ZT deck belt frayed.

[N80]

I'll pick the mower up Friday afternoon. I'm sure I'll be billed for the belt and labor. Its also an hour drive there and an hour back. That's life.

I am going to document things clearly this time starting with the dealer's work order/bill.

Will get pics of new belt in place along with hour reading on tractor. I will observe PTO engagement and possibly video as well. I will check belt before and after every mow. If belt starts to fray I will get pics of it and the hour reading where it started. That way I can take the problem to CC with solid documentation for whatever that might be worth.

This is all very frustrating because otherwise I really like this mower. For me, a known problem, even one I have to fix, is better than a mystery problem that no one can fix.

The other concern I have is that if I wanted to trade this one in with the dealer and buy a commercial level Cub Cadet from him, the Cub Cadet web site indicates that very few of their commercial models are available. Due to covid and such I'm guessing.

 

[RandyT]

From my own personal experience as an MTD service center, and having to deal with issues with mowers. About 99% of the time I have found that I know more than the service tech on the other line. Always seemed like I was working on the only mower in existence with that problem. So I can understand your frustration.

 

[N80]

Got it back from the dealer. He inspected it and saw no problems. He put a new belt on it. He mowed two acres with it and says the belt still looks like new and it does. He says he sharpened the blades. Not sure why but nice if he did. Filled it back up with gas while I was there.

He charged me $99.

I think that is fine at least from his standpoint since he had to do the labor and replace a part and did not find an issue. In truth I feel like Cub Cadet should have eaten that cost since it is brand new and has wrecked two belts but I'm sure it doesn't work that way. I did not say anything of course.

He persisted with the theory that a pine cone or a stick or a gum ball could have gotten snagged in the belt.

When I said 'two belts in 15 hours' he just shrugged.

All-in-all I find no fault with the dealer unless it turns out he missed something which at this point does not seem likely. He did what he could do.

He recommended that the PTO be engaged at full throttle (which is also what the manual says). Tomorrow I'm going to have my wife engage the PTO a few times at different throttle settings and I'll watch what happens and maybe video the belt in slo-mo to see if I can see anything.

Fingers crossed that the problem is over.

 

[MoKelly]

Got it back from the dealer. He inspected it and saw no problems. He put a new belt on it. He mowed two acres with it and says the belt still looks like new and it does. He says he sharpened the blades. Not sure why but nice if he did. Filled it back up with gas while I was there.

He charged me $99.

I think that is fine at least from his standpoint since he had to do the labor and replace a part and did not find an issue. In truth I feel like Cub Cadet should have eaten that cost since it is brand new and has wrecked two belts but I'm sure it doesn't work that way. I did not say anything of course.

He persisted with the theory that a pine cone or a stick or a gum ball could have gotten snagged in the belt.

When I said 'two belts in 15 hours' he just shrugged.

All-in-all I find no fault with the dealer unless it turns out he missed something which at this point does not seem likely. He did what he could do.

He recommended that the PTO be engaged at full throttle (which is also what the manual says). Tomorrow I'm going to have my wife engage the PTO a few times at different throttle settings and I'll watch what happens and maybe video the belt in slo-mo to see if I can see anything.

Fingers crossed that the problem is over.

He really mowed 2 acres on your machine to test the belt?

2 acres.

That is a good test but maybe you should have charged rent!!!

MoKelly

 

[N80]

He really mowed 2 acres on your machine to test the belt?

2 acres.

That is a good test but maybe you should have charged rent!!!

MoKelly

That's what he claimed and a good part of a tank of gas was missing so I have no reason to doubt him. I'll check the hour meter in the morning.

And if he did then I give him credit for at least trying to replicate the problem.

 

[shooterdon]

Two acres would be about an hour or less...maybe one gallon of fuel?

BTW I have a different make (Bad Boy) and the PTO is to be engaged at full throttle...so that makes sense.

Good luck!

 

[N80]

There was about an additional hour on the meter and at least down a gallon, maybe a little more.

I also checked the blades and he had indeed sharpened them nicely.

Again, even though this guy is not the friendliest sort I cannot fault him on his service or prices.

I did slow-mo videos of the belt engaging. At full throttle it is violent and there is some belt whip but not much. At lower throttle there is extreme belt whip and it jumps way away from center spindle pulley but catches back onto it.

When I first got the mower the belt came off twice. Both times it came off the center pulley. My theory was that I was probably engaging the PTO at too low a throttle and caused that to happen and that is what probably damaged the original belt because each time it ran for a few minutes with the belt around the spindle shaft.

Soon after that I read the manual.... .... and started engaging at full throttle and had no more issues with the belt coming off.

That does not explain why the second belt got destroyed so fast. But as others mentioned it was a super cheap belt ($20) from god knows where and may have been the wrong profile or something.

The belt from the dealer was made in USA and cost $70.

I mowed for about an hour this morning and the new belt looks fine.

 

[Richard001]

There was about an additional hour on the meter and at least down a gallon, maybe a little more.

I also checked the blades and he had indeed sharpened them nicely.

Again, even though this guy is not the friendliest sort I cannot fault him on his service or prices.

I did slow-mo videos of the belt engaging. At full throttle it is violent and there is some belt whip but not much. At lower throttle there is extreme belt whip and it jumps way away from center spindle pulley but catches back onto it.

When I first got the mower the belt came off twice. Both times it came off the center pulley. My theory was that I was probably engaging the PTO at too low a throttle and caused that to happen and that is what probably damaged the original belt because each time it ran for a few minutes with the belt around the spindle shaft.

Soon after that I read the manual.... .... and started engaging at full throttle and had no more issues with the belt coming off.

That does not explain why the second belt got destroyed so fast. But as others mentioned it was a super cheap belt ($20) from god knows where and may have been the wrong profile or something.

The belt from the dealer was made in USA and cost $70.

I mowed for about an hour this morning and the new belt looks fine.

Can you post those videos ?

 

[N80]

I don't know how to do it from my phone and I'm not at home but will post them tomorrow. Do you know if I can directly upload them to TBN or do they need to be hosted somewhere?

 

[N80]

You can't directly upload videos to TBN and I do not use or subscribe to any of the hosts TBN accepts. Sorry. (I'm not a Luddite, I just choose not to participate in the majority of social media platforms.)