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mower keeps breaking belt

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SD44
Senior Member


Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 562
Location: Mississippi
mower keeps breaking belt

Guys, my riding mower has started a belt-breaking habit. At first I started having to replace the belt once a month. After a couple times of that it became every two weeks. Now it's every mow. All blades and pulleys seem to turn fine and free. The belt is scorching hot everytime it breaks. Originally, it carried an 88" belt. I went down to an 87", but still having troubles.

Any ideas?
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NMCB 28 Seabee Battalion

Post Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:15 pm 
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donwight
Senior Member


Joined: 17 Jun 2008
Posts: 100
Location: ha. md.

most problems of that nature are slippage...
is your tensioner strong enough?
look at your belt when its in the pulleys, it should not be close to the bottom, if the belt rides low in the V it will bottom out in the pulley in short order. that will start the slipping and failure of the belt.
you may have to investigate different brands to get the proper profile belt.
keep us informed.

Post Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:02 pm 
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SD44
Senior Member


Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 562
Location: Mississippi

Will do. Are mower belts sold in half-inch increments like automotive v-belts? I'm thinking about trying an 86.5" belt.

The tensioner issue you mentioned makes sense. I bought the mower brand new about 3 years ago; would the tensioner be wore out by now? My yard is about an acre.
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Post Sat Aug 22, 2009 8:18 pm 
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Arky
Member


Joined: 04 Jan 2009
Posts: 59
Location: Arkansas

Check the blade spibles, sometimes the bearing start going out and still turn easy but generate heat and this scorces and weakens the belts.

Most household i.e cheaper built mowers dont have greasable spindles.

sometimes if hired help dont grease the spindles it happens on commercial mowers too.
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John Creager
Ozark Mountains Arkansas

Post Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:36 am 
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SD44
Senior Member


Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 562
Location: Mississippi

I believe I found the problem. It turns out the deck was pretty unlevel, and I hadn't noticed it. I happened to pull the level all the way up, and as I drove across my gravel driveway the left side was 5-6 inches off the ground while the right side was almost touching and occasionally dragging the ground.

The rear bracket that helps lift the deck up and down had came loose and was dangling. I guess I hadn't noticed the deck being so low because I mow the grass very low. Anyways, I re-attached the bracket, adjusted the deck so it was the same on both sides, and I mowed the whole yard with no problems.
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Post Fri Aug 28, 2009 2:04 pm 
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Arky
Member


Joined: 04 Jan 2009
Posts: 59
Location: Arkansas

I dont know what type of yard you have, but here is something I have learned over the year for fescue yards. 1 /34 is the right hieght for fescue lawns, this provides enough cover so in low rain and freezinf periods that the roots dont die.

Plus my Bother does lawn care for a living.

Bremuda should be tall enough that it does not turn brown about 1 1/2 inchs, the brown is caused by the roots dieing off when cut to close.

In good growing seasons bermude lawns need to be mowed so you only cut 1/3 of the length of the blade off. Fescue you can get away with a little more.
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John Creager
Ozark Mountains Arkansas

Post Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:37 am 
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