T1440 kubota rework

[38racing]

Stupid me. Mower is ready for the deck to go on. I had some yard work to do and this was the handiest mower to use. When testing I had strapped the engine to deck belt on the deck hangers and left loose on the engine pulley as there was a belt guard band around it. So what happens as I'm finishing I see belt smoke. Somehow it got caught in the pulley and it cut a nice slit into. Kicker is that when I removed the belt it turned out that the belt guard was an easy removal. Had I only realized that I would have removed the belt before. Problem is belt 66071-61720 is showing as 67" in some places and 68" in others. The belt on it is labelled LB 67 but measured 67.5 on my roll up the wall technique. LB 67 is showing as 68". In fact stens has 258-068 (5/8" x 68") replacing kubota LB-67 so I guess I will order a 68.
https://www.stenscanada.ca/258-068-belt
But to add to confusion on belt size. The stens 258-068 replaces kubota LB-67 and Yamaha LB-67. Stens 258-067 does not replace anybody's LB belt. Stens 258-066 replaces Yamaha LB66. I would expect it to replace Yamaha LB65 ie stens number 1 higher than Yamaha, as Stens 258-065 replaces Yamaha LB64. No wonder people get belts that don't fit.

[KE4AVB]

I just ran the LB67 through my Sunbelt/A&I supplier cross reference and came with it crossing to a B1(B65K) which is a 5/8 x 68 Kevlar belt.

But yes I love the way the OEMs are trying to hide their belt sizes. As you see the belt appears to be a half inch size but that probably a width issue where a standard belt is a little wider thus requires a slightly longer belt.

[38racing]

Getting close. The 5/8 x68 belt is definitely narrower than the LB67 that was on it. In hind sight I should have measured the new one. Hoping I don't have to switch to a 67 because it's narrower.

[38racing]

Finally cut grass. The only issue left when I started was tight steering. I thought that it was because I had shimmed the steering column bushing in the dash to take up some wear. However I removed it once and still tight so put in back in. I also greased the front spindles. So for most of cut it was stiff and radius was not full turn really. Don't know what happened but with about 10 minutes left to cut it started turning easier and sharper. Got another section to cut this afternoon maybe.