clear access to the all the sheaves. Incidentally once the tractor is backed off the MMM the mystery of how the belt is "threaded" around the sheaves is solved - a very clear diagram is centre and back of the mower deck showing what goes where.... but I digress.
Working steadily for 10-15 minutes with pressurized air I pulled/blew all the grass etc out from under the sheaves .... however it was troubling to see more and more fine and not so fine gravel being blown out from under and around the various wheels etc. It became pretty clear that the excessive amount gravel being blown out of the deck simply wasnt helping extend the life of the belt! In fact I am convinced that large pieces of gravel initially upset the belt which eventually killed itself on the sharp edges of the pullies.
So now I decide my son is to blame -- obviously he drove over the gravel driveway with the deck lowered and "scooped" some gravel onto to the deck which resulted in the failure. It certainly couldn't be my fault!
At least thats what I thought until I was slowly idling across the driveway (with mower deck at the highest position) when I could not help noticing that my "TURF" tires (both front and back) were very carefully picking up gravel lodged between the tread AND, frequently, depositing the gravel on the mower deck!!!! Which of course would find itself eventually deposited by the vibrations under the sheaves! Mystery Solved!! Given the amount of gravel on the road edges etc etc ... I am going to have to make this pressurized air treatment a standard maintenance practice. or switch out the TURF Tires.