Attaching Drive Belt on Snapper Pro S200XT

[TobyU]

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

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.

 

[bertsmobile1]

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

 

[TobyU]

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

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.

 

[bertsmobile1]

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 .