Mowing How long do your drive belts last?

[daugen]

The cut quality suffers otherwise.
If I wasn't happy with my cut I'd likely raise rpms too. But first I'd check my blades.
With severe arthritis and four inches of titanium in my neck fusing it, I can't go really fast out there, frankly it hurts.
So I'm likely going slower than most of you.
But my 8 acres mowed is very flat, and at times, I can floor the treadle and fly, and it cuts perfectly.
I honestly didn't expect it too, but it did.
Again, I sharpen my own blades and I sharpen them to a much finer edge than you get from the store.
I have zero stones here so I can run very sharp blades and not have them get instantly dull.

Am cutting bermuda and centipede grass btw.

I think the oldest belt I've ever seen was on a little hit and miss engine in an old time power show. Said original belt on sign.
First belt to ever make an impression on me was the huge flywheel belt from the flywheel of our JD B to the buzz saw. Wop wop wop wop.
Then in high school we were taken on a tour of an old machine shop in a nearby town with the leather belts overhead running all kinds of contraptions.
All from one single source, and then belts going in different directions from there. Low speed belts for sure. I got left behind in the tour because I was just stuck there staring at all those belts whirring away.

Back then I bet one repaired their belts too.

 

[Wakey]

When the JD salesman dropped off the Z915B he said to run it just beneath full power. He was in the service dept. for several years prior. I'll ask him about this next time I go in. Daugen, have you detailed your blade sharpening procedure here before?

 

[IXLR8]

I have a JD 727A mower, 54" deck. It is a 2005 model, 480 hrs on it, still has original belt. It is starting to show signs of wear/age and I will get a spare at the end of this season... just in case. I do engage PTO for blades at about 1/3 throttle to minimize shock on belts and wear on PTO clutch.

 

[crazyal]

The Land Pride finish mower I had said set the rear PTO to 540 rpm. It wasn't talking about setting the engine speed to get the rear PTO to 540 but it was talking about tractors that had a multi-speed rear PTO needed to be set in the correct (540) range. As for actual PTO speed, all it says is this "Once mower is running smoothly, increase tractor PTO speed to the appropriate rpm".

 

[daugen]

Daugen, have you detailed your blade sharpening procedure here before?

no, just been using a grinding wheel since I was a little kid sharpening blades on the farm. I believe I'm using a 120 grit wheel on the one side of a Dewalt bench grinder, haven't had to use the 80 grit side because the blade isn't damaged, just dull. So I do the "front" side as sharp as I can, then spin it over, do a light run on the back side, and then if I'm motivated, I might take a dry stone to the edge. I generally take off as little material as possible.
This sort of sharp finish would have been silly on the lawn I used to mow, where rocks grew as a native plant. But living near the coast now, it's flat and sandy here, not a rock to be found anywhere. Tree roots are my biggest issue, pine cones second.

 

[PatrickS2222]

My :2cents:

I agree with a lot, but not quite all, of what has recently been said.

I run my engines at an appropriate speed for the job they do:

Our mowers generally run at about 75% of governed speed, and cut well - I ensure the belts on our ride-on mower (4-stroke Chinese copy of a Honda) aren't flapping themselves to death - raise or lower the engine speed just a little to avoid it. Our push mower (also 4-stroke) runs happily at around 75% as well. That said, I'm not at all reluctant however to bump up the engine speed a bit when approaching a thick area of grass. I then settle it back to normal speed afterwards.

Weed-eater and edger/line trimmer - albeit 2-strokes, varies but loosely follows as above for mowers.

Chainsaws of course usually run best at full throttle, but loaded to a sensible speed for maximum cutting rate ... which seems to equate (strangely) to also around 75% - give or take a little.

Block splitter - a B&S 12HP driving a hydraulic pump - about 50-60% seems to provide sufficient push for even the toughest blocks, even forked treetrunks (where limbs grew off etc).

Tractors and loader (both 3cyl Perkins), and recently my good friend's drott (4cyl Komatsu) - enough engine speed to handle the load of the work being done. None of them have a working tachometer anymore, however having driven these for years (or more accurately decades) I can say this: Our MF135 is governed to 2600rpm, but seems "happiest" at around 1700 - which is where I would set it when ploughing, slashing, mowing hay and most other farm work. Our MF35, which I just loved to drive when I was a boy, at 1600rpm was able to "pull stumps and climb trees - almost". Do the maths! :laughing: Running at those speeds and pulling a plough, they would both seem to begin to labour and break traction at the same time. I believe from memory the 35 was 1525 engine RPM = 540 PTO RPM; the 135 was 1700 engine = 540 PTO. Hey, remember that goes back a few years though!

Aside from a valve grind, a set of rings and two conrods in 1979 (a result of going upside down into a creek whilst idling), our 135 engine has needed no further work. My late father bought it new in 1968 - it is now 48 years old and still going strong - says something!

I have been a mechanic all my working life - and I stand by my statement:
Just because an engine will rev to a speed doesn't mean it must be run at that speed.
Similarly, be fair on it - don't labour (lug) it either.
Either habit will likely harm it rather than benefit it. :thumbsup:

 

[daugen]

good info Patrick, thanks.
My fireman helper who does lawn/yards on the side told me he just paid well over a hundred dollars for a belt
on his JD Z turn, I don't know what model. Probably a big serpentine belt. Should have asked him if the old one broke or he's just
getting ready like I was. They always break on a Saturday afternoon when everyone is closed...
Though i have to admit, I haven't broken a belt in a long, long time. I remember 50 years ago they use to break all the time. And the belts were five to ten dollars,
but I'm showing my age. So now perhaps we pay a lot more but get a much longer lasting belt. Hopefully long term more efficient, if only to avoid down time.

 

[daugen]

btw Patrick I just bought a slightly used MF that has the modern version of your 3 cylinder Perkins diesel. 49 hp, 2.7 L
It's 5 years old and in this case I wouldn't think of replacing the fan belt, which I think is the only belt on there, until maybe ten years.
Now there's a belt that runs a lot, the fan belt, not a lot of load though.
G'day.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Many years ago I bought a used F-935. It had about 2000 hours on it. It was well used and initially I had to do a few repairs. I'm now sitting at 2300 hours or so. I have no idea if the original belt has ever been replaced but three years ago I noticed that the double v belt under the deck was cracked on one side. I figured that wasn't going to last too much longer so I bought a replacement belt. The new belt is still hanging on the wall.

I have a homemade hydraulically driven mower for mowing irrigation ditches. I think I worked on a 15000 fpm tip speed when I worked everything out. It's amazing how much better the grass cut's when you bump up the throttle and get some more speed out of the blades. I'm running a 21 gpm pump through 15 gpm motors and just adjust gpm by running the tractor below pto rpm.

All of my mowers get run at full throttle. Well...except for the hydraulic one. I see how much better it cuts just by raising the tip speed a bit and I figure I want to hit that grass with all I've got.