Craftsman PYT9000 deck belt breaking

[jmwall]

Hi All,
I have a PYT9000 with a 26hp B&S and a 50" cutting deck. I bought it used and have had it for 5 or 6 years. In that time I've had the deck belt break several times (once per year on average I'm guessing), usually in tall heavy grass/weeds. I'm wondering if the engine HP and the load of heavy grass is just too much for the belt and that is causing it to break?? Or there is a problem with the pulleys & spindles on the deck? The pulleys & spindles all look good, they spin free and don't seem to have any bad bearings, so I'm just puzzled as to why the belt keeps breaking.

The other possibility is I'm buying crappy belts, but I get the kevlar reinforced belts. Any recommendation for a good brand of deck belt, if there is no obvious problem with the deck??

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[StarTech]

Very possible the tall grass and hp is too much. Here on my 42" MTD mower after upgrade to a 21 hp I was destroying the 1/2" deck belts. I ended up installing a 5/8: deck elt since the MTD pulleys were design for 1/2 and 5/8 belts. Now I can cut grass close 15" without problems. With the PYT9000 being a MTD mower I think you will have the same pulleys so 5/8 belt that is a little over 1 inch longer should fit and work, just will the spindle pulley belt retaining covers have enough clearance? I don't know in your case as I haven't done the conversion on a 50" deck.

 

[jmwall]

Thanks for the info.

According to the MTD website, they don't sell a 163 in belt that is 5/8, so I'm going to have to research and shop around. The nice thing about the MDT parts website, is I can filter the belts by width and length, every other website wants a specific part number.