Deck belt

[Al Smith]

I noticed my deck belt needs replacing on a Toro Titan 5400 .My word Toro wants a kings ransome for that thing 5/8" belt 176" long .It's been in service since 2014 the year I bought it .$135 seemed a tad bit too much .I got one ordered less than 25 bucks .If it doesn't work I'll be pizzed but I'm only out $25 .If it does work but wears out in a year I could buy four more and still be ahead of the game .

 

[stretch5881]

I noticed that expensive oe belts, that you buy from a dealer, don't even look like the factory belt that you are replacing. The number on the belt is the same, but the color may be different or the country of manufacture.
Most longer belts I've been replacing with D&D or Stens belts with Aramid or Kevlar. No problems. The only exception are JD belts because of a proprietary angle, or short belts that are fractional sizes as Kevlar belts seem to only be found in full inch sizes.

 

[Al Smith]

I spent about two hours on the internet just finding the OE stock number .It seems conveniantly Toro did not supply a working parts list to go with a $6000 zero turn .Evidently attempting to completely controll the after market for the average person .In my case I'm not the average person .
Having said all that the answer to finding parts is right in front of you .right on the key board .

 

[GMB74]

I spent about two hours on the internet just finding the OE stock number .It seems conveniantly Toro did not supply a working parts list to go with a $6000 zero turn .Evidently attempting to completely controll the after market for the average person .In my case I'm not the average person .
Having said all that the answer to finding parts is right in front of you .right on the key board .

I use partstree.com or jackssmallengines.com to find the part number, then go shopping from there.
Deck belts are one item that I don't skimp on, they take a terrific beating in use. Cheap ones don't last long.
You can often find NOS OEM belts on ebay pretty reasonable. Just read the ad carefully and fully, there are sellers on there who seem to be selling a factory part, but if you read the description it will say "unbranded" or "replacement for----". They are selling an aftermarket belt, often a cheap Chinese copy.
I stay away from the really cheap Chinese belts, they are junk. Stens, Oregon and A&I sell good quality belts as long as they are exact fit.
I have had poor luck with aftermarket John Deere belts, which is too bad because they are often expensive. The OEM ones hold up very well however, so I guess you get what you pay for.

 

[EFSM]

We haven't had very good success with Stens belts, even their Aramid cord ones. More recently, we have been selling a lot of Rotary brand belts. Almost all of their belts are made by Carlisle belts, now Timken.

 

[Stihl036]

I spent about two hours on the internet just finding the OE stock number .It seems conveniantly Toro did not supply a working parts list to go with a $6000 zero turn .Evidently attempting to completely controll the after market for the average person .In my case I'm not the average person .
Having said all that the answer to finding parts is right in front of you .right on the key board .

A Toro FaceBook site may help.

Have a grandchild look it up for you!

 

[Steve]

I've had good luck with PIX belts. They offer direct fit fractional belts for a lot of applications as well as a full line of standard inch belts.

If I need a fractional belt that breaks after 10 years and hundreds of hours use in dirty dusty conditions, I'd say 135 bucks is worth it not to mess around replacing substandard belts every season.

 

[Al Smith]

I can't complain about the mower or the belt for that matter .I use that thing often as a little tractor . I only put about 25-30 hours a year on that thing .It's built like a battle ship .Fact if not for the fact I had to remove one of the belt guards recently I would not have noticed the deck belt was starting to fall apart .

 

[Al Smith]

Slightly off subject but about belts in general .When Ford came out with the orginal OHC in line four cylinder engine it used a Goodyear belt that would not wear out .Then the cost cutters became involved and the replacement would wear out for less than one dollar lower in price .It's a non interference engine so even if it lost the belt it just stopped running . About the only thing that would kill that little engine was to run it out of oil ,nearly bullet proof .

 

[EFSM]

If I need a fractional belt that breaks after 10 years and hundreds of hours use in dirty dusty conditions, I'd say 135 bucks is worth it not to mess around replacing substandard belts every season.

This is true, especially if your time is valuable or you can't do it yourself. Labor at a dealership adds up really quickly.

 

[RCBS]

I've had good luck with PIX belts. They offer direct fit fractional belts for a lot of applications as well as a full line of standard inch belts.

If I need a fractional belt that breaks after 10 years and hundreds of hours use in dirty dusty conditions, I'd say 135 bucks is worth it not to mess around replacing substandard belts every season.

Hear hear

Have sold Thermoid, Gates, Goodyear, Jason, D&D, Continental and some off brands over the years. 9 of 10 times, you get what you pay for. Reminds me of when the bikers thought they could run standard industrial chain on their motorcycles. They were 'saving' all kinds of money. You can run them, the pitch is correct....just not for very long.

 

[Al Smith]

I got the belt ,B-173 size .However after I blew and hosed all the build up of grass off the deck and investigated the original belt it looks good to me .So this replacement will abide in my shed until I need it .The belt was still supple ,no glaze or tears so I don't see changing it which looks like a simple thing to do any way .I did check the hour meter,249 hours and ten years old . So far it's been a very good mower . It will run the exact speed as my neighbors Dixie chopper except it's a 54 inch cut and his big diesel is 32-35 HP .Where I live some of us have rather large lawns .

 

[Al Smith]

A little side track .I've mistakenly bought or ordered parts for many items that did not work out .One however was a Delco 12 volt starter I thought could interchange for a Ferquson TO 20 that did not fit .I was only out $20 .About 10 years later I used the fields to repair a starter for an Oliver OC-6 crawler that was a reduction gear starter that sold for nearly $300 . It was a simple repair by changing the brush holder that reveresed the rotation because of the reduction .
The failure of the original stater was because when I rebuilt the engine I used a big bore kit that produced 6 HP more than the orginal and the standard starter could not handle the added load of a higher compression engine .Which in essence my rebuild was a diesel starter .