With past talk about springs and belt tension I present for discussion the factory RSD tension spring and the spring used on many/most other models, x-one, fastrack, etc...
The belt is supposed to dance around when running. I'd be worried about belt wear and spindle bearings with the commercial spring installed anchor to anchor, the difference in tension from stock is not even close.
I maintain that the stock spring is perfectly fine on this mower.
The belt is supposed to dance around when running. I'd be worried about belt wear and spindle bearings with the commercial spring installed anchor to anchor, the difference in tension from stock is not even close.
The spindle belt tension remains constant by means of a tension
idler and spring. The spring tension should be such that the
belt does not slip under normal operating load conditions,
assuming the belt is not excessively worn or damaged. As the
belt stretches and wears in, adjustment may become necessary.
To increase belt tension, move the spring chain one (or more)
link(s) at the anchor point on the deck frame.
IMPORTANT: Do not over tension the spring to compensate
for a badly worn belt or pulley.
Spring length after tensioning new belt. Measured from outside of hook to outside of hook with deck set at 3¼" cut height: 8.3"-9.3"
All valid.
On the spring difference though, did you measure it? Appearance on springs can be deceiving. I do intend to measure pull force before trying it for real. I need to build a jig in the woodshop with my fish scale.
Here's a snippet from the FasTrack SD service manual, this is the entirety of its content on deck belt adjustment:
So the instructions are: belt slips, make it tighter, but not too tight. Start at specified tension resulting from 8.3-9.3" end to end on spring.
The issue I'm having is that my center blade slips in thicker stuff. Leaving a trail of half cut yard. The left and right are cutting the same thing perfectly. The center pulley has the least amount of belt contact so it would of course slip first. This slip happens and I don't hear the engine load up at all. I know the Kawa's are good, but not that good. What use (other than for marketing) is a 23, 50, or 1000 HP engine on the back if power delivery is limited to less than what can be generated?