If this is the wrong spot , my apologies. Bought a second hand woods RD60 finish mower for $900.00. Bought a new belt for it but it was 115” and the OEM is 114.75. Worked great, for about 2 hours. Does .25” matter that much ?!!? I am ordering an OEM belt tomorrow so I guess my question is- should I look at pulleys too or likely the belt ? Pulleys visually look fine and feel ok to me but this isn’t my forte admittedly. Any one have any experience with these ? Would love to be able to mow the pasture with it b
1/4" shouldn't matter that much, I would still expect to get good service from that belt, as long as you were able to tension it correctly. It you were maxed out on adjustment and it still wasn't tight, then yeah that's not gonna last long
Mower deck belts need to be Kevlar, if it ate a Kevlar belt in two hours you have other problems. I don't think a quarter inch should make a difference.
I have intimate knowledge of power eqiupment belts. Sometimes, aftermarket is fine. Most times, you will see better results with OEM. If it's a $999 lowe's special, aftermarket will probably get it done. Higher powered stuff is better off with manufacturer's belt. Yep, most OEM belts never come out to the inch, which is what the entire industry makes belt specs to. One has to suppose this is on purpose as it would be easy to engineer them to fit standard sizes. No, John Deere or Cub or Kubota do not make belts. They do however insist on certain specifications of belts that bear their names. None of them want to be known as 'the company whos mower belts always fail'.
The 1/4" is not the problem. That's too long of a belt for a 1/4" to come in to play. As said it has to be a kevlar belt to hold up to the speed and reverse bending over idlers.
I chased a problem with a deck all last summer, turned out the deck was cracked at a spindle mount. Now when I was looking for what ever there was no tension on things and the powder coating hid the defect. I finally failed far enough that I could see it. Welded up defect ,life is good. That said you will need to pull all the pulleys off and check bearings and spindles for excessive play and wear as well as all mounting areas of the spindles. The old stacked tolerance thing comes into play. By the way I burned through 4 oem belts at $50 ea.before I found the problem as well as replacing blade spindles twice. and a couple sheaves that got damaged also. Expensive lesson.
There is not adjustable tensioner on this model , juts a spring tensioner. I have the OEM belt coming and will go over it with a fine tooth comb when I install it. Already in new blades and now a second belt so may as well hit the finish line and fix it. They make a good mower and new is over 6k right now. That last belt worked for a while then seemed to stretch , something isn’t right but i will see if I can’t find it. Will have to remove the gearbox to thoroughly look it over but that should not be too awful hard.
Just wanted to add my 2 cents…You mentioned mowing a pasture and a finishing mower just isn’t designed for that if the pasture is tall and heavy grass or has some brush or small saplings. If so it calls for a bush hog. You probably already know this but thought I would throw it out there as I have seen folks ruin good finishing mowers in a hurry like that. I am a fan of OEM belts as the generic have just not held up well for me on my equipment. YMMV Hope you get it figured out
Thanks JD Guy. Yeah i understand. I have kept it mowed with the Ferris for the last couple years and bush hog if it gets out of hand. I got this finish mower in hopes of getting some extra years out of my regular lawnmower. It’s a little too much for the zero turn once a week. I appreciate the input!
Since both of my grown sons have purchased flail mowers I borrow them on occasion to cut the pastures as they do a nicer job than my bush hog. We are no longer grazing or putting up hay so just like to keep the pastures cleaned up and keep weeds and saplings under control. The flail is also good for our trail maintenance. Glad that I didn’t need to purchase one as the used ones are pretty beat up and new are $$$$.
Yeah , I looked at new. 8k for the one I wanted. Not gonna happen right now ! New zero turn we want is 10k. Gonna baby what I have I think !
New belt made all the difference. It was significantly thicker and shorter. I do have another issue going on, missing bolt so some things are not lining up right but I should be able to correct that with some all thread rod this afternoon. May come out ok after all.
The issue with aftermarket belts is rarely the length. And material differences usually don't fail in 2 hours. Where aftermarket vs OEM gets difficult is when the belt profile isn't OEM. The angle, actual shape, and height of the belt can vary from standard industrial profiles and that's usually where a belt of equivalent length just won't cut it. It takes a good eye for detail and some measuring tools to make a good match. OEM often makes up for the cost just in time saved. Even an OEM belt won't last if there are mechanical issues such as worn sheaves/pulleys, bad/worn bearings, slow/rusty tensioner pivots, or the belt is subject to abuse from other components like sudden clutch engagement.
Used some all thread rod and made some bolts for it , still had some clearance issues with pulleys. Nothing a grinder , sawsall and welder couldn’t fix. I think I am good to go. If rain holds out i will mow pasture tomorrow and give it a real test. In other news, mowed the lawn at both properties and I swear by the time I finished the yard next door the grass here had already grown. Lots of sun and rain every other day is heaven for the grass lately.
