belt tension gauge for mower deck?

[Flintknapper]

Belt material/quality IS important on most mowers. Depending on the mower make/model the belt 'route' can place a lot of stress on a belt owing to the angles the belt is subjected to.

The belt route on most Land Pride mowers is not too convoluted but still has a number of 90° and 180° bends.

Both sides of the belt (V side and flat side) are subject to stresses. The belt is bending one direction first and then the other way second, so the core material needs to be robust.

The other thing that can adversely affect belt life is belt tension. Too 'tight' (unless) extreme is not usually the culprit. A belt that is too LOOSE will slip and rapidly build up heat. Heat is 'death' to a V-Belt regardless the construction, though cheap rubber belts will be the first to succumb.

Bottom Line: Yes, the better quality belts (Kevlar and the like) will serve you better than lesser belts. I know they are expensive....but how many times do you want to replace a belt....when you could be mowing.

 

[MAArcher]

I bought my Woods mower around 1995 and up until a year ago it had the original belt on it. I had to replace it because one of the spindle pulleys broke and chewed it up otherwise ot would still be going strong.

Dan

That's amazing. I wouldn't expect a belt almost 30 years old to hold, even if it was brand new and just put on. I'd have thought UV or oxidization or something would have dried and weakened it over time. I guess they don't make them like they used to!

 

[Lug66]

You can always use a spring (fish) scale or force gauge and a ruler.

 

[MAArcher]

You can always use a spring (fish) scale or force gauge and a ruler.

It didn't occur to me to use my Boga grips until after I ordered the gauge from Amazon. But for $17 I can keep it right there with the tractor and monitor the tension routinely.

To show how bad I was at estimating the tension, I changed the blades and belt at the same time. When I started mowing, there was a sound every 10 seconds, I thought maybe the blade tips were nicking each other, I couldn't figure out what it was. Eventually I figured out it was the tension spring hitting the deck. Something with the harmonics of the vibration, every 10 seconds the spring would knock the deck a couple times. Tightened the belt way up to spec, and it’s running smooth and quiet now.

 

[mcmxi]

I typically buy OEM parts if possible, but sometimes buying an inferior belt at a much lower cost makes sense. I've had a Del Morino flail for over two years and have put quite a lot of hours on it. It uses three belts to drive the cutting drum and I wanted some spares in case one or more failed, particularly if cutting for a customer or friend i.e. away from home.

@dirtydeed mentioned V-Belt Guys recently so I ordered a set of three "equivalent" belts for $37.56. Those OEM (I assume) belts are sold by Good Works Tractor Co. for $149 for a set of three. Since I haven't experienced a belt failure and don't know if the OEM belts will last three, four or five seasons, or indefinitely, does it make sense to have a $149 set of belts hanging on a nail in the garage that I might never need? Nope!

 

[PaulL]

Dealer parts may be of good quality, but it’s almost always significantly over priced and you can often find the same part made by the same factory or an OEM equivalent part for less.

Your mileage may vary (YMMV).

When I priced it up, I found my dealer was selling engine oil about the same price as I'd get for reasonable quality at the local car parts store. Hydraulic fluid also about the same cost as a reasonable generic. Filters and parts generally cheaper than elsewhere. Many people in the USA find Messicks are selling at a similar prices to what they get elsewhere.

I also value my time in not looking for something that is approximately the same. Matching part numbers up and rummaging around. I value my time in not replacing parts more frequently, or having some things go wrong because a part I thought was equivalent wasn't.

If a part at my dealer is outrageously expensive and doesn't seem mechanically that important, sure, I'll look for an after market. But that's not usually my experience. I find them to be the same price or a little more, and with that I get some assurance that it's the right part for the machine, and it'll go on correctly the first time with no drama.

Everyone should do what feels right to them, but I would suggest you add in the time you spend replacing those belts as well as just the cost of the belt itself, and a little bit of risk for something breaking if the part isn't right (hard to guess what that could be with a belt, but I guess arguably a belt that's too tight would wear the spindles, or a belt that breaks could wrap around something and wreck it).

 

[DustyRusty]

Where did you find that? Massick’s only has one belt listed.

I don't remember exactly what website I found it on, however, I did find the same reference on the website below. https://www.amazon.com/816-116C-Com...4c-86ae-97e6d62c57e5&pd_rd_i=B0B7NGMBWF&psc=1

About this item

• Heavy Duty Aramid V Belts
• Belt Size (Outside dimension): width - 5/8", Length - 139". B136K 5LK1390
• Replaces OEM # for Land Pride: 816-116C, 816116C
• Compatible with Land Pride: Most AT2584, AT2660, AT2672, AT2684, FD1560, FDR1560, FDR1648, FDR1660, FDR1672, FDR2548, FDR2560, FDR2572 and FDR2584 grooming mowers
• There is two different belts for this model! This part# fits model with serial number LESS THAN 372892!

 

[MAArcher]

I don't remember exactly what website I found it on, however, I did find the same reference on the website below. https://www.amazon.com/816-116C-Com...4c-86ae-97e6d62c57e5&pd_rd_i=B0B7NGMBWF&psc=1

Thanks. That belt isn't for my deck though, mine's a 106" OD, theres no way a 139" would work.

I had a V-Belt Guys belt that was constructed the same as the one you linked to, with the Aramid fabric wrap, for $22.00. I think I burned through two of them. But I can't say for sure if it was because the belt wasn't quality or my tension was off. The picture of the OEM one Messick's sells for $100 is all black.

Its supposed to rain here the next few days so I probably won't get to mow the lawn till Sunday, but we'll find out then if the cheap belt fails immediately.

 

[DustyRusty]

When this post was originated, I had little interest in it. A day later I found a rear finish mower, the following day it was on my trailer in my yard. Now I have a lot of interest in setting belt tension. The previous owner had backed off on the spring when he put the mower away for the winter. I have no idea where the belt tension spring should be set. Knowing what a belt costs I want to get it set correctly the first time, not after spending a lot of money replacing belts. My deck is a RDF2660
I found this belt for my deck. The price seems good ($23.38)

https://www.vbelts4less.com/b103k-kevlar-v-belt

It appears to be the same belt that Amazon is selling for $72.65

Amazon.com

 

[PaulL]

I've always done belt tension by pushing on it and going "that feels right". A good push should give less than an inch of deflection in my mind, it should feel pretty firm. Tighter is probably better than looser. Maybe if I had a gauge I'd do it differently. But I don't really have belts any more that I manually tension, the B2601 has an automatic tensioner (and I've never changed a belt on it), the new boat gets done when I service it.

 

[MAArcher]

When this post was originated, I had little interest in it. A day later I found a rear finish mower, the following day it was on my trailer in my yard. Now I have a lot of interest in setting belt tension. The previous owner had backed off on the spring when he put the mower away for the winter. I have no idea where the belt tension spring should be set. Knowing what a belt costs I want to get it set correctly the first time, not after spending a lot of money replacing belts. My deck is a RDF2660
I found this belt for my deck. The price seems good ($23.38)

https://www.vbelts4less.com/b103k-kevlar-v-belt

It appears to be the same belt that Amazon is selling for $72.65

Amazon.com

do you mean a landpride FDR2560? Same mower as I have? If you do I’ll post directions from the manual. But it is 1/4” of deflection at 7 to 10 lbs of force. On my new belt it resulted in the eyebolt being threaded around half way through its bracket after the belt was seated with a couple minutes run time.

If you can hold off on buying any belts for a few weeks I’ll report back and let you know how the one I bought works. I think the $17 dollar tension gauge will be a good purchase.

 

[DustyRusty]

When this post was originated, I had little interest in it. A day later I found a rear finish mower, the following day it was on my trailer in my yard. Now I have a lot of interest in setting belt tension. The previous owner had backed off on the spring when he put the mower away for the winter. I have no idea where the belt tension spring should be set. Knowing what a belt costs I want to get it set correctly the first time, not after spending a lot of money replacing belts. My deck is a RDF2660
I found this belt for my deck. The price seems good ($23.38)

https://www.vbelts4less.com/b103k-kevlar-v-belt

It appears to be the same belt that Amazon is selling for $72.65

Amazon.com

Today I started cutting the grass, but the mower threw the belt. I got out one of the inexpensive ones that I had bought as a replacement, and other than having a little difficulty getting onto the pulleys, it worked well cutting the grass for the next 4 hours. I would have no hesitation recommending the belt for an inexpensive alternative to the Kubota/LandPride belt. Now that I know the quality I am going to get another spare.

 

[MAArcher]

Not a very great longevity test, but I've cut about two acres three times in the last month, with the cheapest belt I could find. It stretched so bad during the first two weeks that I had to put the tensioner on the the second of the three chain links and the eye-bolt is still screwed in almost all the way. But it seems to have stopped stretching and it looks to be holding up really well, so I bought a couple more for back up.

$15 to your door from eBay. Buy 4 or more for $12.75. At that price you can buy about 10 of them for the price of one OEM belt.

Dayco BP103 Industrial Accessory Drive Belt - 21/32" X 106" | eBay

OUR CHOICE. Be sure the part you are buying is correct for your application. If any manufacturer warranty exists, it is between you and them.

www.ebay.com

Doesn't say anything about kevlar but I read somewhere that the "BP" designation means it does have kevlar in it. Even if it doesn't, for the limited amount of mowing I do, if it lasts one or two seasons, I got my money's worth.

I'm guessing the other cheap belts I burned through would have lasted longer had I purchased the tension gauge earlier and knew what proper tension looked like, much tighter than I would have thought.

 

[Pawnee]

I had a VW that wore out alternator belts like crazy, I fixed it by aligning the pulleys. Problem went away.

Also want to say, most folks run V belts too tight, they should be tight enough to not slip or flop around. More than that puts unnecessary side force on spindle bearings. I had a Ford 916B that was dealer installed very poorly. The center spindle did not last 10 hours due to a way too tight belt.