I kept breaking belts off my new JD 130. The 3 rd time repair man refused to do it. Told me bring it to JD dealer. Moral of the story nearnest JD dealer is hour away and I spent a lot already on belts and labor! I went to Lowes bought JD brand belt. Went on utube watched few videos and Put dam thing on myself. Apparently repair man wasn’t using J Deere belts I quickly noticed as I saw old belt looking for replacement number. Two years and still same belt I put on👩🔧sure is a good feeling when u can avoid those labor costs!
Buying the more expensive belt will save you the time and hassle of dealing with the cheaper belts. The more expensive belts have kevlar fibers intertwined within the rubber which gives the belt a much longer life than your usual run of the mill belt. This was the case with the blue colored belts I sold back in my hardware days. One thought, if you went through the hassle of changing the belt it might be a good idea to grease those pulleys if you can and check your bearings on the deck. Keep up the good work.
I have a John Deere gt235 that I mow about 4 acres of land with every 5-7 days. I live in a very mountainous area and so very little of the land I'm mowing is flat and even. It's very rough on the mower, steep and bumpy everywhere. So I've found over the years that it's better in the long run to buy the cheaper belts. Mowing as much grass as I do on rough terrain means you're going to burn through belts no matter what. I can get 3-4 cheap belts for the same cost as 2 of the nice reinforced John Deere branded belts, and they end up lasting about the same amount of time either way. But if you just have a small plot of flat land to mow then the expensive belt would be the better choice.
It drives my OCD nuts when I see a deck covered with grass like that it's not that hard to clean them off after each mowing... I always use kevlar reinforced belts..
the belt isn't the problem then. I would look at the idlers and tensioner pulleys for wear, this wear would allow some slop and the slop could be enough to throw the belt.
I use cheap belts, they will last a season, and I can buy 3 cheap belts for the cost of a better belt, that's just me , every winter I take the deck off and clean, replace bearings if needed, remove rust and repaint. It make the deck last much longer, I have a 2005 Murry 40 inch mower since new, the engine gave up, but the rest of the mower is in very good shape. I also replaced the 12.5 engine with a 2 cylinder 25 horsepower Kohler Pro engine it can cut tall grass/weeds with no problem.
sure, more than likely one for more of your pulleys on your deck, is either out of alignment due to bearing wear or the deck having issues. the other would be your deck, is uneven or crocked in relation to your Frame.
Worn pulleys will shorten the life of even superior belts like Gates or Stens. If your pulley is shiney all the way to the bottom of the groove, it is worn out. Misaligned pulleys or bad bearings will damage belts. Belts are more often a symptom of a problem than the cause.
I’m replacing all the idlers and spindle pulleys on my deck on my LT166 48C. The mower is 22 years old and they’ve not been replaced. All of the insides of the pulleys are shiny and worn unevenly. I replaced e belt last year and it wouldn’t last but maybe an hour, as it threw the belt off while I was mowing with it.
I learned this little bit of advice about belts. Test it first if you smell burnt rubber or see smoke then it's wrong. If you don't smell or see smoke then you got it correct.
My experience, I have a small JD mower just like the one in your video, I bought a cheap deck belt off brand, it was a waste of my time, I when back to the dealership paid more, but got a quality belt, Counter guy said belts that have to run in uneven planes like a mower deck must be built to higher standard for flexibility than just a straight running belt, He must be right as I have had no problems with the JD belt,
Same problem for me, I bought an off brand belt, snapped after 5 hours, I bought a JD belt, no problems. The kicker is the off brand was actually more expensive. What I didn’t know was JD is metric, off brand is not.. lesson learned.
one of the last great engines Kohler ever made the Command. the new twin cam Courage engines im told aren't that great. as i got a JD X350 with a Kawasaki V twin it still runs after over 200 hours on it. as Kohler and Briggs & Stratton the quality has fallen in the new motors mainly Briggs & Stratton some of their engines have plastic componets in them. if the machine breaks keep this engine save it if u have to swap the motor.
I would buy reenforced belts if I am keeping mower but ii am selling it op for cheaper belt why can't they use two belt system like gilson some tractor it trouble free other trouble why can't they but grease fittings on idlers it is ones that tendon to turn blades on not electric pto that act up
Where did you get the belt? I just to make sure the belt is the right length. Otherwise you need to check the pulleys and make sure one of them isn't worn out or misaligned.
John Deere decks have a tension adjustment. Follow the cable down to the deck and with 10mm wrench loosen and adjust. Also with John Deere lever-arm, release the blades _SLOWLY_ and at low RPM.
@@HomeGaragechannel see you later young man and your family happy Thanksgiving also don't eat too much turkey 🦃 we both know that it will make you find the recliner and go napping
I have the l110, The last time I mowed the belt that I had recently purchased from JOHN DEERE came off and actually shredded luckily I had an old belt and after mowing for about 2 laps it came off. Come to find out the engagement pulley lost the bolt. So I found a bolt in my bin and replaced it. After I got it on and working I finished mowing. When I went to put the mower back in storage i noticed that there was a little patch that is always hard to get to. So I went to engage the blades to cut it and mower died! So Im gonna spend a lil time today and see what the problem is! Hooefully nothing too serious. I can't afford much so maybe a simple fix like the pulley is locked up! Also what would cause the blades to turn slowly when its not engaged?
@@HomeGaragechannel I just spent about an hour checkin put. Seems that one of the spindle pulleys is gone/froze up $50 and also my pto cable is stretched $25 hopefully for about $100 I can get a new spindle pulley, pto cable and a belt! Atleast the new spindle will come with a grease insert! I know that bcs I had to replace the other one 2 yrs ago!
We have the same issue. Have replaced the pulleys, adjusted the tensioner and bought oem belt. Still falls off when you engage, not all the time, but almost always when you are trying to out run the rain. 🤣
@@amandasanders9130 do me a favor, next time you use it, slowly engage and disengage the PTO for the blade, it's almost 99% sure that it won't chuck the belt
Build up wet grass around the main pulley & on top of the deck would cause the belt to slip off the pulley also , Keep Cleaning out the grass would help to keep the pulley in place Lol Hope this helps
Buying the more expensive type is mostly better because your avoiding to replace it longer in the long when mowing grass when you need to engage the engine and pulleys combined etc
I did a john deere x125 fir the first time last week where the belt kept coming and eventually snapped so i told the owner to buy one from a john deere shop and now works great and he asked to give it a service & hes SP mowers to
Deck belt does the exact same thing on my E100. I have tried four different brand new belts, I bought te updated bracket for the front Crank shaft pulley. Still comes off every time you disengage the blades. The adjuster is welded so I fixed that issue by taking slack up in the cable that didn't work so I bought the recommended john Deere belt that is 103" instead of the factory 103 3/4". Still same issue. Then john Deere makes a plastic bowl shaped retainer that mounts to the crank shaft pulley so I bought that and still no fix, Then I replaced every pulley and every idler arm bracket on the deck, still same issue. Mower has 49 hours on it and I have been a small engine and mower mechanic for over 20 years. This has to be a recall but they say no. John Deere needs a suit against them for the E100.
Belt driven blades will never retain their positioning relative to each other. Blades will, on occasion, need to run at slightly different speeds. First they do not start and stop at the same time and there is always that heavier clump of grass or catching that 3.5" high stump with the deck at 3".
I put a new belt on my lt133 John Deere and smelled burnt rubber. Wasn't sure what it was and the belt snapped about 10 minutes later. I followed the diagram on my deck to install it. Could it have been too tight to start and that is why it wore through and snapped. It seemed like most of the pullies were hot also. Not sure exactly what happened there. Also can't find a real good diagram on installing it. Thanks!
Get the good belt or the cheap one will bite you. I'm going on 7 seasons with mine and not even ready to swap out yet. Tips for pulleys. If it has a groove, the 'V' part of the belt will go down into it but if no groove, the flat outside will ride on it. And the hood might have an air scoop inside to direct outside cool air into the screen intake. And I have a Kawasaki 6 horse off a Deere mower on the Snapper, hence a Kawasnapper! Thanks, Happy Thanksgiving and BLESSINGS 2 U!
@@HomeGaragechannel I've had to figure out belt patterns on decks myself so I've been where you were. And making sure the guides were set so the belt couldn't slip off but yours was worn so thin a guard wouldn't touch it. Been there and seen that too. Blessings!
The Fatal flaw of all these systems is stretch...as the belt stretches you have to continuously adjust it over and over. These systems should use multiple small belts rather than one giant long one because that would reduce the amount of stretch
@@bluegrassman3040 what pulley do you think is most likely to give you trouble the flat ones or the grooved ones? I'm thinking it must be stretch because mine fails in different locations... I assume if a certain pulley was to blame it would consistently fail off that pulley
@@Howleebra it’s hard to say, really. I replaced every pulley on my LT166 JD mower. It has the 48C deck. The only pulley I did not change was my crankshaft pulley. I also had to adjust my PTO clutch engagement tensioner. But at least one I’m of my idler pulleys had a bearing that was going out, but each of the grooved pulleys had wear on the inside. I was having issues with it eating belts while it was mowing. The last belt I put in it was a JD belt I got from Lowes, and it’s been staying on so far.
At the end of month 1, and my 3rd cheap belt. I put on a reinforced belt for 2 years of worry free mowing. In a pinch, I will use a cheap belt, usually due to awaiting the reinforced belt to arrive.
I'd buy a re-enforced 42" belt for my LA110 in a heart beat and pay whatever the hell anyone wanted to charge me for it if i could find one. I go through 2-3 cheap amazon belts each summer and it's starting to drive me absolutely bananas!!
@@HomeGaragechannel 3 seasons would be a dream.. I can’t get my belt to stay on for 3 minutes LOL.. I suspect I have other issues that’ll need to be investigated
For deck drive, always buy OEM. They are designed to accommodate the shock loads that replacement belts can't handle. In this case you get what you pay for.
there are only a few reasons why a belt would slip, the belt is the wrong size, the belt is ran the wrong way thru the pulley, or one of the bearing is causing so much drag that it's causing the belt to slip on all the other pulleys. So I haven't had to replace the pot cable yet.
I have to thank you for this video. I've been looking for one that shows how to put deck belt back on. Went to two John Deere dealers, and because it has 5 pully's, they kept giving me the wrong way to install. Your vide explained it very clearly, and kept me from having a nervous break down. Thank you so much.
My John Deere L111 with the 42 inch deck just broke the belt for the first time today (May 28, 2022), 16+ years and over 450 mowing hours since I bought the tractor brand new in 2005. I'm picking up the OEM belt tomorrow (almost 50 bucks for it), and here's hoping it lasts as long as the factory original. The tractor has the 20 HP V-Twin Briggs engine and still runs perfectly and uses/burns no oil. The oil is still very clean on the dipstick at the end of the season. I install the factory maintenance kit with new oil and filter, spark plugs, fuel filter, and air filter, every year at the start of the mowing season, and so far, so good. I mow about an acre of grass here, with 25-30 mowing hours per year on the tractor, depending on how much rain we get. Mowing season is about six months long here in Wisconsin, again, weather dependent, mostly based on how the April weather pans out First mow of the year happens anywhere between April 20 and May 10, and the last mow/leaf mulching run is usually around October 20. Thanks for the video. It will help out tomorrow when I'm crawling around and cussing while putting the new belt on.
@@HomeGaragechannel Right after I finished replacing the blade belt (which went smoothly), I went to start mowing and found my two front tires pointing in different directions. One end of the tie rod (John Deere calls it a drag link) on the right side wheel had worn out and picked that moment to fall off the ball joint. The rod and ball joint are press-fit at the factory and once the connection wears enough to come apart, there's no fixing it. So yesterday I picked up the two new tie rods for both front wheels, to the tune of $122. What are the chances of two breakdowns right on top of each other after all these years of no trouble with the tractor? Oh well, another repair I get to do in the next couple days.
@@HomeGaragechannel Cub Cadet. Feedback from JD owners is bad or no service from the dealer shop. I have over 700 hrs on one Kohler engine. Never uses a drop of oil and starts summer and winter in a heart beat. I have a lawn service where I run 2-3 hours steady without shutting off in between. I wanted a JD but the negative feedbacks turned me away. There two different JD lawn tractor price ranges to buy from. The big box store sells the cheap one. The JD dealership sell the expensive one.
I got a new expensive belt and it still comes off. Most if the time while I'm cutting the grass. It always comes off 20 seconds after engaging the blades. So I know it's not the belt. I just haven't figured out what's causing it yet.
I have a John Deere L111 automatic it runs and mows good the problem is when I let the break/ clutch pedal out something under the mower starts rattling and then when I push the pedal back in it stops the rattling noise would you have a idea what it might be?
does it alway rattle then while it's moving? If so it could be as easy as the idler pulley's bearing is coming apart, or worst case it's something in the transmission. Can you localize the rattles approximate location?
