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Hello,

The drive belt came off of my Snapper Pro S200XT. I'll be ordering a new belt today, but I still wanted to put the old one on, just so I understand the process. (When adding the new one, I know I'll have to remove the mower belt and clutch plate as well).

Using step 4 of the attached picture from the manual, I loosened the nut on the spring anchor eyebolt. I then removed the nut and the spring. The old belt took a lot of effort in getting back on, even though idler pulley was free to move around.

Is that supposed to happen or it should get on the idler pulley easily when the spring is not attached?

I finally used a flathead screw driver to help get the belt on, but now I cannot move the idler pulley forward enough to be able to put the spring anchor eyebolt back on. I'm attaching few pictures of what it looks like now. Is there any way in the world that the belt could have shrunk in size? Just wondering. I'm assuming it would stretch out over its life.

And also want to confirm that the clean side of belt should be on the outside and these grooves side should be on the inside on the transaxle and crankshaft pulley. (And on the idler pulley, the grooves should be outside and clean belt should be inside?)

Thank You

So much easier to unhook the other end of the spring. Install the spring in the eye bolt and using a spring hook tool reinstall the spring's other end around the cap screw. But that does require the tool. Of course the spring total length install must under 6-1/2 inches. Actually it is set at 6-3/8"

But I pretty sure you have the drive belt installed wrong. Double check your work. The idler pulley should pulling on the belt side going to the LH hydro from the engine and it appears you have it on the RH hydro side.

You are right. I've attached it wrong. I looked the diagram in the operator's manual and it showed the pulley coming from the right hand hydro and then around the idler pulley. The diagram in the manual has Idler Arm on the left side of the mower (The diagram is showing the back on top). But my idler arm is on the right side of the mower

I visualized it incorrectly. The diagram should be viewed from the perspective of how things would look if I was under the mower from rear going in head first. It would've been nice if they had labeled the left transaxle and right transaxle. Now I'll need some help in getting the belt off.

Thank you for your help and very amazing that you were able to visualize the mistake from the picture. Thanks again

You are not alone
I often get a customer coming back claiming that the belt I sold them is too long because they had the tensioner on the wrong run
Rule of thumb is tensioning pulley always goes on the slackest belt run which will be the one going to the engine pulley
On ZTR's the left drive needs a bigger contact patch on the belt than the right because the tension on the belt is lower than the right side so under load it slips on the left .
This is also why the left hydros usually fail before the right .

Learned so much here. Thank you to you both for all this information.

bertsmobile1 said:

You are not alone
I often get a customer coming back claiming that the belt I sold them is too long because they had the tensioner on the wrong run
Rule of thumb is tensioning pulley always goes on the slackest belt run which will be the one going to the engine pulley
On ZTR's the left drive needs a bigger contact patch on the belt than the right because the tension on the belt is lower than the right side so under load it slips on the left .
This is also why the left hydros usually fail before the right .

Click to expand...

There are exceptions. I just did a Big Dog (Hustler) mower where this just the reverse as the system is a reversed setup. Otherwords the tensioner is on the RH hydro side. Actually the LH hydro is failing on this unit and it because it is under tension. The engine pulls on the LH hydro first.

So you can not always assumed the idler tension is being applied to the LH hydro. It all depends on the setup.

bertsmobile1 said:

You are not alone
I often get a customer coming back claiming that the belt I sold them is too long because they had the tensioner on the wrong run
Rule of thumb is tensioning pulley always goes on the slackest belt run which will be the one going to the engine pulley
On ZTR's the left drive needs a bigger contact patch on the belt than the right because the tension on the belt is lower than the right side so under load it slips on the left .
This is also why the left hydros usually fail before the right .

Click to expand...

Can you please explain this second line again "the slackest belt run is the one going to the engine pulley". (meaning as it turns, it is moving towards the engine pulley? - because I think mine is opposite) On my Snapper Pro S200XT - 5901280, when starting in the back, the belt from the crankshaft pulley goes to the idler pulley, then left transaxle pulley, then right transaxle pulley, then back to the crankshaft. The belt also spins clockwise and when looking down from above.

So on my mower, as it spins from the crankshaft, it first goes to the idler pulley, then left transaxle and the right transaxle and then back the crankshaft

StarTech said:

There are exceptions. I just did a Big Dog (Hustler) mower where this just the reverse as the system is a reversed setup. Otherwords the tensioner is on the RH hydro side. Actually the LH hydro is failing on this unit and it because it is under tension. The engine pulls on the LH hydro first.

So you can not always assumed the idler tension is being applied to the LH hydro. It all depends on the setup.
View attachment 65198

Click to expand...

On my mower, the belt runs clockwise when looking from above. It goes from crankshaft to idler pulley, then left transaxle and then right transxaxle and then back to crankshaft.

So is this the norm, or the other way around is the norm? You mentioned "tensioner is on RH hydro side" - do you mean the idler pulley is between crankshaft and right hand transaxle?

Norm ?
There is no norm
IT all depends upon how the engine is mounted and its position in regards to the axels
And that is determined by the balance point
The engines commonly used in ZTR's spin clockwise from the top which is counter clockwise from the bottom
A flexible drive like a chain or belt can only PULL
So the pulley on the PULL run will get more tension than the pulley on the push side of the engine pulley
The pulley on the push side will have the tensioner on it and be most likely to have the belt slip on the pulley
The story is the same for every belt drive deck , hydro , gearbox or vari drive.
So on most of the mowers I service the engine pulley is behind the drive pulleys so the left is on the slack side
If the engine pulley is in front of the drive pulleys then the right is the slack side

Thank you. That was awesome information. I love the community here, I'm learning so much.

StarTech said:

There are exceptions. I just did a Big Dog (Hustler) mower where this just the reverse as the system is a reversed setup. Otherwords the tensioner is on the RH hydro side. Actually the LH hydro is failing on this unit and it because it is under tension. The engine pulls on the LH hydro first.

So you can not always assumed the idler tension is being applied to the LH hydro. It all depends on the setup.
View attachment 65198

Click to expand...

It is obvious that based on design of the police and setup that certain situations are going to create for one hydro is more likely to slip than another but I really for the life of me don't know why it would shorten the life of that one anyways..
There's just that not that much slippage going on. I mean unless the belt is so loose or glazed or whatever that you're actually not getting results from the input of your controls that it's slipping so bad then the fan is still running just about as fast as the other one so I just don't see why it has such a potential effect on the life of the unit.

I can see why the one closest or the first one driven from the engine could be subjected to a little bit more roughness and harsher conditioned with less cushioning as the belt gets around to the other side and pulling on things to the other hydro but really, the belts pretty abrupt and rough on anything it touches.
I'm not denying that this is the case, I just have never really come up with a good logical reason as to why it occurs.

Hydros are very sensitive to the input speed
The fastest way to kill one is to run it under load at less than full speed because a lot more oil will bypass the motor and go directly from the pressure port to the return port or from the pressure port out the side of either the motor or the pump
The oil erodes the surfaces so the hydro growl gets worse
add to that a bit more dirt & debris reducing the rate heat can be radiated out of the case & you have a recipe for a short service life.
I really notice it with old people who buy ZTR/s then use the throttle to control the speed rather than the lap bars

bertsmobile1 said:

Hydros are very sensitive to the input speed
The fastest way to kill one is to run it under load at less than full speed because a lot more oil will bypass the motor and go directly from the pressure port to the return port or from the pressure port out the side of either the motor or the pump
The oil erodes the surfaces so the hydro growl gets worse
add to that a bit more dirt & debris reducing the rate heat can be radiated out of the case & you have a recipe for a short service life.
I really notice it with old people who buy ZTR/s then use the throttle to control the speed rather than the lap bars

Click to expand...

I understand that in theory it's just I don't see how the input speed could be that much substantially different unless like I said earlier the belt was really loose and really slipping a lot.
On the ones I have seen they didn't do anything more than a slight stutter under a heavy control input but I'm not denying this happens it just doesn't make that much sense to me..
Sure, if you've got one hydro spinning it 100% let's say and I won't use RPMs because I have no idea what the typical RPM input speed is for them but I would assume it's a little slower than the engine RPMs.... regardless if one is spinning at 100%. I wouldn't expect the other one to ever really slow down over 10 to 15% and I really wouldn't expect it to even hit 8% slow down but maybe it happens..
Now on that slowing down engine speed, that's one of my big pet peeves and I tell people all the time on all their equipment...
DO NOT slow down the engine..
Push mowers don't even have a throttle anymore and neither should riders.
The worst thing you can do is mow for a hour plus and get everything as high as it's going to get and then turn off your blades and then just because you're not mowing anymore I think it's okay to lower the engine speed to 1/3 of what it was because this slows down the air flow exponentially and peaks the temperature on your engine and your hydros because you are still moving all the way to the machine and your body.
If it's mowing, or even just moving, it has to be a full operating speed.

Well Toby next time a customer comes in with one side of their ZTR weak, pull it down and have a look at the two valve plates
They will be trashed
Remember that the hydros put a load on the belt that resists the pulley turning
If you look at the late model ZTR's you will see that the drive belt is no longer a simple triangle ( cheap ) but a really complex serpentine shape , many of which are so tight that they use a segmented belt because a std belt splits .