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Good morning all,

I have a 60" hustler SD with 2500 hrs on her and a 54" Hustler SD with 1500 hrs on her.

The problem: Both sling drive belts once a week. Have owned the mowers sense new and know the are pron to this ALL THE TIME. Hydros are within an 1/8 of an inch level with one another on the 60" and the 54" they are dead even. Cross brace appears to be not bent on both machines appear to be solid and not bent.

I know these are not commercial machines be we cut 80 plus a week on them. Am I out using the life of the machines or am I missing something to make this throw belts none stop?

Can you have someone sit in the seat and run the deck while you watch the belt? I'm thinking the spring might be tired.

I assume its the hydro belt and not the deck belt? If its the hydro belt make sure all trans bolts are there and tight, even the brakets that are bolted to frame. install the updated cross brace unless already done? Make sure engine pulley and hydro pulleys are not worn. make sure tensioner is free to pivot but not sloppy loose and\or not bent, make sure idler pulley on tensioner arm is good. Install a longer tension spring mount bolt so tension spring pulls tensioner straight back and not on an upward angle.

DJ660 said:

I assume its the hydro belt and not the deck belt?

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Yeah, he did say that but I'm thinking to run the deck because maybe there's some extra action going on with the clutch engaged that may not be there when not. I assume the drive belt comes off when mowing, not when just driving around.

Kremeneon said:

Yeah, he did say that but I'm thinking to run the deck because maybe there's some extra action going on with the clutch engaged that may not be there when not. I assume the drive belt comes off when mowing, not when just driving around.

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Just now having time to check this as we had two yards to install this afternoon but will give y’all and update hopefully tomorrow.

Yes it is the hydro belts that keep coming off and most of the time it is when the blades are
I’m not that might be only because the blades are only not on from trailer to Yard. I have been using an autozone belt, part number 17510, to replace and literally have bought enough of these between the two mowers I can have them swapped out in under five minutes.

As far as tension spring I have to use a screw driver on both rigs to hook it back on when belt breaks.

Every time a belt goes I check cross brace and hydro bolts for tightness. My dealer said maybe cracked L brackets that connect wheels to mower frame but honestly just haven’t had time to check

I have the updated cross brace for the 60 but have not installed it when I discovered the one on there
Was not broken. The 60” I bought spring of 15’ and the 54” fall of 16’

Did you check all the pulleys for signs of wear. Check the V groove of the pulleys. They should NOT have any grooves in them. What happens if there grooved, is the belt bottoms out inside the pulley(s) and destroys the belt. 2500 hrs on a SUPER Z and its time for pulleys, So I'm sure that it beyond time on a Raptor for pulleys.

DJ660 said:

Did you check all the pulleys for signs of wear. Check the V groove of the pulleys. They should NOT have any grooves in them. What happens if there grooved, is the belt bottoms out inside the pulley(s) and destroys the belt. 2500 hrs on a SUPER Z and its time for pulleys, So I'm sure that it beyond time on a Raptor for pulleys.

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Have not checked the pulleys and that is great info will do that hopefully tonight!

update: Ended up being the tension arm pulley had wear on it after have 2500 hrs of use on one mower and 1500 on the other. swapped it out and so far so good. The old pulley was allowing the belt to slide down the pulley and rotate around the end of the tension arm causing the belt to snap/shred. Thanks for the help everyone!

Glad you're up and running Mike.

Those are some pretty crazy serious hours I'm assuming those are both Kawasaki powered units..... how have the engines held up?

Thanks for posting back how you fixed the problem!!
We often get problems with no solutions.

I have these 2 cross braces installed. Mine is a 2015 RSD54 and it needed the updated bracket as well as the installation of the second bracket.
I think it's mandatory to have both these braces on every Raptore.
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clubairth said:

Thanks for posting back how you fixed the problem!!
We often get problems with no solutions.

I have these 2 cross braces installed. Mine is a 2015 RSD54 and it needed the updated bracket as well as the installation of the second bracket.
I think it's mandatory to have both these braces on every Raptore.
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.
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You're right, they should both be installed at the factory before they leave and....they might be by now. When we sold Hustlers, maybe about 3-4 yrs ago, I installed several updated crossbrace kits on them but, had never seen that clutch cover bracket.....that's a good idea for them....they need it!