MMM Deck Belt

[dodge man]

I need a new belt for the 60" mmm on my BX2350. The tractor has 170 hours on it, but only about half of that would be mowing. I was mowing tonight and thought I could smell a slight odor. The deck shook a little bit, so I stopped mowing and took the covers off. Several 1-3" chunks of the belt were missing and a single stringy piece was coming off the middle of the belt. It almost looks like two belts molded together. Half of it seemed O.K. so I pulled off any loose pieces and finished mowing. It seemed O.K. but I kept the RPM's down a little. I was able to pull the belt and spin the blades easiely, so I don't think anything is wrong with the spindles or gear box. I pulled the deck and checked the gear box grease and it was fine.

I'm just guessing it was a defective belt but does anybody have any other ideas?

 

[RBrown]

I've ran with the same belt on my 72" mmm on my 2710 for over 10 years now. I mow 4 acres ever since I got the tractor. The only problem I ever ran into was similar to what you describe. I noticed a burnt rubber smell while mowing, shut down, and found that the tensioner pully was out of alignment and causing the belt to ride up. So far up that it came into contact with the two snap on covers. Every fall when I put my deck up for the year I remove tension on the belt. The last time I had done this I didn't noticed that I can slightly bent the tensioner arm. Bent it back and it has been great since. Hope this helps.

 

[dodge man]

Thanks for the answer, I also took the tension off my belt this last winter. I need to check and see if I bent anything or not.

 

[dodge man]

I just picked up a new belt, $118, ouch! You can bet I will take a good luck at everything and make sure nothing is cutting the belt or bent.

 

[funkydaddy59]

My g1800 54 mmm has never had a belt replaced or any type of belt problem. My machine is at least 17 years old (I'm not sure when I bought it) but I have never even taken the belt off. Perhaps taking the belt off and reinstalling it is the problem. However my kubota is only 16 hp.

 

[dodge man]

Yeah, they recommend taking the tension off the belt over the winter, but I'm wondering if that will cause more problems than anything else. Its a nice heavy duty double belt, that looks like it should last years.

 

[sw03]

Thanks for the answer, I also took the tension off my belt this last winter. I need to check and see if I bent anything or not.

I have owned Bx22 and a 24 and never took tention off in the winter on any deck..Not problems to date.

 

[mozark]

The 60" mower on my BX2350 consumed the first belt in short order also. The belt would develop a parasitic oscillation at certain engine rpms and essentially self destructed. This has been a known issue with serpentine belts on cars. The auto industry controlled the problem by using idlers along the unsupported belt path when there was a large distance between pulleys. The problem on mine seemed to be the worst along the 40" of unsupported belt between the outside pulleys. I was able to control the problem by placing 2 idlers between the two outside pulleys.

 

[alchemysa]

Thanks for the answer, I also took the tension off my belt this last winter. I need to check and see if I bent anything or not.

Many cities have a specialist belt and hose outlet. Look in the yellow pages. I've found these to be much cheaper (for the same belt) than buying original equipment.

 

[iplumb]

I have mowed only twice with me 60"mmm under 4 hrs on the deck. Anyway went I removed the deck I could see belt dust an the deck. Is this norma l for a new belt? Thanks

 

[dodge man]

I haven't put the belt on yet, but I took another closer look at the deck and didn't see anything wrong with the pulley alignment.