Drive Belt for Hustler Sport / 42"

[SteveHaller]

The OEM specs for the pump/drive belt p/n 769133 call it out as a 1/2" x 67.4" OD belt. There is a Gates 6867 Power rated Green Belt for lawn/garden applications that is 1/2" x 67.18" OD, so just a tad short as compared to the OEM belt. Does anyone have any experience with this belt?

 

[StarTech]

I would suggest sticking with the Hustler belt as it is a Kevlar raw edge belt and the Gates 6867 is spec'd at 67" and can shorter than spec'd plus it is a cloth wrapped Kevlar belt. Since Huslter spec'd raw edge there may a problem of slippage with the cloth wrapped belt. A Scag Turf Tiger uses a raw edge and the cloth covered will not work I try three belts before we went back with the raw edge belt.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Double on what Star has said,
Covered belts are only really needed for clutching operations where you want the belt to slip
Rubber gets sticky when hot
Put your hand on one of your car tyres when you have driven more the 10 miles and feel how sticky it gets
ZTR's that have 2 motor pumps have a big problem in that the belt running around the left pulley is alway at less tension than the right.
Ideally you would use a triple pulley with each hydro having its own belt .
To try & equalize things a bit a lot of latter ZTR's have only 90 deg of contact on the right and 180 deg or better on the left

 

[SteveHaller]

Great points, thanks for your responses. Yes, agree on the benefits of the raw edge belt construction for this application. Having said that, it does look like the mower deck belt is of covered/wrapped construction as per what I can tell from hustlerlawnmowerparts.com (see here) -- makes sense as you would get (and want some initial slippage) when engaging the PTO.

 

[bertsmobile1]

The deck belt is covered, the drive bet is not
The drive belt is always running
The deck belt turns on & off with the PTO clutch.
Slipping when starting is not necessary nor desired, that is the job of the tension spring
Slipping when the blade hit an immovable object in the lawn is.
Ideally when set up properly the deck belt slips just before the engine stalls under load from the blades.