How to tell if rear mowing deck belt needs replacement?

[Steve HEF]

Something I haven't seen mentioned is the underside of the deck. It must be kept scraped clean in order for the mower to create the proper vacuum to suck the grass upright. A dirty deck will lead to a poor cut. Just throwing it out there....

 

[LD1]

Something I haven't seen mentioned is the underside of the deck. It must be kept scraped clean in order for the mower to create the proper vacuum to suck the grass upright. A dirty deck will lead to a poor cut. Just throwing it out there....

Yep, when they break, thats when they need replaced.

What I do, If I notice a belt starts to look bad, woen, cracked, etc. I will go ahead and pick one up. But I usually wait until the old one fails completely. That way I know I am getting the absolute most life out of it.

As far as the other problems, HArd to say. As others have asked, is it the belt or do you have a bent pulley? Perhaps you could try to upload a video of it running??

But even if it has bad/nousy bearings and a bent pulley, if the belt aint slipping, you should still have a good cut, as the blades are turning asfast as they can. The only other thing I know that could cause a bad cut would be if the underside of the deck needs cleaned. If it has layers of packed grass under there, it causes the air-flow under the deck to do some weird things and not lift the grass blades up as it should.

You must have missed this in my post #7

 

[Ezzrider]

Well it turns out the problem was with the belt tensioner. I checked all the pulleys for bearing failure indicators and found none. I then tried to increase the tension on my belt by tightening the eye bolt tensioner. I moved one chain link tighter and noticed the tension wheel was not moving at all. I tapped it with a hammer and it moved (go figure) and made the belt tighter. The belt is now snug but still gives some by hand and is much tighter than before. I just got through cutting the grass and it now works great. The sound it was missing before was the vacuum sound you get when the blades are turning at full speed. I guess the belt was just not applying sufficient pressure even though I did not notice it slipping or making any noise. Thanks for everyones help.

 

[KennyV]

Take which bolt off?
I can rotate the pulleys by hand turning the belt. Did you mean to type take the belt off? I have not purchased a new belt yet.
I can push on the belt and it moves about 3" or so for slack but again I do not hear it squealing or slipping. Maybe it is a pulley bearing.

Yes I Did mean take the Belt off, You can not assess the spindle bearings properly with belt tension on the pulleys....
You should have a lot of travel in the belt spring loaded tensioner ... KennyV

 

[Ezzrider]

Yes I Did mean take the Belt off, You can not assess the spindle bearings properly with belt tension on the pulleys....
You should have a lot of travel in the belt spring loaded tensioner ... KennyV

Thanks for your suggestions. The belt spring loaded tensioner was stuck and not putting proper pressure on the belt. It is working properly now.

 

[drueke]

Thanks from me for the suggestions as well! The blades on mine were stalling out under almost any load. Looked here, found this thread, checked the belt tensioner and it was loose. The nut was stuck so I cut off the eye bolt and replaced it. Tensioned the belt and all is good. The replacement belt will probably arrive Monday or later next week. It will go on the shelf for a while.

I really appreciate all the info I get from this forum, THANKS

and Happy 4th!!

Ray.