Mower Belt Reliability

[rreyn1812]

Just wondering what others are experiencing with failures on their mower deck belts.

I have a JD Ztrak 830 with 54" deck and am on my 3rd belt. I have had to replace the belt every 70 hours. JD did come out with a new design and that was the last one I put on, so early next year I will find out pretty quick if it will be holding up any better since I now have right at 210 hours on the mower.

It just seems to me that 70 hrs per belt is a little low. Thanks for any input you might have! :)

[laman]

I have a 2007 exmark lazer hp 420 hours and no problems with hydro or blade belt yet..

[topsites]

I have the same problem on both my 60" Everride Ztr and my later model 48" Wb 1-piece deck belts,
it seems those ultra-long 100+" belts don't last that long, not sure why other than it has to be the length,
the belt itself seems to be made of a good material...

Just like yourself by the time I passed 200 hours, I was on my 3rd belt.

[ranger350]

I dont think the length of a belt has anything to do with the overall lifetime of it. What really kills belts is heat and having alot of twists and turns

[FIXDISS]

Are you engaging the pto at full throttle ? Some manufacturers say 1/2 throttle .Some say full throttle. I think it has to do with belt slap . There has to be an awful lot of torque on a single belt when the engine is turning 3600 and you engage the electric pto and try to get 3 blades up to speed in a matter of 1 or 2 seconds. You would think it would be best to engage pto at a speed just above idle then increase rpm but Who am I to say ?It's just my half-fast opinion......

[ricky86]

I have some Z-Masters out that have 700 hours on a belt. Average is 500. Something is definitely wrong with yours. And in response to the above, there is much more slap when the PTO is engaged at lower speeds.

[FIXDISS]

Ok. You are probably right about the belt slap but don't you agree the start-up torque on the belt is increased when engaging at higher rpm ? As far as the frequent belt failure I was wondering if the edges of the broken belts were showing signs of "fraying" or if the inner "v" portion was cracking or getting a glossy/shiny edge ?

[rreyn1812]

I have engaged once or twice at full throttle, but I normally engage the PTO at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle which is what is specified in the manual. Hopefully, the new design of the belt will fix the problem. Any good mechanical engineer should be able to design a belt that would take even the stress of engagement at full throttle. I know there is a trade-off of cost versus design strength, but it's nice to know that some of you guys are getting some good reliability out of your belts.

I've got a Craftsman 26HP (backup) that's got over 260 hrs on it with the original belt, but my first single cylinder craftsman's first belt didn't last out the first season.

[topsites]

On a manual engage I have some choice as to how fast I push that handle
into the belt, but on my PTO-driven Z the only time I could get away with that
was when it was brand new... I try that nowadays and it just cuts off on me...

I dont think the length of a belt has anything to do with the overall lifetime of it. What really kills belts is heat and having alot of twists and turns

Fair enough, on my 48" I also noticed the pulley brake system would lightly rub against the belt,
removing that POS mechanism seems to have helped.

Makes me wonder if the Z has some POS mechanism that get a little too close to it, too.

[DiyDave]

My Dixie Chopper used to eat up belts, right and left, dealer told me to engage it at over 2500 engine rpm, and that has worked pretty good, I normally get about 100+ hours out of a deck drive belt, now. Another thing I found out is that the belts my dealer has are basically crap, they might be old, I don't know. The best ones, for the money, I get from surpluscenter.com, they cost 1/4 the price of the dealer's belts(+shipping). I think the answer is that they sell more belts, maybe their stock is newer. Just my $.02:waving:

[rreyn1812]

I have a JD Ztrak 830 with 54" deck and am on my 3rd belt. I have had to replace the belt every 70 hours. JD did come out with a new design and that was the last one I put on, so early next year I will find out pretty quick if it will be holding up any better since I now have right at 210 hours on the mower.

:):):) Well, just an update. Now the mower has almost 500 hrs on the clock and I haven't had to replace the belt since 210 hrs. Checked the condition and it still looks fine. Still carry an extra just in case, but am happy with the redesigned belt.