I am looking for a belt to replace the one my mower shredded for some reason. It had far too few hours on it to puke. I have seen prices all over the place for identical sized belts. I figure you guys have a ton of experiences, good and bad to share. Is there a general consensus on what brand to choose or more importantly what not to choose? Is kevlar in most belts or is that a longer lasting belt that comes with a price? Thanks in advance for any input.
What brand of deck drive belt to buy
- Thread starter MilkyWay
- Start date
I was a diesel mechanic for ten years and as far as caterpillar goes, There is a huge difference between the manufacturers and the local parts store. I don't care if Gates makes the belts for the manufacturer, the Gates belt you buy at Napa is not the same. It is made to different specs. We would use Gates, Good Year and a few other name brand belts and always ended up with short run time. Went back to OEM and got years of run time.
Now I'll get off my soap box and say that I do not know if this applies to Kubota. If you had a premature failure, loose a pulley bearing?, got something in there to roll the belt off? Get a stick in there?
These questions need answered before you just through another belt on and watch it shred.
Me personally, buy OEM. It costs more money but you get the absolute correct part. I hate fighting slipping belts just to find out it does so because it is cheap.
Now I'll get off my soap box and say that I do not know if this applies to Kubota. If you had a premature failure, loose a pulley bearing?, got something in there to roll the belt off? Get a stick in there?
These questions need answered before you just through another belt on and watch it shred.
Me personally, buy OEM. It costs more money but you get the absolute correct part. I hate fighting slipping belts just to find out it does so because it is cheap.
Thanks JackJ for responding and I appreciate it, I really do, but I really hoped that would not be the 1st question/response.
I need this for a POS brand-X, 50hrs on meter with a 142.5X5/8" deck belt (shredded). My question is of a general nature; I don't think the machine/application matters. The cat is out of the bag now though! It's sort of amusing but reassuring that my near 20yr old T1560 is the only reliable lawn care machine I have. Check the oil, air up the leaky tire, turn key, cut grass, drink a beer. You got to love it!
Yea, I thought about that TOO LATE! I had already started removing the debris from the deck belt area before really investigating how this could be explained. There is no chance that a belt would fail, miserably with only 50hrs on it; brand X or not. Thanks for the guidance and I will check everything carefully before installing a new one.
Jim@MilkyWay