Mowing How long do your drive belts last?

[daugen]

I looked at your links, thanks, so the belt probably costs about sixteen to 18 bucks wholesale. Whether aramid or not.
Ok, let's assume one comes from Hunan province and the 84 dollar Deere belt is made in Cleveland.
If there is a US supplier, the kevlar belt is likely 40 bucks wholesale and Deere is keystoning/doubling that. Plus they charged me shipping to get a belt to
their store that I thought they should have always had in stock. I mean I bought the $12K X750 diesel there...and all they sell is JD.
And they don't stock the mower belt?
times sure have changed, and actually for belts, for the better.
They seem to be made better, no surprise due to improved tech.
Then the issue of taking care of them comes up.

When my local fireman helper comes work on my place for a few hours a week, doing the really heavy stuff I can't do any more, the mower deck on his JD ZT which he uses to mow 12 lawns a week was absolutely clogged inside the shields. I gently suggested to him he should get some air blasted in their. In that condition, I can see issues for both the belt and the pulley. Field grass particularly is pretty abrasive. At the end of my five hours of mowing, I hook up a air blast gun to my barn compressor and blow out the great deal of junk that accumulated inside the belt area under the shields. The belts seem plenty tight, they never slip or squeal, the engine will seriously bog first, so I figure the only thing I can do at this point is to keep that area clean. So I clean that and I clean the radiator screens on the Yanmar.
This was the most expensive piece of equipment I've ever bought other than my tractor and I simply want to and enjoy taking care of it.
And thankfully for TBN, I am becoming less ignorant about things I ought to know about. All good.

I'm a spares guy. And the motivation for this thread is to learn what spare belts I need to have. So without knowing how
long they last, hard to make an intelligent decision.

It sounds like my mower belt may last a long time if I keep it from being abused.
Is expecting 1000 hours out of an oem belt that has not suffered external damage or abuse a reasonable standard?
Or how many years?
I'm thinking ten years of low hour reliability unless these new aramid belts are really space age stuff.
They aren't out in the sun after all. But like the million mile cars, I'm sure some will go twenty years.
And I bet some of you have some really old machinery with some really old belts on them.
I bet Gates would give you a hat if you took a pic of yourself pointing to your 50 year old Gates belt.

To be fair I suppose expectations should be on the lower end for those 24 dollar belts and very high for that 84 dollar belt.
If I had been smarter; i.e. read this info beforehand, I would have bought one of those 24 dollar belts to compare.
It doesn't bother me putting a 24 dollar belt on the barn wall. That 84 dollar one, which since it had to be special ordered I'm glad I didn't
wait until a break, is the most expensive spare I have in my collection. That got my attention...

how long do you think a belt ought to last?

 

[daugen]

That one online belt site is owned by Belarus tractor, which I thought was interesting.
I'll support the Ukranians...but where are these cheap belts made, and to what engineering standards, in an ISO factory?

here's what they say about kevlar:
The Kevlar V-Belt is great for Lawn & Garden equipment as well as many other types of applications. The Kevlar V-Belts are constructed with polyamide fibers that is produced by a complex chemical process. This process allows the Kevlar belts to have a high resistance to repeated reverse flexing, oil, heat and cracking. Kevlar belts also offer high tensile strength, non-extensibility, and high resistance to shock loads.

 

[Maxify55]

I'm still running my 2003 drive and deck belts from the Ferris factory on my 1000Z.

That's not saying that I haven't had to change a deck pulley or two. {Spindle or idler|

If they wobble at all...they're outta there.

 

[MORRISONSTEEL]

M163993 is an aramid belt and yes "effective" length is 122.441" (.630 wide, .642 thick, 32deg). The effective part is important because Deere measures the belt on the inside not the outside as some mfg's do so keep that in mind when crossing. Your dealer may not stock this belt because typically it is usually a very long life belt and the avg residential user typically gets many years out of them. Many parts managers like to be able to sell a stocked part at-least 1 time/year. If that does not happen then it is not uncommon for it to be labeled a non stocked item. Aged parts has a staggeringly horrible effect on a profitable parts counter. A good question to ask your parts person is when was your last sale date on this part, it's typically information that they are allowed to share. If they say we sold 2 this year then you have some ground to ask them as to why it is not stocked (and maybe ask for free shipping), if they say we have not sold this belt in two years then don't be terribly surprised that it is not stocked (settle for stock order). As far as blade tip speed (how rpms are measure on these machines) I believe that at operating speeds these residential decks run somewhere in the vicinity of 15,000 - 16,000 rpm but I could be off there, commercial units run at 18,000. Good luck

 

[4570Man]

Is this a deck drive belt or the deck belt that drives the spindles? My experience is that the main drive belt fails way before the deck belt. My shaft driven Kubota mowers with a double belt and large diameter pulleys haven't ever worn out a belt.

 

[MORRISONSTEEL]

Is this a deck drive belt or the deck belt that drives the spindles? My experience is that the main drive belt fails way before the deck belt. My shaft driven Kubota mowers with a double belt and large diameter pulleys haven't ever worn out a belt.

op has a shaft driven deck, there is only 1 belt.

 

[ruffdog]

I removed the shields so I can clean the belt area whenever I mow.

 

[4570Man]

The hydro pump belt on my Dixie chopper lasted over 900 hours, but it was well protected from debris. It always stayed clean and never slipped. I haven't gotten that kind of use out other regular v belts. I think 1000 hours is pretty far fetched for a deck belt especially if it isn't used much.

 

[daugen]

I'm probably running 150 hours a year on my mower,and yes it is shaft drive to the mower, then a single mower deck belt.

When I pull the mower pto lever back on my Gravely, also shaft drive, I engage fairly slowly. On the JD, the electric pto switch bangs full engine power within one second. Most equipment has a yellow pto knob now; I tell my helper to put the engine at about one third power, engage, then speed up. The question is whether constant on off at full power does anthing negative to the mower belts. I can't help but wonder what it does to the clutch face plates.

 

[PatrickS2222]

John Deere Mower Deck Drive Belt - M163993
122 inches. Ten feet of belt, 8 dollars a foot.


If I can't get a better deal on a comparable belt, I'll likely get plundered by the parts desk at JD.
Not looking for lower quality, just better price.

Lot of serpentine belts in cars and machinery today. Two smaller belts instead of one longer one
might well be less expensive.

Gates has made belts a long time. Who else is good? I'd really like to buy a non Chinese belt.
If the reason this belt costs 84 bucks instead of 34 is because it's built here instead of China,
on an important belt, I'd pay the extra. I figured I'd need a new mower belt about every five years, or in my case
6-700 hours. I'm at 300 now and have a spare. Figured I'd go another year and then swap the belts out and hang the used one on the
wall. I suppose I could just wait until it breaks but when does that ever happen at a convenient time.

Which gets back to my original question. How many hours or years do belts last?
We know tires and rubber hoses dry rot; what about belts?

FWIW This may be some help to you - my experiences with V-belts

Last year our trusty MTD Yardman ride-on mower spat out a brand new Gates belt in less than one hour. I returned it and they replaced it without protest. The second one lasted almost 3 "mows" - around 4 hours. I was so annoyed I could not finish mowing, nor get to the supplier before they closed, I went quickly to our local MF dealer who had a suitable industrial belt for $18.00 which I fitted, wondering how long this one will last. Answer: Looking as good as new and getting on for two years ... so far! Unfortunately, I can't recall what brand though, and can't read it anymore either ..... I just went and had a look.

Also, when I was a boy, we has two 24HP stationary diesels driving irrigation pumps. The pumps were matched to the engines to load them to about 95% and they were running at about 90% of governed speed, at times around the clock for weeks at a time. These engines and pumps has 6 Dunlop belts on them around approximately 8" pulleys. Those belts lasted about 10-12 years. :thumbsup: They only failed after they perished with age. :laughing:

I will add one point which could be important: Only the comparatively weak Gates belts were of the "saw-tooth" internal profile - all of the others were solid inner surfaces, including the belt currently driving the mower cutter blades. Incldentally, that mower has (i'm told) a 20hp Honda engine, but I reckon the belt runs at a fair speed - engine pulley is about 6-7ins diameter. In short, I avoid the sawtoothed belts whenever I can - even on motor vehicles.