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Any V belt experts on line?

M

moonlight machine

Diamond
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Location
marysville ohio
I have had 3 belts break on on my mower. It is the belt between the electric clutch on the engine and the mower deck. The first one from Rural King, a local farm store lasted about 10 hours, the next one also from Rural King, Jason Industrial brand, Finest china quality lasted about 4 hours. Next I tried a Gates brand from Motion Industries, good for about 4 hours. This belt normally lasts for years, WTF? It is a 5/8" wide x 161" long so at about 50.00 each it is not a cheap date. The belt looks in perfect condition except where it is snapped in two, no damage to the belt from the pullies. The belt bends back about 90 degrees from straight around 2 idler pullies. Is there special belts for this?
 
How long did the original belt last? I had similar luck on a deere, went back to deere's belt and it hasn't broke yet. A 161" B belt for $50 seems stupid cheap. I think my 60? inch deere was $65 or so.
 
I am no belt expert. It must have some type tension pulley and maybe an idler pulley or two. Make sure all are in good condition and function properly. If the tension pulley swing arm locks up momentarily it can snap a belt as well as any other free wheeling pulley.
 
That is 100% weird, I have never broken a mower belt and I have been using riding mowers for decades. V-belts are supposed to ride on the sides and not bottom out. Could it be possible the OEM belt was a little wider or of better quality? You would think a bad pulley or tensioner would cause slipping or the belt to jump off and not snap them.
 
Belts with tight curves usually have back notches to allow a tighter bend radius, that’s all I got!
Mark
 
Fell in to the same trap years ago - used ''ordinary'' belts (gates etc etc) and they fell apart after a few hours and I had myself a warranty job (big loser :eek: ) I got genuine OEMs (which I was told were special) and they lasted eons.
 
Make sure it is the belt causing the problem.

Story time: Last fall the lawn mower (John Deere 318 with 42" 3 blade deck) at the cabin started squeeling and not cutting. Looked at the big belt connecting the front pulley to the deck. It was really ratty looking. So brought the mower home. It sat until this spring. Spent $40 and put new OEM belt on. Realized only the middle blade will turn. Took off deck and there is an intermediate belt. Spring on the tensioner for that belt was broken and that belt was melted. Figured it was the tensioner spring failure that destroyed that belt. Replaced tensioner spring and intermediate belt. Test mowed for 15 minutes. Perfect. Took it to the cabin. Mowed perfectly for 15 minutes and then started smoking.

Take it all apart in the middle of the unmowed grass and mosquitos. One of the spindles was seized. Probably took out two two belts and a tensioner. But in the midst of all that had some periods were it was working.

(will omit details from this morning of pressing apart the seized spindle and two good ones. Just will say seized spindle came out. "Good" ones blew the end off the bearing housing. $350 for two new assemblies instead of $12 of bearings.)

I'd look at what the belts are turning.
 
Had a customer who did custom car work for some pretty high end clients decades ago, he would use nothing but Goodyear belts. Who knows if the quality is the same today.
 
There is a difference between "Mower belts" and industrial Vee belts.

I don't know why, but there is. and Mower belts Last alot longer in mower applications.

I went through the exact issue with my old 54" cut Mighty Vac (now Scagg) walk behind.
 
kb0thn said:
Make sure it is the belt causing the problem.

Story time: Last fall the lawn mower (John Deere 318 with 42" 3 blade deck) at the cabin started squeeling and not cutting. Looked at the big belt connecting the front pulley to the deck. It was really ratty looking. So brought the mower home. It sat until this spring. Spent $40 and put new OEM belt on. Realized only the middle blade will turn. Took off deck and there is an intermediate belt. Spring on the tensioner for that belt was broken and that belt was melted. Figured it was the tensioner spring failure that destroyed that belt. Replaced tensioner spring and intermediate belt. Test mowed for 15 minutes. Perfect. Took it to the cabin. Mowed perfectly for 15 minutes and then started smoking.

Take it all apart in the middle of the unmowed grass and mosquitos. One of the spindles was seized. Probably took out two two belts and a tensioner. But in the midst of all that had some periods were it was working.

(will omit details from this morning of pressing apart the seized spindle and two good ones. Just will say seized spindle came out. "Good" ones blew the end off the bearing housing. $350 for two new assemblies instead of $12 of bearings.)

I'd look at what the belts are turning.
Click to expand...

I got tired of replacing the 6203 bearings twice a year and the housings were shot anyway, made new ones using 6205 bearings. they are so free that you can spin the blades with a blow gun when the belt is off. The tensioner has a new spring and all the idlers have new bearings. I changed the belt when I did all the work because the original was all burned up from the blade bearings seizing up all the time before the bearing up grade. At least it never broke.
 
moonlight machine said:
Yeah I'll be ringing up the big green rape store for a belt this morning.
Click to expand...

check your bearings....... the shaft bearings in the newer style john deeres are garbage. it has a grease fitting on the high end ones, but doesn't help when the bearings have dual shields.
but that being said, bad bearings make the belt jump and put a snapping tension on them when started causing them to break. also belt alignment and good tension is key to long life.
 
Just a thought here. On two occasions I have put belts on mowers and gotten the belt on the wrong side of the "stubs" that run close to the pulley to keep the belt from jumping off. They work, but sure don't last long. Not once folks but twice. Brilliant.
 
I don't have an answer, but if they are failing that quickly, it's more than just the belt brand. I've used lots of belts in a similar application (my Cub Cadet and Land Pride mowers) and the big difference between brands was the cheaper ones would tend to slip even when properly tensioned. Assuming you are using Kevlar belts....you problem lies elsewhere.

By 'break' do you mean shred apart or snap in a clean break or? The way it failed can give clues as to why it failed.
 
I had some rust on a pulley that destroyed belts in short order. Cleaned up the rust and belts last. Probably unlikely under the tractor, but worth feeling around.
 
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