Solution for belt breaking on 60" Scag??

[absolutelawnman]

Just wondering if anyone else has run into the problem of the belt breaking on their Scag. I have gone through two this year and one last year. Is there a solution, or just keep buying new belts. It is the large drive belt in the back.

[ed2hess]

Scag suggested to start the blades at half throttle and don't raise or lower the deck without the blades turning. On our 48" unit the belt comes all the way from the clutch to the spindle pulleys. We use about 2 per year.

[lms]

Check your idler pulleys (on the deck). My guess is that one of them is too low and needs to be shimmed. That was the problem with my 48" tc, and after much trouble shooting, i fixed the problem with a few washers and haven't had a broken belt since. Hope this helps.
-Luke

[absolutelawnman]

Forgive me for asking but will that effect the belt in the back. It is not the belts on the deck and it has a drive shaft. It is the larger belt in the back that is connected to the the drive, the blades still turn it just will not move.

[zipperclipper]

absolute-you will get better suggestions back if you give better info up front-never had a problem with my tiger breaking a belt, but it's a 99 61" 22hplc- 1100 hours...what year, what model, what motor

[South Florida Lawns]

absolute-you will get better suggestions back if you give better info up front-never had a problem with my tiger breaking a belt, but it's a 99 61" 22hplc- 1100 hours...what year, what model, what motor


I think he just wanted to know in general if you guys running scags break belts a lot.

[absolutelawnman]

That is all I was trying to find out, I did not know that the year, make, model, and color would matter unless it was older than dirt or if I wanted parts.

In general, are other people breaking the belts?

Thanks Florida

[Tech man]

There was a service bulliten on the Tiger Cubs with a 48'' deck. Ill look it up later or maybe some else has it?

[cariboulou]

Can you post some more info about the tech bulletin about the tiger cub 48" Ive broken 2 belts in only 200 hrs. Also broke the tension idler spring. the belt breaking just doesnt seem right.

[absolutelawnman]

We have yet to break the tension spring, but I believe that has a lot to do with the belt getting loose and then rubbing on metal wearing it down. It also seems to happen when going up inclines.

[scagwildcat]

check the pulley for burrs, it happened to me before, then as i was installing a new belt i noticed a burr on the pulley, it was cutting into the belt, other then that one machine ive never had a problem with scag belts, if your pulleys were not level with each other it wouldnt break it would simply fall off the pulley.. also look at the belt, it it cut? or torn?

[absolutelawnman]

Checked the pulleys, nothing, the belt was new as of a week ago, I ordered a new tension spring thinking that it might be worn and loose giving too much slack and wearing it out.

I thought I had a great dealer but more and more I am finding stuff on this site and showing him.

[ed2hess]

The local grape wine says that Scag realizes that the 48" is having a higher failure rate than they expected and they are looking at using two belts instead of the one long one. In fact I have seen some of the older units that already uses that system. On the Scag Cougar 48" they have two gear boxes connected by a drive shaft to get power from the motor to the deck. The the spindles are run by one belt from the gear box riding on the deck. Never broke a belt on that configuration period.

[rklawnmowing]

i have a scag tiger cub with a 48" deck and i just recently broke the deck belt( the really long one) and i only have 148hrs on it, i also had to replace, the drive belt before 100hrs.

[jt5019]

Check your idler pulleys (on the deck). My guess is that one of them is too low and needs to be shimmed. That was the problem with my 48" tc, and after much trouble shooting, i fixed the problem with a few washers and haven't had a broken belt since. Hope this helps.
-Luke

I had the very same problem with my tiger cub

[DJL50]

I had the very same problem with my tiger cub
Can you guys please post what year Tiger Cub you are running. I am looking at an 05 48" right now. This would make me stay away. Belts are expensive.

[cariboulou]

Mine is a 2004 48" tiger cub with a 19 hp kawi behind it. 238 hrs and Ive broken 2 belts and 1 idler pulley spring. When I mow at 3" or 3.5" the pulleys arent in line. Im going to try out shimming the pullyes to see what happens.

[viper00085]

there are bulletins out since december 05 for some models of cubs, etc and scag has update kits out there to convert from the 1 belt system to a 2 belt system with diff. idlers, etc. Def worth a trip to the dealer, even if you are out wty period scag will normally cover it for you.