I have a 2019 Rouge with a 72 inch deck. It calls for a 5/8 x 204.75 inch belt. The mower is a little over a year old and I found after not too many hours I was at the end of the threads for the tensioner adjustment. A 5/8 x 203 Kevlar belt is easily available while a 204 is not. I feel like I could easily do a 204 inch but not sure of the geometry involved with a 203 inch belt and hate to order online only to have to send back. Any best guess or advice is appreciated .....
With a 72 inch deck will a 203 inch belt....
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bertsmobile1
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No problems with a 0.5% reduction in length .
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Just be aware if buying after market belts they can be shorter than the labelled specs. It is the main reason I had to quit buying after market belts. One vendor was sending belts up to 2" shorter in the B (5/8) belts. No wonder I was having so much problems installing belts.
It kinda unusual to find one that is longer than the label spec but does happen. I just measured a Stens 265-106 here that was to be 106" OC and it is 107". It was even CC OEM spec'd.
The lesson I learn ws not to fully trust the label specs and to actually measure the belts.
It kinda unusual to find one that is longer than the label spec but does happen. I just measured a Stens 265-106 here that was to be 106" OC and it is 107". It was even CC OEM spec'd.
The lesson I learn ws not to fully trust the label specs and to actually measure the belts.
Mower King
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Buy an O.E.M. belt from a Bad Boy Dealership (not a box store or the internet).....trouble can await anything else!
bertsmobile1
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It requires a little common sense.
I regularly fit the wrong length belt to customers mowers.
Some times it is accomodate wear which makes the correct belt too loose.
Some times it is because a near size belt is 1/2 the price of the OEM length belt
Any one with a brain would realize that 204.75" is the result of a brain dead engineer plugging values into a belt company app which spits out a stupid size.
Over 200" a difference of 0.75" is meaningless so they could have used a standard 204" belt but that would make it hard to justify a $ 200 price tag .
If the deck has an adjustable tension spring then probably a 200" will work just fine with the spring backed off a little and be 1/2 to 1/3 the price of a 204.75" belt.
However what is important is the belt construction.
Transmission belts are not built to take the sudden shock of an electric clutch and a lot of manual PTO belts are similarly not shock proof.
A belt that has a highly serpentine run usually can not be replaced with one that was designed for nothing tighter than a 90 deg bend around a 5" pulley
I regularly fit the wrong length belt to customers mowers.
Some times it is accomodate wear which makes the correct belt too loose.
Some times it is because a near size belt is 1/2 the price of the OEM length belt
Any one with a brain would realize that 204.75" is the result of a brain dead engineer plugging values into a belt company app which spits out a stupid size.
Over 200" a difference of 0.75" is meaningless so they could have used a standard 204" belt but that would make it hard to justify a $ 200 price tag .
If the deck has an adjustable tension spring then probably a 200" will work just fine with the spring backed off a little and be 1/2 to 1/3 the price of a 204.75" belt.
However what is important is the belt construction.
Transmission belts are not built to take the sudden shock of an electric clutch and a lot of manual PTO belts are similarly not shock proof.
A belt that has a highly serpentine run usually can not be replaced with one that was designed for nothing tighter than a 90 deg bend around a 5" pulley