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After doing my first mow with a brand new Husqvarna Z248 mower, I was cleaning the mower and noticed the deck belt had a few parts that appear to be fraying already. See attached pictures. I emailed the dealer and showed them the pictures, they said it was probably from a stick that got caught in the deck. They told me to check it out again after the next mow.
Now I did not recall mowing over any significant sticks, I just mowed my residential yard (.50 acres). There might have been some small sticks, but nothing crazy. This is my first zero-turn mower. I wanted to ask any experienced zero-turn owners, or any mechanics, if they had any idea of what could have caused the belt damage? To me it looks like something from one of the spindles damaged the belt. Any help would be great appreciated.

Must of been one bad azz stick. I would return the mower under warranty.

Lower your deck all the way down. Look for anything rubbing on the belt. Release the belt tension spring and check that all of the pulleys are in proper working order. Also, check for nicks in the pulleys. Make sure the pulleys are cinched down good.

That outer jacket material looks to have let go. I forgot, that is either a slip belt or non slip belt.

another possibility after checking everything is someone may have put the belt on using a screwdriver or pry bar. Why on a new one I have no idea but I would be taking it back under warranty for a new belt. And if it happens again then I'd be having other issues. There is an outside chance you got one someone else returned for the same issue.

sgkent said:

another possibility after checking everything is someone may have put the belt on using a screwdriver or pry bar. Why on a new one I have no idea but I would be taking it back under warranty for a new belt. And if it happens again then I'd be having other issues. There is an outside chance you got one someone else returned for the same issue.

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As in a B stock item, yup. Home Depot and other do this all the time. You open the package and find small scratches on said item.

slomo said:

As in a B stock item, yup. Home Depot and other do this all the time. You open the package and find small scratches on said item.

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That’s the main reason I bought from a small local Husqvarna dealer. The mower I bought was the only one they had of that model, and was still in the crate from manufacturer.
I checked the belt and spindles and didn’t see anything that would have scratched or damaged the belt.
maybe it was just a stick the got caught on the deck. I will check the belt again after my second cut to see if it had any more damage.

Do you engage the pto belt at full throttle? Check when the pto engages to see if the belt jumps around. You will need a helper to do this. My X584 had slag coming off one of the brackets and it ate the belt up quickly. Check your owners manual because mine has to be at full throttle to engage the pto or it jumps around and will cause problems. Other than that just make sure your pulleys are aligned and no spacers are missing like in between the pulleys and shafts, just get a picture and blow it up to check the parts and make sure your tensioners are not to lose or to tight.

gearz said:

Do you engage the pto belt at full throttle? Check when the pto engages to see if the belt jumps around. You will need a helper to do this. My X584 had slag coming off one of the brackets and it ate the belt up quickly. Check your owners manual because mine has to be at full throttle to engage the pto or it jumps around and will cause problems. Other than that just make sure your pulleys are aligned and no spacers are missing like in between the pulleys and shafts, just get a picture and blow it up to check the parts and make sure your tensioners are not to lose or to tight.

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One more thing to add. Make sure that the deck is lowered to the desired cutting height before engaging the PTO. Disengage the PTO before raising the deck for storage.