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Just a word of Advice to Craftsman Riding lawnmower owners don't make the same mistake I did and order replacement deck or motor fan belts from Amazon, I ordered two of them and BOTH WERE TOO SHORT...
the length suppose to have been 95 1/4 inches long both were too tight causing the blades to turn while trying to start it.. I measured the belts I ordered from Amazon they both were 94" 1 1/4" to short, remember
Craftsman belts come in quarters of a inch all other companies round it up to a flat number.. Most on here was telling me that my belt was put on wrong or my tension springs were bad... NOPE Stay away from Amazon Belts for
Craftsman mowers..

Did you order generic belts by size or OEM belts

Why people insist of going to Ammozone or Evilpay to buy mower parts when there is a plethoria of dedicated mower parts supplies on line is beyond me.
And no US mower maker bothers to make their decks & drives so they take standard size belts
Australian ones do US ones don't

I've never had a problem with a replacement belt from any common source including the two above as long as I stayed with well know brands like Gates, Dayton, Continental etc., whose labeling system takes into account those small variances some others average out. Also NAPA carries a lot of belts made by Gates or Dayton.

ILENGINE said:

Did you order generic belts by size or OEM belts

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sgkent said:

I've never had a problem with a replacement belt from any common source including the two above as long as I stayed with well know brands like Gates, Dayton, Continental etc., whose labeling system takes into account those small variances some others average out. Also NAPA carries a lot of belts made by Gates or Dayton.

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I said from Amazon that is where I had the trouble at make sure you always measure your belts as well

Another vendor I had to dump was Sunbelt / A&I as they got where every belt I order that was supposedly OEM spec'd was coming 1-2 shorter than the labeled size. I got lucky on the Husqvarna and MTD lines as I land two distributors of their parts.

One good thing came out that belt mess and that is I now have a 200 inch v-belt measuring tool.

A&I which took over Sunbelt Outdoors here has gotten to point that their products are not up to snuff. Then went they commando on shipping charges along other problems I was having with that cause to put them a six month no purchase restriction. I have since replaced nearly every product that I was selling for them.

This year they sent out a threatening email that if I don't buy $2000 of their products by September they would close my account. Well if things don't turn around here on the Briggs parts I won't need them anyways.

normally all belts from well known manufacturers have a part number on them. That number includes or references the actual length, the width, the angle of the Vee, the depth, and other factors. A generic belt of X length is not the same as a belt of X length, Y width, Z depth, R angle of the Vee, and S, T, U features. The part number from the mower manufacturer normally does not include all these features, but the actual part number on the belt does if one looks it up in the belt manufacturer's catalog.

Star Tech - sorry things are not good. We have grown into a replacement society rather than a repair society. Making matters worse are laws like what we have here now where in another year sales of all small engines will be outlawed and electric must be sold in its place.

Need2learn said:

I said from Amazon that is where I had the trouble at make sure you always measure your belts as well

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was it a generic "fits your mower" belt, or a Gates / Dayton / Trublue etc belt that cross referenced to the part number on your original belt?

The problem with Ammozone , Evilpay . Facebook market , Craigs list and every other mass platform is you have no idea who the vendor is
Their identity is a secret so they could be a real mower supplier who knows what they are selling , a remainder merchant who buys stuff bulk at auction with no idea what it is or where it is used apart from what is on the catalogue or a backyard importer who orders stuff that "fits and XYZ" from third world countries and would not know a mower belt from a trouser belt .
And you have n idea because I can sell absolute trash on any of those platforms, pay a computer geek in any one of a dozen third world countries to make a fake good profile & provide very good feed back for as little as $ 20 .
Bezos does not care if the product is so bad it kills you all he cares about is the vendor & distribution fees

This is why I use Ali-Baba . Made in China , Made in India & other such platforms where you are buying from ( supposedly ) real companies that all have street addresses email addresses & phone numbers .
Then some of these platforms even act as an escrow so the vendor does not get paid till the goods have been delivered & you have acknowledged they arrived in good condition & were fit for purpose.

I call BS. How could you not know who the vendor is if it says Dayton, Gates, Continental, or True-Blue (Stens) on it? If you order a Gates belt and they ship a generic belt then send it back. I get OEM stuff all the time from Amazon, Ebay etc., as long as it is a factory sealed never opened part. If it is generic or is open box I am not interested in it. I just went thru this on a pressure washer. The replacement carb the local shop sold me did not work right, but a NOS one from Ebay made it sing. I'll keep the one that didn't work right as a spare because I opened and installed it. Shop has always been good on other parts.

Vendor not manufacturer
OTOH can you tell a fake Gates belt from a real one ?
A warehouse I used to manage despatched stuff sold via Ammozone
The vendor was just a bank account number
He sent the stuff to us & we despatched it , under many different company names for different prices .
I know who Jacks are, I know who Barrets are
I know who eReplacement parts are
But who is "DELONG1" or "Henkeyi" or "Tinsaen" or "OSD-Parts" or "Honoson" or "HuiZeKaiUS" or "CMOODS" or..........
These are the first 6 nameless faceless vendors who came up when I searched for "lawn Mower Belts"
Do any of them actually know what they are selling ?
Amazon is just the platform, like your local church or school is the platform when they have a car boot / trash & treasure sale
Amazon in most cases is not the vendor
The vendor is found at the right side listed as "sold by"
So you buy a container full of fake Gates belts . get the container sent to Ammozone & then either write the add yourself or get Ammozone to do the listing for you ( additional fees apply)
Ammozone are not required to check the products are real because they are just the platform and in some cases also provide the logistics.
No checks anywhere apart from the bank account where the fees are drawn from exists & Ammozone can make withdrawls to cover the listing & despatch fees .
You could not set up a business to sell fake / stolen goods any better than this .
When your container is all sold, you close the Ammozone account , shift the money to an off shore account that is not trackable or recoverable by US authorities and of course can not be found when it is time to pay the taxes .
Freddy the fence would be salivating over such a system to flog off his stolen goods
And Evilpay is exactly the same .
The gutless government will not regulate either of them because they are both very wealthy companies and of course Bezos is a national hero in the USA .
The only difference between the two of them is Ammozone also had a warehousing / logistics side which makes it harder to scam people by selling products that do not exist .

And you can not contact any of the "vendors" directly
You can not do a Google street view search to see what is at the address because there is none because most of the vendors are just some one in a dunny with a computer, ordering rubbish & getting it sent to Ammozone .
The Mafia could not have done it better

Mentioning Stens Tru Blue belts so they have been to spec. Just remember these are even inch sized belts. And yes Stens can send you belts that not to spec too. I had return a couple that were supposed to be 1/2 x 103 which did not work. I measured them and they were 1/2 x 104. Quite unusual as most belts are short when not to spec.

Just don't fall the hype about the Tru Blue plastic fuel lines. They claimed they don't shrink or get hard in ethanol. Well I tested them submerged in 10% Ethanol two cycle mix for one month. They did both. I just threw out the line and went back Tygon F-4040 line along Echo rubber lines.

In a shop setup we usually don't have time to take chance on ordering belts and having them not fit right and having to re-order the OEM belts. For me the OEM cost are just about the same if not lower than many of the aftermarkets when you consider all the time and money wasted trying to a size that will work right. Anytime I order a new from any place other than my OEM distributors I measure them before I even try installing them just to save time installing a wrong sized belt.

With all the belt problems I had Sunbelt [A&I] has made me very leery of any after market belt. I can however usually trust the belts sold by D and D through Amazon to be what they claim.

I love a good belt debate LOL. EVERY belt a customer has ever supplied has been the wrong belt. People think they are saving money by providing parts themselves. And of course it will be the cheapest part off the internet. My favorite is the guy who buys a JD maint kit of air filter, oil filter, fuel filter 2 spark plugs and 2 quarts of oil and paid $80 for it to save money on my markup. Problem was he got the wrong kit opened it and threw the box away. The belt thing has been beat pretty much to death. Buyer beware and do your homework.

Hammermechanicman said:

I love a good belt debate LOL. EVERY belt a customer has ever supplied has been the wrong belt. People think they are saving money by providing parts themselves. And of course it will be the cheapest part off the internet. My favorite is the guy who buys a JD maint kit of air filter, oil filter, fuel filter 2 spark plugs and 2 quarts of oil and paid $80 for it to save money on my markup. Problem was he got the wrong kit opened it and threw the box away. The belt thing has been beat pretty much to death. Buyer beware and do your homework.

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Now you know why I insist on equipment numbers. So many think every engine or mower is the same setup and they are not.

Just taking a break from a disappointing repair where I thought I just need a cylinder head for a FR730 when instead someone had ran it without oil and destroyed the engine block along the piston and rod. A whole morning wasted.

StarTech said:

Now you know why I insist on equipment numbers. So many think every engine or mower is the same setup and they are not.

Just taking a break from a disappointing repair where I thought I just need a cylinder head for a FR730 when instead someone had ran it without oil and destroyed the engine block along the piston and rod. A whole morning wasted.

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Well, that's a bummer. Hope your day gets better.
And if you are working on JD equipment you must have the serial number along with the model. An example is the Z425 mower. It has 3 completely different hydros and engine combos depending on the year. They have mower decks with the same model that are slightly different and you need the serial no to tell which one you have as the parts lists pictures look identical. I enjoy going into the JD dealer and telling Kim at the parts counter "I need a part for my mower. The mower is green and the part is black and about this big" she usually indicates i am her number one customer. And tells me to give her my phone as i always take a picture of the equipment tag.

StarTech said:

Now you know why I insist on equipment numbers. So many think every engine or mower is the same setup and they are not.

Just taking a break from a disappointing repair where I thought I just need a cylinder head for a FR730 when instead someone had ran it without oil and destroyed the engine block along the piston and rod. A whole morning wasted.

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And even then that is no guarantee. Just went through that with a customers Cub Cadet. 2012 model that by the model number and the sticker under the hood used a certain belt. The issue is the deck has been replaced with one from a 2014 of the same model number but used a completely different deck.

I have been waiting in line at the parts counter at the JD dealer and can't believe how stupid grown men can be. Things i have heard.
I don't know the model number. I bought it here. Don't you know it? I need a chain for my saw. It's a stihl. I need blades for my mower. It's a 42 or a 48 not sure which. I need a new belt. (holds up a completely shredded belt). I need a new spark plug. I would last about 1 day working the parts counter before i had to off someone.

And you can't even on the fact the serial number are right either. I ran into several years ago that the break was off by at 1000. It made a difference of 1 inch on the drive belt.

I think the problem may be some are lying about what they are measuring the belt with.

StarTech said:

Now you know why I insist on equipment numbers. So many think every engine or mower is the same setup and they are not.

Just taking a break from a disappointing repair where I thought I just need a cylinder head for a FR730 when instead someone had ran it without oil and destroyed the engine block along the piston and rod. A whole morning wasted.

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If you have not got one, get a bore-o-scope and get a good one
I have 2
A cheap hand held that I keep in the truck & a much better one with a thinner head that plugs into a PC ( Yes the Apple man does have a windoze box ) for the workshop .
It has taken a long time for me to get used to using it but it has saved so much time as a low compression or stiff engine can be looked at while the customer is there with me .
I don't charge for quotes so it is really easy to pull the plug. shove the scope in and show the customer internal damage .
It really works well in peak periods because the customer gets an answer then & there , not 2 weeks latter when their grass is knee deep .

Hammermechanicman said:

I have been waiting in line at the parts counter at the JD dealer and can't believe how stupid grown men can be. Things i have heard.
I don't know the model number. I bought it here. Don't you know it? I need a chain for my saw. It's a stihl. I need blades for my mower. It's a 42 or a 48 not sure which. I need a new belt. (holds up a completely shredded belt). I need a new spark plug. I would last about 1 day working the parts counter before i had to off someone.

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Then customers get upset with the parts guy, technicians basically gets an attitude with the customer because they can never seem to be able to provide simple information. And years ago a customer could walk into a mower shop and say I need a certain part for my 5hp Briggs tiller engine and everybody knew what they were talking about. Now in some cases you can't even use the model number you have to use the serial number to access the parts diagrams.

And I can't even remember how many times I have made a loop of chain for somebodies Stihl saw, when they didn't supply the saw or chain at the time, and then have it come back that the chain won't fit in the groove, and come to find out I made the standard .063 chain but they have replaced the bar with an Oregon .050.

bertsmobile1 said:

If you have not got one, get a bore-o-scope and get a good one
I have 2
A cheap hand held that I keep in the truck & a much better one with a thinner head that plugs into a PC ( Yes the Apple man does have a windoze box ) for the workshop .
It has taken a long time for me to get used to using it but it has saved so much time as a low compression or stiff engine can be looked at while the customer is there with me .
I don't charge for quotes so it is really easy to pull the plug. shove the scope in and show the customer internal damage .
It really works well in peak periods because the customer gets an answer then & there , not 2 weeks latter when their grass is knee deep .

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Those work really well while the customer is there because they can see what you see and there is no question about the damage.

Yes
The line "lets have a quick look" works really well
Even better is I don't end up breaking off exhaust bolts that are corroded solid in the engine
I use very old computer gear , mainly because the old stuff works better & I don't have to spend countless hours relearning how to use the apps
However I am not adverse to using modern technology
So along with the bore-o-scopes are a variety of cheap video cameras for use when a customer has a deck belt problem
I use SJ 4000's ( cheap Go Pro knock offs ) and some motorcycle / pushbike mounts , clip them on the tell the customer to go mow my yard & show me what is happening .
Then I can play back , find the point where the belt jumps off then replay that section on step frame mode so they see the floppy tension arm throw the belt off.
Then there is no arguement about the $ XYZ estimate for new pulley , tension arm & spring or even the spindle replacement.
So they go away thinking the spindle is deceased with a quote for replacements and come back feeling really good when I bill them for new bearings at a much lower cost .
A bit of showmanship but it makes a $ 500 + bill a lot more pallitable & the customer does not go away thinking I have invented problems in order to extract more money from them.
It was not intended that way but being a single person workshop is was hard to make a belt fail while watching the deck .
People think I am an ape but the arms are not that long
Then when I told a customer how I found the problem that 2 other shops could not fix they wanted to see the footage for themselves , thus it all started .

here is a borescope that works well for small places $ 21

I have a 2005 model Sears Craftsman LT1000, purchased new. When I originally looked up the tractor drive belt and mower deck belts using the part numbers in the owner's manual, they were listed at about 1/4 inch different in length. Since then I just use A93K (½ inch x 95 inch) belt for both, and it works fine. Yes, recommend Kevlar belts.

And, no - I do not remove the deck from the tractor to install a new belt, the instructions in the manual state to do this, not necessary. The plastic cover on the left side comes off, then the new deck belt goes on.

sgkent said:

I think the problem may be some are lying about what they are measuring the belt with.

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Could be...I use a standard v-belt measuring tool with three extensions to reach 200 inches.

I even had Stens to tell that the tool is no good at measuring v-belts yet they sell the same tool for that purpose. I do know mine is accurate as I have cut belts after measuring them the tape measure comes with nearly identical figures.

Yes I understand belt stretch under load but our purpose we don't measure them under those loads.

Most folks don't realize that some belts are measured on the inside circumference. A B C and D classical or industrial belts and some are measured on the outside circumference. FHP 3L 4L and 5L belts and there is a 2" difference between an A belt and a 4L belt and a 3" difference between a B belt and a 5L belt. Plus the fact that some OEM belts that list the length may be for an A B C industrial belt and some may be in FHP 3L 4L or 5L. JD does this a lot depending on The application. Most mowers use belts in clutching applications which are usually FHP belts but some nonclutching application they use an industrial A B C belt. Then you have the turd manufacturers who purposely design machines to use odd size belts with no adjustment so you really need OEM belts or exact equivalent.

Hammermechanicman said:

Most folks don't realize that some belts are measured on the inside circumference. A B C and D classical or industrial belts and some are measured on the outside circumference. FHP 3L 4L and 5L belts and there is a 2" difference between an A belt and a 4L belt and a 3" difference between a B belt and a 5L belt. Plus the fact that some OEM belts that list the length may be for an A B C industrial belt and some may be in FHP 3L 4L or 5L. JD does this a lot depending on The application. Most mowers use belts in clutching applications which are usually FHP belts but some nonclutching application they use an industrial A B C belt. Then you have the turd manufacturers who purposely design machines to use odd size belts with no adjustment so you really need OEM belts or exact equivalent.

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You give them too much credit
The original designs used standard size belts , then when the tip speed rules change or the decks get bigger etc they just change the parts then plug the details into the belt calculator so it spits out sizes like 217+ 25/32"
However +/- 3% makes next to no difference to most other than a manual PTO that requires belt to slip .
The problem with belt measuring tools is belt tension variations are doubled because you are reading 2 runs
When I took over the business I struggled with getting my head around belts
I spent hours measuring belts old & new all sorts of ways & finally went to the meter long steel rule and a white marker around the back.
Gates usually list belts by outside length & effective length ( ~ 1/3 the distance back to front )
some belts can not be fiddled with but most applications with a spring tensioner & electric PTOs going to a standard length will make no operational difference .
Then there is pulley wear particularly on the engine pulleys so after a few years of heavy use the pulley is worn smaller so the belt sits deeper thus a shorter belt is needed
Vari drives of course are a big exception they must be the exact same length but in most cases +/- an inch or so makes little difference
A touch loose and at worst the blades spin a little slower in very heavy cutting but has the benefit of slipping easier when the customer hits tree roots & other such obsticles .
Too tight & you risk snapping the belt or premature bearing failure.
In the USA it is probably not a problem but down here a lot of factory belts go better than $ 300
To satisify my curosity I have cut loads of factory belts in half to see the layout of the reinforcement cords & their sizes ( worn out ones of course ) and comparred these to the OEM spec belts I get from my suppliers and in most cases the belts are the same .
The reinforcement in the std size belts is usually thicker rope with fewer strands but in use it seems to make little to no difference and if the customer goes through a belt every 3 years or so the $ 100 cheaper is not that much of a saving but if they do 4 belts a year like the commercial customers do then that is a big difference
On average deck belts seem to have thicker reinforcement strands than drive belts do
So when ever I get a mower in that I have not worked on before one of the first things is to go to Gates & look up the belt
Then go to the wholesalers "belts by length" listing and see what is available around that size
A 1/4" on a belt under 100" will make absolutely no difference , in fact 1" will make no difference in anything over 50"