LX 280 issues

[Ricn]

My LX280 has been a good mower, the Kawasacki engine fires right up every time spring or otherwise but is now having belt issues at 210 hrs on the meter. The bottom belt has shredded twice this summer but I can't see why, any help on this would be much appreciated.

 

[beenthere]

What size deck?
Do you remove the deck to replace the belt?

 

[Ricn]

46 or 48 I think. With the deck lowered and disconnected I can change belts, no easy task at my age though.

 

[Jimmy Joe]

Sorry to hear about your problem belts are not cheap. I have an LX 277 which sounds similar to yours it has a 48 inch deck and over 600 hours never shredded a belt but have replaced once from cracking. A little more info may be helpful like had you removed the deck prior to the first belt shredding? Did you check the idler pullys for worn bushings are the spindle bearings and pullys good?

I have removed my deck for cleaning and when I reinstalled it I got the belt over parts near the belts path and luckily when I fired it up it made strange noise but did not shred. I know what you mean by no easy task when you get older to bend far enough to get a good look. Also the arm that tensions the idler pulley for the deck has a plastic bushing in it that on mine wore down on the side where all the pressure is on where it pivots you have to unhook the tension spring on it to check it but that would affect the alignment of the belt. I hope you get it figured out.

 

[Ricn]

Actually and when seeing the large belt had shredded, I ordered new belts thinking mine had worn out after 210 hrs, not much time for it's age but having a flail mower on my tractor I often use that for most everything then the Rider for close in stuff thus the low hrs. When getting new belts my Son helped in putting them on as it looked pretty easy and was. for him! Maybe now I need to look at the pullys and such for any issues so I'll post what we find.

 

[Ricn]

So now have my mower working again. After removing the deck followed by close inspection, finding nothing bent, broken or out of place, my son and i cleaned everything spotless as possible, greased the zerks and installed another new belt. One can only think the new belt we installed earlier was defective at this point. The deck is now back in place and mowing ok although we only ran it for a few minutes last night. When picking up another belt, the john deere service guy said the LX280 was a very good product reliablity wise saying the deck was tough and durable along with the kawasaki engine and transaxle and if the tentioner was ok the new belt was more than likley a defect. I learned lots from this experience so in the future I know what to do, have my Son fix it!
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