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Book gives diff # for 2023 but no specs.

Until someone get off their duff and actually measure the new it is an unknown. Bad Boy giving no specs is in their flavor as you have order it from them currently. Until I get one these '23 mowers in it won't get done here either

This has been a challenge. Bad Boy Central won't tell the size. I checked out a belt on a new Rambler at TS and it appeared to have the the size covered by a Bad Boy part number. I took my deck belt off and it measured by me with a tape at 134 and a RCH. Still unwilling to pay $70 for the factory belt, I bought a 5/8 x 134 belt at Lowes. $38 and didn't fit. Too small. That was a strong-looking wrapped belt very similar to the factory belt on my mower but I guess India can't use a tape measure.

Then I wasted 24 hours waiting for a 134 x 5/8 Gates belt from local car parts place.. $64 dollars and it wasn't "wrapped" and presumably wasn't Kevlar. It also didn't appear to be a real 5/8 wide. It also did not come home with me. With grass growing, I put the original back on, went to work, and called my dealer. They didn't have one! WTAF. Anyway, I ordered one and was quoted 40 something. Gal assured me it was an official Bad Boy belt. We'll see but I'm dismayed that a Bad Boy dealer can sell the OEM belt for 30 bucks less than Bad Boy Central.

To be continued. All I'm after is a spare belt at a realistic price.

A B134 belt is actually 137 inches in length. To get the true lenght of a B belt you have to add 3 inches to it's stated length.

What hlw is trying to say is a standard unwrapped M A or B belt are measured by the inside length
So if you order a 100" belt in M , A & B sections they will measure 101.75" , 102" & 103" on the outside
Fractional horsepower belts as used on garden equipment OTOH are measured on the outside so the same 3 belts will all be 100" around the outside . ( hopefully )
The EU uses effective length which is the circumference approximately 1/3 the depth from the back of the belt
Next problem is that is a "nominal" length so it can be +/- up to 1% depending upon the actual length ( apparently 2% to 5% if they originate in India ).
Following that very few Fractional Horsepower belts are actually true M, A or B sections
Most are L section which is metric
And then there is MTD which use belts unique to MTD
To add to that, unless the belt has a brand & part number burned into the belt they are churned out in the millions , tied in scanes or packed in bales then shipped off to have the brand & size / part number decal / stencel applied to the belt and this can go horribly wrong
The reject ones are the ones you see on Amazon / Ebay as "unbranded "
Belts are bulk shipped then put in the sleeves either at the warehouse or a sheltered workshop so another chance for mislabeling .

Now Gates make Lawn & Garden belts and they have a web site that lists most belts crossed by the mowers part number and ( sometimes ) the Gates number will link to their catalogue specification section that lists the dimensions & section of that belt
The Mower belts will have a BR ( Blade Runner ) prefix or suffix to the 4 digit number
Rotary resells a lot of Gates BR belts in their premium OEM replacement range
Gates catalogue
So if you use the link above you click on the red "Vehicle Parts Search" button which brings up another search window
You click on the "Interchange" box which brings up another window where you type in the mower makers part number
If the computer recognises the part number it will bring up a result window with one of the BR numbers underlined and that is the link to the specifications section.

For me where everything is secret or I am geobanned the Gates site has been a Godsend , when it works .
If the belt is not listed then I use a length of 1/2" or 5/8" rope around all of the pulleys with the tension pulley at about 1/2 of its travel then measure the rope
Worked most of the time .

Needless to say, my goal of beating the factory price has been denied by the time and travel. But, gotta have a spare. I've had more painful lessons. A plus is I love the belt routing setup and the tensioner bolt.

If the Lowes belt was an A&I (Sunbelt Outdoors) belt I can believe it about being short. I was a dealer for A&I and had to quit ordering their for that very reason.

It certainly was a Sunbelt. I'll have the dealer belt by Monday.

The saga continues. I caved and ordered from the dealer. Been a week now and the nice lady reported that 6 were coming on maybe Tuesday. I've owned this mower 29 days so far and cannot buy a deck belt that fits. Tried two so far then caved. Not in stock. Do they stock blades? Bad Boy is treating that belt as a proprietary item. It's today $88 for a $30 belt and THEY'RE NOT AVAILABLE. My offer to drive up there to get a belt off a mower was met with silence, utter.

tgzzzz said:

The saga continues. I caved and ordered from the dealer. Been a week now and the nice lady reported that 6 were coming on maybe Tuesday. I've owned this mower 29 days so far and cannot buy a deck belt that fits. Tried two so far then caved. Not in stock. Do they stock blades? Bad Boy is treating that belt as a proprietary item. It's today $88 for a $30 belt and THEY'RE NOT AVAILABLE. My offer to drive up there to get a belt off a mower was met with silence, utter.

Click to expand...

Some belts on certain brands are best to use OEM belts. I am all for saving money, but initial price savings, vs time wasted, frustration, and incorrect part are lost when the correct belt (in this case) is not bought. $70 bucks for a 5/8” X 134” belt isn’t bad really for OEM belt.

Well, time and blood pressure guarantees I lost this battle. Good thing I'm not actually being idled here. Reading Bert's comments, how does one know OEM from OEM copy? Not all 134" belts are 134" on my tape measure. I'm not as smart as I look.

tgzzzz said:

Well, time and blood pressure guarantees I lost this battle. Good thing I'm not actually being idled here. Reading Bert's comments, how does one know OEM from OEM copy? Not all 134" belts are 134" on my tape measure. I'm not as smart as I look.

Click to expand...

Exactly that not all belts matches what they are advertise to be. I ended for my shop buying a v-belt measuring tool to verify belt lengths but I even try to install a new belt especially a first time install from any of my vendors.

Several years ago I was having multiple problems caused by an after market vendor [A&I (Sunbelt Outdoors)]. It got to every I tried to install were apparently short. With the tool I from the 1/2 belts were nearly an inch short and the 5/8 belts were nearly two inches short. I tried working with A&I as was one of their dealers all I heard was that I was measuring them wrong. I finally got the my sales rep to personally come out with their tool and measure the belts. Guess what they used the same tool I was using.

Now this in mind Stens belts are spec'd to +- 1/4" of their labeled size or supposedly so as I have gotten them in both too short and too long which got returned for credit.`

Now of course there are other differences too like the angle of the "V" and actually belt width which can change how a belt sits the vee pulleys. Also you make sure use the same style belt. Use raw edge when raw edge are spec'd and covered when covered are spec'd. Raw edge are non clutching belts and covered are clutching belts.

This is where Tiger said sometimes you have to use OEM belts. Here the worst offender here is MTD mowers. Aftermarket belts very seldom work on the MTD CVT belt motion drive system.

I've owned a bunch of mowers. Never had a problem finding a belt. Sunbelts look really good but they measure diff as noted above. I'm sure glad I don't really need one atm.

tgzzzz said:

The saga continues. I caved and ordered from the dealer. Been a week now and the nice lady reported that 6 were coming on maybe Tuesday. I've owned this mower 29 days so far and cannot buy a deck belt that fits. Tried two so far then caved. Not in stock. Do they stock blades? Bad Boy is treating that belt as a proprietary item. It's today $88 for a $30 belt and THEY'RE NOT AVAILABLE. My offer to drive up there to get a belt off a mower was met with silence, utter.

Click to expand...

The saga ends, after waiting and waiting, the dealer called the factory this am and was told the belt was "backordered til Sept." They then took a belt off a new 2023 Rambler mower and sold it to me for $60. Got home and outside measurement is 134.25 x 5/8" BB #041-4023-00. Inside measurement with my metal tape was just under 137". I am not nearly smart enough to understand this. Seems to me that the outside measurement should be the longer one.

You have that backwards
Inside on a 5/8" belt is 3" shorter than outside
Not sure what the difference with a BB would be but should be close to 5"
Double sided belts are a PIA as there are not many of them made
Check the Gates catelogue
In the front section of each type of belt they usually have a page of general specks including how they are measured

The BB (5/8 hex) belt are the same as the B belts you add 3 inches to the part number. IE 100 equals 103.

B belts are 11mm high and BB are 13mm high.

Looking like I will be seeing more Hex belts here as Gravely/Ariens factory just open locally and the their mower uses hex deck belts.

Yeah. I'll remeasure