metric mower belts Rhino XM750/ Sitrex SM 230

   / metric mower belts Rhino XM750/ Sitrex SM 230 #1  

Short Game

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Sunny SW Washington
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LS R4010 & Cub Cadet 7300
It appears the used Sitrex SM 230 mower I just got is the same as a Rhino XM750 as both call for two XPB 2800 metric drive belts. It has regular old solid "B" belts on it now and I can see these don't like the extreme back bending they have to endure, as both are seriously cracked and ready to pop.

Anyone know a good source for these XPB 2800 belts? One in the Pacific Northwest would be best for me.

Thanks.
 
   / metric mower belts Rhino XM750/ Sitrex SM 230 #2  
I can't answer your question, but I'm definitely interested in finding out as well. I picked up a super clean SM230 last Sat for $1K at a farm auction, and knowing that I can use Rhino-sourced parts is a huge plus. Funny thing is, I bought a Rhino brush hog at the same time...little did I know Rhino sells Sitrex units!
 
   / metric mower belts Rhino XM750/ Sitrex SM 230
  • Thread Starter
#3  
This one looked really pretty good too for $800 on Craigslist. When I tried to open the belt cases, both big center bolts on the outer ends broke of at their captive nuts that are welded on the underside. Also one of the small bolts toward the middle of the mower broke too. So, you may want to try soaking your bolts with penetrating oil if you have the luxury of time. I will be up against easy-outs, or worse, cutting off the captive nuts.

I found the may-pop belts cracked nearly through, somewhat shredded, and lots of rubber dust inside. I had to use almost all of the adjustment to get the belts reasonably tight, and I expect one of them will go at any second.

I did, however, get in my first mow of four or five hours. It does a nice job of making an even cut. What it doesn't do (like my worn and rusted Bush Hog ATH 720) is tolerate backing into places you can't pull it through, as it jams up with only grass going in reverse. It is much less tolerant of less than optimum conditions than my old mower, which would just force into compliance.

I really like the remote grease zerks, but obviously, this is how those bolts wind up rusted solid. Though one should open the cases often to do the belt adjusting anyway, (which probably had never been done by the farmer I bought this from). The bolts and nuts should be made of stainless, and I am thinking of changing out all the bolts that have captive nuts on the underside.

I have found that Gates has this belt for $61.73.

Let me know if there are better deals out there, as I saw some for much less on European sites.
 
   / metric mower belts Rhino XM750/ Sitrex SM 230
  • Thread Starter
#4  
I spent the whole morning working on it, beginning with pressure washing it, top and bottom, to see the extent of the rust. Some bad spots, and the underside is what one would expect for most mower decks. Being as the deck is of such heavy gauge steel, it should be some time before it gets to the stage my ATH 720 is at (rusting through in many places).

All the bearings in the many rollers and the five arbors feel really good. The belts had loosened up quite a bit in just the one mow, confirming that they are not long for this world.

I drilled the remnants of the two large bolts from the bottom after heating them to cherry red to convert the rust and break its grip. An easy-out did the job and they are ready for new bolts. I also heated the two rearmost captive nuts and got those two bolts moving and applied some anti-seize to them and the foremost pair (which weren't yet rusted). The broken bolt on the top would not answer to the easy-out. I wound up drilling it all the way out to 7/16 and re-tapped it for a 3/8 NC bolt.

I have had bad luck with trying to remove rust after serious pitting and repainting. I totally rebuilt my ATH 720 and air chiseled and wire wheeled it down to the bare metal. I painted it with anti-rust primer and paint, but the paint soon blistered where the pitting had been. It seemed to just rust faster when the rust was working under the paint. It's like once it has deep pitting, the rust is deep into the steel.
 
   / metric mower belts Rhino XM750/ Sitrex SM 230 #5  
You can pretty much see all the rust on mine...just a touch where water/wet grass can collect. I'm going to bead blast those few small spots, put rust neutralizer on it, then prime/paint.

300662E0-9B99-448A-8D14-C740CC3503BF-5042-00000833835D1EBE_zps952f0178.jpg
 
   / metric mower belts Rhino XM750/ Sitrex SM 230
  • Thread Starter
#6  
I see you have the pneumatic tire option. I wanted only the solid tires, as over the years with my ATH 720, 80% of my problems involved flat tires, broken wheels, and failed bushings. Busting down those tires is torture.

I figured out what the issue is with the rusting long bolts through those wheel support square tubes. Water collects inside the tubes, getting in around the bolts, and sits where the bolt goes into the captive nuts. All the bolts were rusted and pitted right at that point.

Today I also made the open end wrench that is required to remove the lock nuts that retain the blades. I carefully ground one side of an inch and an eighth end wrench to almost one and three sixteenths. If you don't have that wrench, you will be needing one. I found I had three slightly bent blades. I removed all the blades, sharpened them, and straightened the bent ones. I put some anti-seize on the big lock nuts, as it was like pulling teeth getting them off.

The next cut will look even better than the one I just did, which looked great. I mow a disc golf course. At least I do the fairways that are not in the woods. It was a 40 mile pull with the 72 inch deck. Now I am 20% wider and happy to cut down the miles of mowing.

(BTW, you can download the complete 56 page manual from this site in Australia.)
 
   / metric mower belts Rhino XM750/ Sitrex SM 230 #7  
Yeah, I wish it had the solid tires as well, but I couldn't pass at that price. I found a parts manual online, and I think I can order the solid wheels to replace them. Before I do that I'm just going to measure them, and see if there's a generic solid replacement...if it fits the shaft, is tall enough, and isn't too wide, it should work. You might find this useful as well:

https://www.forddistributing.com/as.../Finish_Mower_SM230_Parts_List.pdf?1293569635
 
   / metric mower belts Rhino XM750/ Sitrex SM 230
  • Thread Starter
#8  
The pneumatic tires do have a larger diameter/higher profile, so other things might be different (just checked and the square tube wheel mount, or as they call it, "wheel axle," are different for solid and pneumatic tires). I do wish the solids were taller, as the smaller the wheel, the bigger the bump.
 
   / metric mower belts Rhino XM750/ Sitrex SM 230 #9  
 
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