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New thread on old topic.
Replaced brake arms, pivot plate, clutch cable on the deck. I'm pretty sure I got the stationary idler pulley on correctly

Put on a new belt as well. Advertised to be 95.5 inches. p/n 144959 is marked on it.

Started engine and the blades turn furiously with the clutch disengaged. Turned engine off.

Clutch lever does actuate the clutch idler properly and there is slack in the belt with it disengaged. Just not enough.

Attempted to adjust the "arc" of the stationary idler and it does change the tension on the pulley but only gets tighter. Red arrow points to the idler.

My only thoughts are I installed in incorrectly, or this new belt is actually too short. Too late in the day to hunt up another or dig into it any more today.

Suggestions?

I would take that belt to a mower shop, or compare it to another belt of the same part number. A mower shop could probably measure the actual length of your 144959 belt to be sure it is 95.5"

Definitely check the belt's OD as many after market belts are short. Even with a good after market parts supplier you can get bad belts length wise. This why I invested $200 in a v-belt measuring tool that can measure up to 200 inch belts.

One supplier insisted that I was wrong about their belts being short. So I proved them wrong by buying the tool. When most of their 1/2 belt were up to an inch short and the 5/8 belts were up to two inches short, I finally showed the vendor the door. And even Stens belts can be either too short or too long. I had one Stens belt belt that was over an inch too long. I called them and they said I was just measuring the belt wrong. When I told I was using the measuring tool to check it they said those tools are no good. This is when I said then why in the Heck are you selling the same tool. They shut up and had me to return the belt. Six weeks later they email me confirming that the belt indeed was 104 inches inches instead being 103.

BTW the $200 investment was well worth in it in a shop setting.

Well, as a driveway mechanic, $200 for a belt measuring tool is not happening. I do have an old "tailors tape" that might do in a pinch. The fabric kind.

So, the OD is the measurement to go by? Always wondered about that.

Edit: I found a way to measure the length by making a mark on the side of the belt and rolling the belt along a flat surface and measuring the distance between marks. Still, some sources say the ID, some say the OD. But making a mark on the side of the belt, I guess not that much difference.

I measured both belts I have and they measure just about 94 1/4 inches. One is a cheaper ebay belt made in india the other is by D&D off Amazon several years ago.

Measured by method described earlier. Making a mark on the V side of the belt, matching it to a mark on the floor and rolling it along the floor on the outer flat to the same mark on the belt, the measuring the distance. That should be pretty accurate, right?

i believe the plumbing and v-belt industries are cousins and there has been some in-breeding . I see the pitch diameter is infrequently mentioned .

SeniorCitizen said:

i believe the plumbing and v-belt industries are cousins and there has been some in-breeding . I see the pitch diameter is infrequently mentioned .

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Got no clue what pitch diameter is. Guess I have to look that one up.

joea99 said:

I measured both belts I have and they measure just about 94 1/4 inches. One is a cheaper ebay belt made in india the other is by D&D off Amazon several years ago.

Measured by method described earlier. Making a mark on the V side of the belt, matching it to a mark on the floor and rolling it along the floor on the outer flat to the same mark on the belt, the measuring the distance. That should be pretty accurate, right?

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Yes it is very close way to measure the OD as long as the belt don't slip during the measuring and both belts appears to be short.

They can be the stated length plus or minus an inch and a half. As per industry standards.

hlw49 said:

They can be the stated length plus or minus an inch and a half. As per industry standards.

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And when I find a vendor that is constantly sending me short belts I quit buying all their products. There is a reason why belts for equipment is spec'd at a particular length.

BTW you won't find me buying A&I and Sunbelt belts for the very reason that they had sent out many short belts it was costing time and money here. I was with Sunbelt Outdoors for over ten years then A&I took them over and start the BS of constantly sending out bad products. I dumped them two year ago. So far PIX has done the best job of sending proper length belts. And one belt too long from Stens. Not much experience with Rotary yet so only time will tell with them.

It is this way send me the correctly spec'd belt or not at all. I don't like wasting my time installing a belt to only find out it is not what it was suppose to be. It is the reason I check all new belts as I received them to make sure they meet the specs.

Thanks for all the replies. One vendor got back to me and stated, more or less, "you can use it, 95.5 is only what LT1000 says, use it and it will work fine in a little while".

Uh, no, not what I consider a good reply. Guess my only options are to try other brands or pony up for an OEM branded one. But the vendors selling those have not responded to my requests for "as measured length".

hlw49 said:

They can be the stated length plus or minus an inch and a half. As per industry standards.

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Who set that standard? Seems pretty gross difference to me.

joea99 said:

Who set that standard? Seems pretty gross difference to me.

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Especially for shorter belts. And MTD mowers with CVT motion drive is it critical to have the correct spec'd belts. 1/4" on a 35" belt is a lot; not so much on a 100+ inch belt.

And a will fit belt just will not last even if it works. I just went through that very problem with a belt that was supposed to be 141" which turned out to be 139". It didn't make it thru one cutting. That belt overheated from being too tight and disintegrated.

What worst it was a JD belt and they would not make it up so I purchase a 141" belt from PIX that actually measured 141". No further problems. But that customer is also barred from my place for how he showed his backside about the problem. Not going to have customer chewing me out for problems that I have very little control over.

Lesson learned and that is to measure even the OEM belts before installation.

joea99 said:

New thread on old topic.
Replaced brake arms, pivot plate, clutch cable on the deck. I'm pretty sure I got the stationary idler pulley on correctly

Put on a new belt as well. Advertised to be 95.5 inches. p/n 144959 is marked on it.

Started engine and the blades turn furiously with the clutch disengaged. Turned engine off.

Clutch lever does actuate the clutch idler properly and there is slack in the belt with it disengaged. Just not enough.

Attempted to adjust the "arc" of the stationary idler and it does change the tension on the pulley but only gets tighter. Red arrow points to the idler.

My only thoughts are I installed in incorrectly, or this new belt is actually too short. Too late in the day to hunt up another or dig into it any more today.

Suggestions?

Click to expand...

I'd check first to make sure that your deck belt is NOT over one of the little brake pad arms or guides. And make sure that the idler pulley is able to slide in its groove, this can get stuck with dirt and debris (a different issue than the pulley itself not turning).

I have an LT1000 917.275371 purchased in 2005. My owner's manual also states #144959 for the belt for the deck, which lists as 95.5 x 1/2 inches (and tractor belt #160855 which lists as 95 x 1/2 inches).

I use same 95” x ½” Kevlar belts for BOTH applications, seems to work fine.

Cusser said:

I'd check first to make sure that your deck belt is NOT over one of the little brake pad arms or guides. And make sure that the idler pulley is able to slide in its groove, this can get stuck with dirt and debris (a different issue than the pulley itself not turning).

I have an LT1000 917.275371 purchased in 2005. My owner's manual also states #144959 for the belt for the deck, which lists as 95.5 x 1/2 inches (and tractor belt #160855 which lists as 95 x 1/2 inches).

I use same 95” x ½” Kevlar belts for BOTH applications, seems to work fine.

Click to expand...

The "idler" is the one pointed to in the picture I posted, not the "clutch" pulley? When I tighten the holding bolt for that, it is stationary. Rotates on the bearing but does not move otherwise.

If that is supposed to be free to adjust itself then I assembled that part incorrectly. I'll take a closer look at it. This is what comes of not taking notes when taking things apart.

On my LT1000, the idler with the red arrow is stationary, the pulley just spins freely. The one with the blue arrow is the one that must be free to slide in its groove in the deck (that's what engages the belt/blades).

Cusser said:

On my LT1000, the idler with the red arrow is stationary, the pulley just spins freely. The one with the blue arrow is the one that must be free to slide in its groove in the deck (that's what engages the belt/blades).
View attachment 68680

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That's how mine works.

Ordered a PIX A93 belt, we shall see if that measures longer.

If all else fails and they all seem too tight, I guess I can shorten those "front link" a bit, if there is thread left. That should move the deck forward and make the belt slacker.
No idea how far I can move those and if it will cause issues with the other arms. Looks like they are free to move about some.

One problem here is that the belt is a Polyester belt. You should had ordered a A93K as it is the Kevlar version.

StarTech said:

One problem here is that the belt is a Polyester belt. You should had ordered a A93K as it is the Kevlar version.

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Thanks. I can see if I can cancel it.

What is the other problem? The idea of shortening the front arm? The front locator is on threads, so I should be able to move it forward. Probably not much movement is required.

This appears resolved. I put the D&D belt back on after shortening the front links several turns and the blades do not move at idle. A bit "stiff" engaging the clutch, but I understand it will loosen up after an hour or so.

Thanks for all the advice.

I've never adjusted those front links on mine.

hlw49 said:

They can be the stated length plus or minus an inch and a half. As per industry standards.

Click to expand...

I would expect the tolerance to be in percentage, or linearly, in proportion to the length of the belt. If a 3" variation in length for the same part number (3.14% in this case; a 50" belt would be 6%) is the best the manufacturer can hold, they need to get out of the v-belt business. Maybe they should get into weather forecasting. For more info on measuring v-belts, see: https://www.wikihow.com/ Measure-a-Pulley-Belt-Size.