Mountfield R 28M Ride-on-Mower Belt Replacement, confused with part number. Please help

sujsuj

Apodemus said:

Section62 said:

Apodemus said:

I've seen old belts that look like that, so I'm not conviced that you have any greater problem than an old worn drive-belt.  If a replacement shreds after a while, then you may have to look deeper into the issue, but for now, I'd just replace the belt and listen carefully for any noise of mis-aligned or loose pulley-wheels or bearings.

And if you take the belt to the parts counter of the repair shop, they will have seen enough old belts to be able to pass comment on whether it is typical wear, or if not, suggest likely causes/fixes.

Not sure if you are aware the mower is not much more than a year old, and being used domestically rather than commercially?.

Ah!  No I had missed the blade-sharpening and tennis-court-levelling threads!

Pic of the offending mower here:  

Unfortunately had rough use,

sujsuj

DanDare999 said:

Section62 said:

Apodemus said:

I've seen old belts that look like that, so I'm not conviced that you have any greater problem than an old worn drive-belt.  If a replacement shreds after a while, then you may have to look deeper into the issue, but for now, I'd just replace the belt and listen carefully for any noise of mis-aligned or loose pulley-wheels or bearings.

And if you take the belt to the parts counter of the repair shop, they will have seen enough old belts to be able to pass comment on whether it is typical wear, or if not, suggest likely causes/fixes.

Not sure if you are aware the mower is not much more than a year old, and being used domestically rather than commercially?

Unless it is a manufacturing fault (in which case you'd normally expect to see similar damage elsewhere on the belt, and is still not 'typical' wear) the damage sujsuj has got is not what you'd expect on a Mountfield mower of that age.  There are also friendly folks on the internet who have seen enough old belts to know - in conjunction with an idea of the belt's age and use - what is normal wear and tear.

A new belt won't be cheap, no point using one as a sacrificial fault detector when it is relatively easy to check the things that might cause premature belt failure.

The lack of any marking on the belt is also suspicious, particularly now we know the outside of the belt is complete with no bits missing.

It does however appear to have been somewhat abused by the OP.

Unfortunately Yes,

sujsuj

Section62 said:

Apodemus said:

I've seen old belts that look like that, so I'm not conviced that you have any greater problem than an old worn drive-belt.  If a replacement shreds after a while, then you may have to look deeper into the issue, but for now, I'd just replace the belt and listen carefully for any noise of mis-aligned or loose pulley-wheels or bearings.

And if you take the belt to the parts counter of the repair shop, they will have seen enough old belts to be able to pass comment on whether it is typical wear, or if not, suggest likely causes/fixes.

Not sure if you are aware the mower is not much more than a year old, and being used domestically rather than commercially?

Unless it is a manufacturing fault (in which case you'd normally expect to see similar damage elsewhere on the belt, and is still not 'typical' wear) the damage sujsuj has got is not what you'd expect on a Mountfield mower of that age.  There are also friendly folks on the internet who have seen enough old belts to know - in conjunction with an idea of the belt's age and use - what is normal wear and tear.

A new belt won't be cheap, no point using one as a sacrificial fault detector when it is relatively easy to check the things that might cause premature belt failure.

The lack of any marking on the belt is also suspicious, particularly now we know the outside of the belt is complete with no bits missing.

Mower is 1.5 years old, used only domestically that too to cut around 1acre land. But I had to admit I had very rough use of this . So not surprised with belt condition.

Number not in the belt because its wear & tear only.

sujsuj

I ordered belt with manufacturer's  part number   for £13 , yet to get that in my hand.

Bendy_House

Keep us updated. This thread is fun

SS, what repairs do you need to carry out?

And are you going to start doing 'raised' cuts when the grass is tall, with second, lower, cuts? Ie, are you going to be taking it easier on your mower?

And I presume you now know which low height will actually make blade contact with the ground in certain places?

Section62

sujsuj said:

Mower is 1.5 years old, used only domestically that too to cut around 1acre land. But I had to admit I had very rough use of this . So not surprised with belt condition.

Number not in the belt because its wear & tear only.

Rough use alone wouldn't normally do that kind of damage in that length of time.  Simple rough use would typically accelerate wear, rather than cause rapid total failure.

Without seeing and feeling the belt in real life it is difficult to be certain, but my guess would be the blades have jammed at some point which prevented the belt freely rotating, causing the part of the belt on the driving pulley to overheat.  Alternatively the clutch mechanism might not be backing off sufficiently to take the belt fully out of the drive position.  Either (any) way, overheating normally causes the 'rubber' to lose pliability which leads to cracking and ultimately pieces of the belt to break off in the area where it has been overheated.

Rough use might have caused damage to the mower which needs to be repaired before a new belt is fitted, otherwise the new belt will go the same way the old one did.

V-belt details are normally printed on the outside face of the belt, which shouldn't be subject to excessive wear (even in rough use) because the outside face is never used for driving anything - at most an idler pulley would be in contact with the outer face, e.g. a belt tensioner (in this case probably used as the clutch mechanism).

If the outside face of the belt has worn to the point the part number can't be seen then this is also indicative of a problem which needs fixing before replacing the belt.

Apodemus

I'm still with the rough-use causing belt-damage side of this debate!  Cutting long grass with clumps of couch in it is incredibly hard on a mower.  The mower copes well with long grass in general and then "bang!" you hit a clump of couch and the blade is brought to nearly a halt, before speeding up again.  In a belt-driven mower, it is the belt that absorbs the hit.  Do that often enough and belt damage is almost certain.

The answer, of course, is to take several passes, but for most people "life is too short" for that.  Also a second pass on the same day never really works well and in our damp climate the grass can be long again before the next decent chance to mow.  So most folks will err on the side of risking being a bit rough on the mower.   A better solution is probably to use a strimmer on the tough patches but, again, when the mower is out and the strimmer still in the garage, who is going to go back to get the strimmer?

sujsuj, I'm not sure about that model of mower, but on many ride-on mowers, the deck is only held on by a couple of bolts and/or some cotter pins and should be relatively easy to remove, without lifting the mower. 

Section62

Apodemus said:

I'm still with the rough-use causing belt-damage side of this debate! 

Don't get me wrong, I'm convinced rough use has led to the belt failing... my point is that rough use could have caused damage to the mower which (indirectly) resulted in the belt failing, rather than the belt failing because it has had a long and hard life. The lack of uniformity in the wear/damage pattern suggests there is more going on here than simply driving the mower into long clumps of grass.

Bendy_House

At £13, fit the belt and see what happens.

I fear that this alone will be challenge enough...

Ganga

To drop the cutting deck normally you make sure the machine is switched off ,take the pins out of the brackets holding the deck and the wire connected to it and pull it out the side ,to work underneath i have always just lifted it up a couple of feet and put wooden blocks under the wheels or you could use axle stands under the chassis BUT do not use house bricks as these can shatter.fitting the belt is an easy job for people with moderate skills but if the machine was made in the USA dont forget they do not use metric spanners only A/F sizes .