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First problem I had with my mower happened today...in the middle of a lawn the main tensioner spring for the deck belt broke,,belt came off and got cut bad.
I had to rig up an old spring I had to finish the job.

Hope Hustler gives me a new belt and spring tomorrow.

I would grab and extra spring and the two clips it attaches too if I was a Hustler operator,,this way you wont be stranded dead on a lawn.

I plan on keeping an extra spring,belt and two clips on me at all times from now on.

Cheap Chinese swiss cheese metal spring....maybe I can find a better upgrade one day.

I knew I didnt like the looks of the tensioner system on this deck..

Tom

Over the years I've seen some pretty funky idler and spring designs work flawlessly for many hours. I have also seen some pretty simple ones have problems. I've got to say 57 hours seems like a disappointment... it probably all comes down to the quality of the Steel and how much it cost. Doubtful that Hustler makes its own Springs it seems like testing has come up a hair short.

kraky said:

Over the years I've seen some pretty funky idler and spring designs work flawlessly for many hours. I have also seen some pretty simple ones have problems. I've got to say 57 hours seems like a disappointment... it probably all comes down to the quality of the Steel and how much it cost. Doubtful that Hustler makes its own Springs it seems like testing has come up a hair short.

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Thats the truth!! Im sure the spring is from over seas...well they gave me a new belt and spring no questions asked,,he said ONE other guy came in with the same problem,,I bet it was more than one out of over 400 machines sold...lol..wonder if anybody else had this problem yet on the forum??
Anyway,,Hustler came through for me and Im back in business. Amen

I had a Deere lt180 lawn tractor before my first Hustler zero turn. It was 16 years old and had about 300 hours on it when I sold it to the neighbor across the street.
It had a decent cutting 42 inch twin blade mower deck under it. It had a spring-loaded idler that engaged the deck and once the belt got down towards the deck there was two funky idlers at a weird angle above the deck which then split the belt off and had it running around the deck with even more idlers and Springs. It seemed like an overly complicated way of running a twin bladed deck and an invite for trouble. 75% of its life was pretty easy on my lawn but fall leaf grinding took full horsepower and some trips up to the summer cabin where a little "Mound leveling" happened gave it some punishment. Bottom line was never had a spring break... never had the belts jump off and never had a pulley fail. The belt was still original when I sold it and looked like it had plenty of life left...... deere doesn't always hit a home run and some people complain about the price but once you get past the Home Depot Style mowers you can bet there is some engineering and Decent components involved.

My spring is still good but I don't have that many hours on it yet. Curiously, did the spring break on one of the hook ends or somewhere else? Chinese spring is probably plastic in the middle.

Lots of rope you buy now has essentially a heavy kleenex/paper towel core to make the diameter bigger without actually winding more rope. Not sure who figured out that was the way to go. Essentially trash rope.

One of the hooks broke off...

In that case it was a heat treatment failure.
A spring is a spring for no other reason than the heat treatment gets after being formed.
Usually they are done either in a basket or a tunnel furnace and the ones near the top / edge don't get a proper treatment.
In most western factories these would go back through the system again but in a lot of Oriental factories they get sent off to the customer to sort out.
Again it is a cost thing.
If peple would pay a resonable price things would get made properly
While we reward the shonks by buying the cheapest quality will drop.
The Magic Pudding is a fairy story for children not an economic theory.

Most my mowers have broke a spring or two. I replace them with trampoline springs.

Carscw said:

Most my mowers have broke a spring or two. I replace them with trampoline springs.

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I was sitting by my daughters trampoline and saw that they are just about the same..lol..my wife said,,dont get any ideas!!

You get 20x 7" trampoline springs for the price of 2 of the Hustler springs ...lol

How do the trampoline springs hold up bro,,break any of those yet??

577jersey said:

I was sitting by my daughters trampoline and saw that they are just about the same..lol..my wife said,,dont get any ideas!! You get 20x 7" trampoline springs for the price of 2 of the Hustler springs ...lol How do the trampoline springs hold up bro,,break any of those yet??

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I have broke 1 out of around 20.
Sometimes you have to relocate how you attach them.

Carscw said:

I have broke 1 out of around 20.
Sometimes you have to relocate how you attach them.

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Nice,,I just got back from TSC and found one made in USA about same size and tension $4.
Im gonna throw a few in my box..I dont like the rings Hustler has in the deck and on pulley slide that the spring attaches too either,,after warranty is over I may weld some nice fatter steel loops.
You where right about this deck,,its not built that great at all,,but nothing a few mods wont help....she ran flawless all day long today and it was 104 heat index.