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Hello everyone...
I purchased a brand new 48" raptor SD mower, get it home and it throws the belt on the 3rd pass down the yard. The dealer I purchased it from is closed for the weekend. From the looks of this forum this is a common problem with this mower. Wish I saw all this before purchasing one:ashamed:

FieldCut48 said:

Hello everyone...
I purchased a brand new 48" raptor SD mower, get it home and it throws the belt on the 3rd pass down the yard. The dealer I purchased it from is closed for the weekend. From the looks of this forum this is a common problem with this mower. Wish I saw all this before purchasing one:ashamed:

Click to expand...

Not only that ride, plenty have the problem.

AFAIK the manual only covers the belt route and "how to" in fitting
replacement belt.
Me, I'd be shaking that dealer up... chase 'em offn their chaise lounge
beside the pool.
They got numbers?

Maybe all you can do is check the belt install is correct by the manual.
Check the tension on the belt is within 3/4" of straight when depressed
with the palm of your hand. And observe all the pulleys as they spin, no wobbles
or worse, no spin.
Anything else is dealer stuff on a showroom machine.


Trust that helps some.

KK

I think the business card he gave me has his cell number on it. I will be calling him in the morning.

KrashnKraka said:

Not only that ride, plenty have the problem.

AFAIK the manual only covers the belt route and "how to" in fitting
replacement belt.
Me, I'd be shaking that dealer up... chase 'em offn their chaise lounge
beside the pool.
They got numbers?

Maybe all you can do is check the belt install is correct by the manual.
Check the tension on the belt is within 3/4" of straight when depressed
with the palm of your hand. And observe all the pulleys as they spin, no wobbles
or worse, no spin.
Anything else is dealer stuff on a showroom machine.


Trust that helps some.

KK

Click to expand...

FieldCut48 said:

I think the business card he gave me has his cell number on it. I will be calling him in the morning.

Click to expand...

Be gentle... eaay does it until there is sign the dealer could
not really give a FF.
Caught your welcome post, you read as happy enough, try and
maintain that till Monday

KK

Dealer was pretty cool.. he stayed over 1hr to let pick it up. I'll keep that relationship going. He's all but 2 miles from the house

KrashnKraka said:

Be gentle... eaay does it until there is sign the dealer could
not really give a FF.
Caught your welcome post, you read as happy enough, try and
maintain that till Monday

KK

Click to expand...

FieldCut48 said:

Dealer was pretty cool.. he stayed over 1hr to let pick it up. I'll keep that relationship going. He's all but 2 miles from the house

Click to expand...

...win win :thumbsup:

KK

Matched a Troy Built 50" Deck 127cm belt from Lowe's today. Mower cuts like a charm

KrashnKraka said:

...win win :thumbsup:

KK

Click to expand...

FieldCut48 said:

Matched a Troy Built 50" Deck 127cm belt from Lowe's today. Mower cuts like a charm

Click to expand...

Toooo easy!
Some others will read that fix with interest!

Sorry I cannot view your pix as my browser does not
play well with images uploaded here. I use off site
servers for anyyhing I would rarely want up.
Buuuut I take it you're happy an' that is a Good Thing!

/waves

KK

It was too easy.. the OEM belt seems to be too wide. It rides on the edges of the pulley. The belt frays and gets caught up in the pulleys. The Troy Built/Cub Cadet belt is narrower and rides inside the pulley. I zipped thru the yard at full speed with out a glitch.
I'll contact the dealer and let them know what happened.

Here's a pic of the packaging for the 127cm Lowe's belt.. it's was $46. Well worth it.

KrashnKraka said:

Toooo easy!
Some others will read that fix with interest!

Sorry I cannot view your pix as my browser does not
play well with images uploaded here. I use off site
servers for anyyhing I would rarely want up.
Buuuut I take it you're happy an' that is a Good Thing!

/waves

KK

Click to expand...

:smile:

Lowes part# 954-04044
50"Deck 127cm

For some reason I cant load the image itself.

The problem I am having with viewing images
seems to be wider - in effect. So I have put in a
request for Admin to review it all.
See where that goes :-}

If the original belts were riding high - off centre -
the newer narrower belt would also be riding off centre,
albeit not fraying, yes?
The fix has got you up and running but me I would be looking
further. You giving that dealer a call after the holiday?

KK

The newer belt seems to be riding centered in the pulley. It's just lower in the groove. The width and height of the new belt is smaller. Seems to work perfect. The 1st belt made 3 passes.. I cut about 1 acre or so yesterday. It rained again last night so it may be a few days before I cut the rest.

And best believe I will be talking to the dealer about this

KrashnKraka said:

The problem I am having with viewing images
seems to be wider - in effect. So I have put in a
request for Admin to review it all.
See where that goes :-}

If the original belts were riding high - off centre -
the newer narrower belt would also be riding off centre,
albeit not fraying, yes?
The fix has got you up and running but me I would be looking
further. You giving that dealer a call after the holiday?

KK

Click to expand...

To follow up on this post.... I have been running the Cub Cadet/MTD/Troy Bilt belts for a few seasons now with ZERO issues. One of my co workers recently purchased a Hustler SD 48". He's having the same issues slinging belts and he will be trying this fix soon. The ebay replacement belts are $12.99 to $16.99 and are a dream come true...

Cub Cadet/MTD/Troy Bilt Replacement Belt #954-04044 or #754-04044A or 754-04044. We just checked and found a ebay vender selling them for $12.99 each with free shipping

Thanks so much for coming back with your followup post!

We have so many things that just end in mid air.
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FieldCut48 said:

To follow up on this post.... I have been running the Cub Cadet/MTD/Troy Bilt belts for a few seasons now with ZERO issues. One of my co workers recently purchased a Hustler SD 48". He's having the same issues slinging belts and he will be trying this fix soon. The ebay replacement belts are $12.99 to $16.99 and are a dream come true...

Cub Cadet/MTD/Troy Bilt Replacement Belt #954-04044 or #754-04044A or 754-04044. We just checked and found a ebay vender selling them for $12.99 each with free shipping

Click to expand...

I hope you see my reply. It's been a while since I have been back to the forum but reading this gives me hope.
I want to make sure I understand what happened; your driver belt kept coming off and you eventually replaced it with the above referenced belt and have had no issues?
I have a Raptor SD as well that is less than 1.5 years old. My first summer of cutting I had to replace all 4 hydro bolts with grade 8 bolts because the factory ones broke or bent. I knew each time one would break because eventually the drive belt would slip off because it would hit one of the fans. This summer my belt still would come off if I went down any type of slope but all the bolts were tight so my assumption was that brace that is between the left and right driver has bent (that has been referenced before as an issue from another thread) so I took it to the dealer (still there) to have them look at it as to why the belt keeps slipping.
I have 4 acres to cut and I think this summer I have only had one time where the belt didn't come off. All the other times I have to borrow my neighbors 4 wheeler to pull my mower back to my house due to the drive belt.
This would be awesome if this would fix it.

Be aware that breaking bolts where you found them is a symptom not the cause.

The problem is your cross brace.
Do you have the heavy duty brace like this?
Also note there is a second brace.



Without these upgraded braces you are placing excessive stress on the hydro's too.
My first clue was a broken plastic tab on one of my fenders. I had the dealer fix it but he neglected to tell me the real problem.
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MTD, which makes all of those brands use a custom sized belt in length width , thickness & angle.
The Gates belt cross refference site will give you the exact belt measurements if you search your Hustler number & the MTD numbers.
https://www.gates.com/us/en/ymm/search/landing/interchange
Then you will know the difference between the two belts.
It could be nothing more that one is 1/16" shorter than the other.

Sub'd

clubairth said:

Be aware that breaking bolts where you found them is a symptom not the cause.

The problem is your cross brace.
Do you have the heavy duty brace like this?
Also note there is a second brace.

View attachment 44731

Without these upgraded braces you are placing excessive stress on the hydro's too.
My first clue was a broken plastic tab on one of my fenders. I had the dealer fix it but he neglected to tell me the real problem.
.
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Click to expand...

Funny you posted this because I just got my mower back yesterday and yep, it was the brace. They put on the new brace as well as replaced the two fan blades (they were nicked up due to the belt constantly coming off). They did confirm that the brace that the Raptor comes with sucks, causing bad vibration (making bolts break) and the new one issued by Hustler should be the fix. I asked the guy what has the success rate been so far with the new brace and he claimed as far as he knows nobody has brought theirs back in for that issue since the upgrade. When I got home I did a 4 hour mow job on my property and everything ran fine. Fingers crossed that this is the end of my belt issue. Thanks for responding.

Yes it appears the new Raptors have the upgraded brace stock and it's painted yellow.
Most of the replacement ones are painted black like what I have in my picture.

I don't know if the factory is installing that second brace but's it's very cheap so no reason to NOT do it!
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