Pro Series - keeps throwing belts

[CraftsmanFlaws]

Well I replace around 200 belts a year and none of them would ever be more that 1/4" longer than original.
In place of reading what other people who have no idea what they are talking abut I suggest you talk to the people who make the belts than do not stretch.

The problem with the web is it allows 3,000,000 people who are illinformed about what they are looking at to come up with a totally wrong set of assumptions then by virtue of numbers the falicy become fact.
As I seem to remember a pair of prop makers became multi millionairs by showing the general public all the "truths" that hundreds of thousands of clots on the web had repeated were in fact 100% wrong.
Suggest you get the full set of Mythbusters DVD's then watch and learn.

Mower belts are Kevlar, Kevlar has a higher tensile strength than steel, it does not stretch.
The rubber compound used on mower belts shrinks when it gets to operating temperature
And belts wear thin on the contact faces.
I have cut hundreds of them in 1/2 to show to customers just how much they have worn when comparred to new belt of the same size.
The back of the belt will still be almost the original width but the inside will be a lot thinner.

I have wrapped the customers old belt around a spare pulley then a new one to show them just how much deeper a worn belt sits and in a few cases even weighed a new belt against an old belt to show then just how much their belt has worn.

Furthermore you have displayed your ignorance about what you are talking about by citing a source that has nothing to do with the type of belts you are complaining about.
Machine belts are plain unwrapped belts made from a different rubber compound and usually with either cotton or pollyester cords.
Their compound is very similar to what your tyres are made from and gets quite sticky when hot.
Mower belts do not get sticky because most of them have to be able to slip on the pulleys when you clutch/brake or turn off the blades on a moewer with a manual PTO.
The exception to this are the mowers with cone or cork clutches where standard belts can be used.

Bertsmobile,

I've found mower sites and small engine sites that claim belt do stretch Yes, some say the Kevlar ones do not, but I don't understand how you can say that Kevlar is what OEM tractor belts are made of, and state they are stronger than steel, and then in the next sentence say the "rubber compound used on mower belts shrinks when it gets to operating temperatures." What am I missing here? Are the belts made of Kevlar & rubber both? It seems strange that Kevlar would be used to avoid stretching and provide stronger than steel strength, and then this is defeated by the rubber used which shrinks, and I am assuming is what wears "thin on the contact faces."

 

[CraftsmanFlaws]

In place of ranting and raving perhaps you might like to actually read what I said.
No arguement that some of the products Sears sells now days are rubbish.
They sell rubbish because people like you will only pay for rubbish.
Thy also sell substantially better quality mowers for people who are willing to pay a reasonable amount of money for a reasonable quality mower.
Now days the public has such a peverse sence of value that any retailer has either to supply top shelf goods and slowly go broke or garbage and stay in business.
You and people like you are the problem not Sears they are doing what they have to in order to stay in business.
If you have done your due dilligence and properly researched your mower purchase then you are a blithering idiot for buying a mower that thousands have posted is not worth the money.

No one here is interested in clots ranting and raving because they made a bad choice and bought a bad mower.
We are here to help people get the best from what they have, to help them repair and maintain their equipment and where there is a fix overcome a design problem as they become apparent.
No one gives a tinkers curse about your hurt feelings or petty grievences
There are plenty of web sites for the disgruntled to vent their spleens to others who get their rocks off by venting theirs and reading other doing the same.

We are here to provide physical help
If you don't want help then go and annoy some one else.

Oh and you may have noticed 3 people who make a living repairing mowers have told you
KEVLAR LAWN MOWER BELTS DO NOT STRETCH.
There I have shouted at you really loud so it must be true.
Go to Gates or Dunlop or any other manufacturer of Lawn & garden belts and read facts
That is of course provided you can handle the truth which I doubt you can.

You're just another abusive, degrading know-it-all who needs to be cut down to size. You can't even spell in your native language, so learn how. Petty grievances? (That's the correct spelling) Hardly. Petty responses from someone as arrogant and self-absorbed as you. And, I DID do my research - several major Mower review sites gave my mower Best Buy ratings and raved about it. So don't viciously call me "people like you will only pay for rubbish." Get out of my hair; I don't and won't tolerate your flagrant abuse. YOU should be banned from this site altogether after that.

 

[CraftsmanFlaws]

Belts do not stretch, they shrink.
They get loose because they wear thin an sit deeper in the pulley.
When they sit so deep that they become too slack they have past their service life.
Adjusting the belt tighter will have it running on smaller effective pulley diameters so things like blade speeds with be wrong for the design of the deck.
However most owners are TOO CHEAP to replace a belt till it is either broken or so thin the blade stop turning in long grass.
If you are only willing to pay for trash you will end up with trash.

AYP make what people want to buy.
They make garbage for those who will only pay for garbage
They make good mowers for the few who will pay a fair & reasonable price for a good quality mower.

Sears went broke selling reasonable quality goods on a slim margin with excellent after sales service to a fickle greedy public who abandoned them in droves to buy trash from Walmart because Walmat trash was cheaper.
For some idiot unexplainable reason Joe Public seems to think every thing they want HAS to get cheaper every year yet they HAVE to be paid more every year for making the same amount of things they made last year that some one else thinks has be sold for less.
The two do not add up.
So YOU get sacked and the product gets imported from China so HE can buy it cheaper.
And you can vent your spleen as much as you like but nothing will change unless large volumes of people do the right thing by their families, co-workers and country and start purchasing on quality not cheapest price because the ultimate end is a country in a condition that will make the great deperession look like a pic nic in the park.

And before all you gun toting flag waving hand on your heart patriots start telling me what a great country the USA is and abusing me for being an outsider, it applies doubly to idiot Australians because we actually elect governments that have anti manufacturing policys and encourage the population to "get a good job and leverage yourself into real estate ".

After reading that, it is obvious there are some nasty and hateful people in Australia, and you exemplify them. What a great representation of your country you are!

 

[bertsmobile1]

Bertsmobile,

I've found mower sites and small engine sites that claim belt do stretch Yes, some say the Kevlar ones do not, but I don't understand how you can say that Kevlar is what OEM tractor belts are made of, and state they are stronger than steel, and then in the next sentence say the "rubber compound used on mower belts shrinks when it gets to operating temperatures." What am I missing here? Are the belts made of Kevlar & rubber both? It seems strange that Kevlar would be used to avoid stretching and provide stronger than steel strength, and then this is defeated by the rubber used which shrinks, and I am assuming is what wears "thin on the contact faces."

That IS exactly your problem.
You don't know how a drive belt is constructed yet you are willing to heap abuse criticise and abuse anyone and everyone who dares to express an opinion contary to yourself then think you have the right to demand any one who does not agree with you be silenced.
Or to put it another way every one has to agree with you regardless of weather you have any idea about what you are saying.
And lot and lots of people can be wrong.
How many well educated Germans decides voting for Adulf Hitler was a good idea ?
I can guarantee you have not bothered to educate yourself about belt construction & manufacture because you would much rather rant than find out the truth.

So here it is. There are other methods, however this is the most common one.

V belts start off life as a long length of truncated V shaped extruded rubber.
This core is then cut & vulcanised to form a loop
Strengthening cords are then rolled into the back of the belt. Usually as a single thread making a coil around the back.
After that the "working layer" of rubber is either rolled or pressed on all sides.
It gets baked
then the appropriate wrapping is applied depending upon the end use and it gets baked again.

The strengthening fibres can be cotton, polyester, polyproperlyene, kevlar or a blend of any or all of them.
The cords vary in size, twist and placement depending upon the end use of the belt.
The same applies to covers, they are made from different fabrics for different uses and different weaves for different uses

Rubber or to be specific synthetic rubber is carbon black mixed up with a variety of meta stable polymers , plasticers & lubricants.
Over time and particularly at elevated temperatures the plasticiers evaporate out of the rubber, and it gets harder and smaller in volume.
Or to put it another way, it shrinks and cracks.

DO YOU NOW UNDERSTAND HOW A BELT CAN BE KEVLAR AND RUBBER AT THE SAME TIME ?

 

[bertsmobile1]

You're just another abusive, degrading know-it-all who needs to be cut down to size. You can't even spell in your native language, so learn how. Petty grievances? (That's the correct spelling) Hardly. Petty responses from someone as arrogant and self-absorbed as you. And, I DID do my research - several major Mower review sites gave my mower Best Buy ratings and raved about it. So don't viciously call me "people like you will only pay for rubbish." Get out of my hair; I don't and won't tolerate your flagrant abuse. YOU should be banned from this site altogether after that.

.

So what makes you think English is my native language ?
I speak 4 and only one of them is English.
How many do you speak ?

Well this site did not rate it as best buy and you did not bother to come here and ask opinions of the forum about the mower you were considering despite the fact the owners of this forum actually set up a group specifically for people wanting honest opinions from real people .
So perhaps you would do us a favour and get your hair out of here and go over to the places you took advice from and annoy them.
They are the ones who gave you the bum steer not us.
We are here to help people with real problems rectify them in the easiest most cost effective manner .
Oh and I can be just as wrong as the next person and am more than happy to be proven so.
If you care to go through all my posts on this site you see the many times I have thanked people for correcting me.
So once again you re jumping to totally incorrect conclusions because you can not be bothered to check the varasity of what you think.
As for spelling, this is a free forum so it gets the words as they get typed, mistakes and all.
For the articles I am paid to write I take the effort to spell check into the correct Queens English.
If you don't like my spelling you are welcome to ignore what I write.

 

[bertsmobile1]

After reading that, it is obvious there are some nasty and hateful people in Australia, and you exemplify them. What a great representation of your country you are!

I don't see any obvious nasty & hateful inferences in it at all.
Some enlightened observations on modern consummerism .
Then again I do not look at things with a nasty spiteful mindset so I suppose I wouldn't .

 

[Carscw]

You're just another abusive, degrading know-it-all who needs to be cut down to size. You can't even spell in your native language, so learn how. Petty grievances? (That's the correct spelling) Hardly. Petty responses from someone as arrogant and self-absorbed as you. And, I DID do my research - several major Mower review sites gave my mower Best Buy ratings and raved about it. So don't viciously call me "people like you will only pay for rubbish." Get out of my hair; I don't and won't tolerate your flagrant abuse. YOU should be banned from this site altogether after that.

That's the great thing about this group. Spelling does not count. After reading all the post I now think that the mower or the tech is not the problem. ITS YOU dude get over your self. You came here for help because you can not do it yourself. Then you are going to act like you know more then every one else on here.

 

[reynoldston]

I vote on the side of never seeing a belt stretch, but who knows in the repair business. Just because I never seen it doesn't mean it can't happen. It would be nothing I would look for in a repair job that comes into my shop. If I can I always use OEM belts which isn't always possible which shouldn't be a problem with the OP.

 

[CraftsmanFlaws]

I don't see any obvious nasty & hateful inferences in it at all.
Some enlightened observations on modern consummerism .
Then again I do not look at things with a nasty spiteful mindset so I suppose I wouldn't .

Oh, really? You don't see any nasty & hateful inferences in your postings at all? They are loaded with them in every single one of your replies. But you simply ignore and deny your spiteful, abusive causticity. And, then, you have the gall to twist it around by taking your own words & attempt to accuse ME of the very crap YOU shovel out at me! And then continue with more attacks, like your truly nasty & sarcastic, "Then again I do not look at things with a nasty spiteful mindset Here's the proof, the worst highlighted in red, in YOUR OWN WORDS, paraphrased to zero in on those worst parts of your responses that show your nasty, hateful, & abusive responses:

Originally Posted by bertsmobile1 (several posts)

In place of ranting and raving perhaps you might like to actually read what I said.
No arguement that some of the products Sears sells now days are rubbish.
They sell rubbish because people like you will only pay for rubbish.
Thy also sell substantially better quality mowers for people who are willing to pay a reasonable amount of money for a reasonable quality mower.
Now days the public has such a peverse sence of value that any retailer has either to supply top shelf goods and slowly go broke or garbage and stay in business.
You and people like you are the problem not Sears they are doing what they have to in order to stay in business.
If you have done your due dilligence and properly researched your mower purchase then you are a blithering idiot for buying a mower that thousands have posted is not worth the money.



No one here is interested in clots ranting and raving because they made a bad choice and bought a bad mower.
No one gives a tinkers curse about your hurt feelings or petty grievences
There are plenty of web sites for the disgruntled to vent their spleens to others who get their rocks off by venting theirs and reading other doing the same.

We are here to provide physical help
If you don't want help then go and annoy some one else.

Oh and you may have noticed 3 people who make a living repairing mowers have told you
KEVLAR LAWN MOWER BELTS DO NOT STRETCH.
There I have shouted at you really loud so it must be true.
Go to Gates or Dunlop or any other manufacturer of Lawn & garden belts and read facts
That is of course provided you can handle the truth which I doubt you can.

That IS exactly your problem.
You don't know how a drive belt is constructed yet you are willing to heap abuse criticise and abuse anyone and everyone who dares to express an opinion contary to yourself then think you have the right to demand any one who does not agree with you be silenced.
Or to put it another way every one has to agree with you regardless of weather you have any idea about what you are saying.
And lot and lots of people can be wrong.
How many well educated Germans decides voting for Adulf Hitler was a good idea ?
I can guarantee you have not bothered to educate yourself about belt construction & manufacture because you would much rather rant than find out the truth.



Any normal person, raised to have respect and courtesy to other humans, will read your above comments as shameful, nasty, abusive, condescending & venomous.

And that doesn't include your sidekick buddies here who also have inflated, pompous egos that enjoy spewing out abuse, because they are "professionals" who work on / have businesses for repairing tractors.

NONE of this discourse would have, or needed to occur, if you had approached me with the respect that any person should be treated with. Further, if you had responded in that manner, I would probably have thanked you and commented on your extensive knowledge of mowers.

What you & your fellow professionals completely ignore is that this is not a site for just tractor experts and geeks; it is intended for ALL tractor owners. But you think you can hijack this site and dictate and abuse those who post here that are just owners who have the intelligence to discover the problems of the tractors they have or have not purchased. You may consider a US$1800 tractor as "cheap junk". That is simply not true, and many people cannot afford to spend 3-5 times that amount on a tractor.

I do find it curious that with all your knowledge and your claim you do this for a living, how would you have time to constantly post her? You'd be busy working and making money.

 

[CraftsmanFlaws]

That's the great thing about this group. Spelling does not count. After reading all the post I now think that the mower or the tech is not the problem. ITS YOU dude get over your self. You came here for help because you can not do it yourself. Then you are going to act like you know more then every one else on here.

If you can state the above, stating I am the problem, you either haven't read all the posts of bertsmobile to me, or you're the one who needs to get over yourself.

It is BS that I am acting like I know more than every one else here. That's total nonsense. I am writing what I have discovered by searching the net for intellilgent replies on reputable sites, and I even quoted their URL's and the posted content. I expect to be treated with respect, and have not been. So, if you are going to continue to respond as you are, just IGNORE my posts and move on.