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I had a deck belt wear out on my Kohler engine 15.5hp 42" deck. I ordered another belt online since the original manual says the belt is 88" belt. The belt came in today and seemed a hair too short but did fit.
The belt is too short and the belt spins the blades some before I lift the engage lever. But the lever did lock in place so I started cutting the grass.

the belt broke in 20 minutes.

If the book says 88" but the belt is too short what does one do now?

First let us verify that you order the correct size by posting the model number from the serial number tag. Too short of a belt will be overloaded and will over heat quickly leading to failure,

Just to nore many after market are way shorter than stated which is why I now order mainly OEM belts for my repair shop customers, saves a lot of headaches.

It's an older Craftsman 917.257651 15.5hp
Manual shows 140067 for the deck belt.
Seller showed 140067 82"

I said 88" in my post, it was 82".

Measure the length of the old belt that had worked.

sears shows 1/2x82 5/8" but i'm not sure if it's supposed to be the 5/8" is the width of the belt or not.

TheBishop said:

the belt broke in 20 minutes.

Click to expand...

Can you link to the belt you bought?
How did it fail? Pic?

Usually when someone brings me a mower and say the new belt failed within minutes of installing i usually find belt was routed wrong or on the wrong side of a belt guide. If it was the correct belt and it seemed too short and it failed quickly i would double check how installed

Scrubcadet10 said:

Lawn Tractor Blade Drive Belt, 1/2 x 82-5/8-in 581982501 parts | Sears PartsDirect

Lawn Tractor Blade Drive Belt, 1/2 x 82-5/8-in 581982501 parts - manufacturer-approved parts for a proper fit every time! We also have installation guides, diagrams and manuals to help you along the way!

www.searspartsdirect.com

sears shows 1/2x82 5/8" but i'm not sure if it's supposed to be the 5/8" is the width of the belt or not.

Click to expand...

Scrub that would be a 1/2 x 82-5/8 (82.625) belt and should be a Kevlar belt.


Please my system uses "HUS" as a prefix since I have only 800,000 + part number in the inventory file to avoid potential problems with other vendors part numbers.

Most likle that 82" is an after market belt and may not even be 82 inches but as Hammer suggests double check the routing first.

A quick google search turns up 82" , 82.25", 82.5" and 82.625" as direct replacement belts for the 140067 number. They are all 4L belts so 1/2" wide. I wonder what the real length number is?
Looks like some vendors feel close is good enough. Time to play another round of V belt roulette.

OP, where did you order the new belt from?

The only cross I trust is the Gates interchange site
They used to list all of the applications for each belt but apparently dissabled this to make it harder for back yard ebay/amazon vendors to pretend they know what the are selling .
A 4L belt length will be slightly smaller than an equivalent A section belt .
The key to it is the "effective length ".
Now the OP did not mention if they were in the USA ( outside circumference measurement ) , or the rest of the planet , ( inside belt circuumference ) .
If the latter then his belt will be 1.825" too short which on a belt under 100 " long is more than enough to cause premaure failure.

I suspect the OP ordered a 1/2 x 82 generic off the shelf standard length belt, which will actually measure 81 1/2 if measured

ILENGINE said:

I suspect the OP ordered a 1/2 x 82 generic off the shelf standard length belt, which will actually measure 81 1/2 if measured

Click to expand...

That is if he is lucky.

To be honest here nearly every generic v-belt has up to one inch short in the half inch width and nearly two inches in the 5/8 widths. IT got so bad that I now primary order and install OEM belts.

And Gates I have received 1/2 inch width belts that were two inches short using the same spec as the package indicates.

The size I posted is OD. And even a half inch short than spec'd for the mower will cause problems. Small the OD the more it causes problems.

Hammermechanicman said:

Can you link to the belt you bought?
How did it fail? Pic?

Usually when someone brings me a mower and say the new belt failed within minutes of installing i usually find belt was routed wrong or on the wrong side of a belt guide. If it was the correct belt and it seemed too short and it failed quickly i would double check how installed

Click to expand...

I was cutting the grass for at least 20 minutes before it failed.

I might order a Kelvar deck belt 88.5"

A little longer might a difference

I mean 82.5 Kevlar