Mowing Mower Belt

[Bob999]

Re: Retraction: Power-Trac belt is not too small.

I wonder about the experiences of those who have replaced the original equipment belt on the mower deck--did the replacement exhibit abnormal wear as quickly as the original?

Kaon99 reported some cracking on the 48" rough cut deck that may have been the result of the deck flexing. Has anyone else had problems consistent with flexing of the mower deck?

 

[johara1]

Re: Retraction: Power-Trac belt is not too small.

i would have not seen this if it had not been for the oversized blades pt put on the deck. when i called them about it they never heard of these blades. they where to check it out ,never called.used a grinder to cut them down. the new set is the right size.
when you check on belts,not all belts are made to bend backwards.this is why they don't last!i tried kevlar an the gravely it didn't last a season the first one was 14 years went back to the oem and thats what it has now.

 

[SnowRidge]

Mower Issues

After seeing the items in this thread, I became a tad concerned and decided to pull the covers off of our 48" deck today and take a look see.

<font color="green"> ( the big problem with the belt is running out of line. the deck is only 3/16 thick where the spindles mount,it will flex when you get into heavy grass. the blades that are on the 48"deck hit the sides in heavy grass, they where 3/8" too long.when they hit they left a mark that was 3/4" higher than the blade at rest. so i would think that indicates flex? ) </font>

I agree that the basic deck is 3/16" thick, but the spindles are mounted on six inch square 1/4" thick reinforcing plates. There is a total thickness of 7/16" in the spindle areas. In addition, the center spindle's reinforcing plate is part of a weldment that supports the hydraulic motor. The whole thing is as rigid as a country preacher on Sunday morning.

As far as heavy grass goes, that is pretty much all we mow, and the other day I used the PT with the 48" finish mower where I should have used my Branson and brush hog. There was an area of two foot high plus weeds behind my shop. Rather then fire up the Branson, I just eased through them slowly with the PT. It cut them fine with no bogging or other issues. The blades are still good as new.

If the wrong blades somehow got installed on your machine, I'll bet that they were not only too long, but too thin as well. The flexing you observed may well have been the blades themselves, not the deck.

<font color="green"> ( I opened up my deck today to clean and found that the belt was cracked all the way to the cords located on the outside of the belt. This deck only has between 10 and 15 hours on it. ) </font>

We have 11 hours on our deck. The A105 belt was in perfect condition, indistinguishable from new. BTW, it said made in Korea on it.

From what I have seen so far, I don't see anything wrong with the deck--other than those junk plastic gauge wheels, of course.

SnowRidge

 

[johara1]

Re: Mower Issues

i waited for some body to say obout the little plates. they have little to do with the flexing.the gravely uses a full size plate,size is the same size as both of the covers put together on the pt .this houses all three spindles, and is bolted around the outside. this is very stiff,the pull is from outside ,so the 6" plates have little to do other than to keep the deck from cracking around the bolt holes.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Mower Issues

So the deck could still flex even though there are reinforcing plates at each spindle, because the reinforced areas are not tied together except by the thinner plate... makes sense to me. Also makes sense that the blades might be flexing, but I would think if the blades do not hit at a stand still they would be even farther away from the deck if they flexed. If the deck flexed, they could then hit it. At least that's how I see it. Maybe the deck is flexing...

 

[SnowRidge]

Re: Mower Issues

<font color="green">( If the deck flexed, they could then hit it. At least that's how I see it. Maybe the deck is flexing... )</font>

The blades that hit were too long. The sides of the deck curve back slightly where they join the top plate. I'm assuming that is about where they hit. Johara1 said 3/4" higher than the at rest point. Perhaps they just barely cleared at rest.

Deck flex of 3/4" would be a tremendous amount. Surely it would be visible--especially if the distortion tended to take place as the load increased due to heavy grass. It would also be visible in an uneven cut, I would think.

One other possibility for all these differing anomalies, incorrect construction and/or assembly of some decks.

SnowRidge

 

[Kent]

I know this is an old thread, but my A-120 belt (printed on the original belt for the 60" finish mower on PT-425 but it is actually 122" outside circumference) just broke, so I needed a new one. Three local mower shops only sell belts for specific mowers, e.g. a toro or a snapper. For something close they had in stock (a toro 119") they wanted almost $100. Instead I found Vbelts4less - Mower Belts - V-Belts - Banded Belts - Kevlar Belts and ordered two regular and two kevlar for $75 with 2day shipping! This site also has good cross references to specific mowers if in a pinch you need to go to the local shop. The site is also provides a good education on the different belt types (including those made for "reverse bend drive") and widths (an "A" belt is one that is 1/2" wide).

By the way, changing belts is super easy...just two bolts on the hydraulic motor mounting plate and lifting the motor lets the belt slip around the drive pulley.

 

[MuncyBob]

Good info Kent....I was able to just take my belt to a local heavy equipmen dealer and they had a belt in stock. I broke my 1st belt after only 80 hours or so, culprit was debris inside the upper mower covers. Since then I run w/o the covers leaving the pulleys exposed and am still running that replacement belt at 700+ hours.

 

[MossRoad]

I removed my covers about 8 years ago as well. Too much debris gets in there with no easy way to inspect it.

 

[woodlandfarms]

I tend to pop a belt (falls off pulley) once a mowing session due to not running with covers, but the cover just caused more problems than solutions.