John Deere Tractor

[lefty]

Model E130 LWN Tractr
DOM: 082218
PIN: 1GXE130EKJJ039470

This one came to me today. Owner purchased it new from a dealer at the beginning of last season. It has 19 hours on it. Today, the deck belt exploded. It appears both shredded and actually broke at a point. There's about a 2' length of it that is mangled and broken but the rest of it looks as you would expect a 1 year old belt to look like. He didn't hit anything, it just broke and stopped cutting. It seems credible as his property is meticulous with no obstacles really.

I inspected underneath and the pin holding the PTO cable at its anchor point was not in place, it was just dangling around the cable and kind of bent a bit. I assumed that maybe it wasn't in place and the belt may have gotten caught on it but really, I don't know. The owner drove to the dealer today and the dealer said he must have a seized pulley. He said that there's no way that pin would interfere with the belt. But I checked all the pulleys and the are not seized. I can't see anything else out of place that the belt could have gotten caught on.

What could have caused this on an almost brand new machine? The dealer charged him for a new belt and said he couldn't talk warranty unless there was a diagnosed problem, which seems logical to me, but it's not a seized pulley. I'm not even sure a seized pulley would cause this type of event. I would think that would cause damage / wear over a larger area of the belt and would make noise or a burning smell for some time before breaking? But that's why I'm here, I know you guys will correct me and point me in the right direction.

Thank you.

[bgsengine]

try and find out if maybe the grass was high and he set deck on the cutting height before engaging the PTO at full throttle - if he did, maybe educate them that the PTO should be engaged at around 1/2-3/4 throttle before starting cutting, and in high grass, may have to make 2 passes - first one at 1/2 of the usual cutting height and then a second at final cutting height.

the belt coming apart explosively could be enough to deform the bowtie pin on deck cable.. and if that is what happened, then a belt failure between spindles like that would generally indicate a heavy resistance in the spindles or blades.. on the other hand, could have been just a defective belt that decided to fail. also carefully check out the blade brakes (if equipped) and belt guide adjustments (on idlers and around spindles and PTO clutch) to see if belt could have slipped between a pulley edge and a guide and jammed up in there.

[KE4AVB]

Do you have a picture of the failed belt?

[lefty]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9CAZNMJGhUviE6Mn8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8Vn6qRp6Dd1KMMYh8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/gy4rhAtjpCFK5FA1A

Can you see these?

[lefty]

try and find out if maybe the grass was high and he set deck on the cutting height before engaging the PTO at full throttle - if he did, maybe educate them that the PTO should be engaged at around 1/2-3/4 throttle before starting cutting, and in high grass, may have to make 2 passes - first one at 1/2 of the usual cutting height and then a second at final cutting height.

the belt coming apart explosively could be enough to deform the bowtie pin on deck cable.. and if that is what happened, then a belt failure between spindles like that would generally indicate a heavy resistance in the spindles or blades.. on the other hand, could have been just a defective belt that decided to fail. also carefully check out the blade brakes (if equipped) and belt guide adjustments (on idlers and around spindles and PTO clutch) to see if belt could have slipped between a pulley edge and a guide and jammed up in there.

Anything is possible but I can't imagine it was due to a heavy initial load. This lawn is well cropped. I can't imagine he was taking off more than 1/2 inch. His lawn is well maintained and I could barely tell the difference between where he had cut and where he hadn't. He lives across the street from me. And he baby's this machine. His cutting speed is very slow. But now that we're talking about it. Could this result from having low engine speed? I don't want to date myself, him, or anyone else here, but he is an "older" gentleman and I would be surprised if he was maybe running the machine below max RPM while cutting. I can't confirm that right now but would that play a roll? I'm racking my brain over here trying to make sense of it.

[bgsengine]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9CAZNMJGhUviE6Mn8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8Vn6qRp6Dd1KMMYh8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/gy4rhAtjpCFK5FA1A

Can you see these?

that belt has been rubbing on something - belt guide, pulley edge, etc.

[KE4AVB]

Does look it has been rubbing on something, maybe a belt retainer. Just replace a belt on a Murray where the belt go outside one of the belt retainers.

Also he has a 42C deck is he mulching with it? I have seen some JD mulching decks to have extremely high deck loads even with short thick grass. I was stalling one out last year here that just had a new belt put on it. Shouldn't been stalling but it was.

[lefty]

Thanks. I'll give it a much closer inspection for rubbing marks on all of the components today. Ran out of daylight yesterday.

[lefty]

I took the deck off of it and gave it a thorough inspection. Everything looked in place. Clearance on belt guards looked ok, but they are not adjustable. They're just welded in place and nothing looked bent. I put the new belt on and it seems to operate normally. I guess this one must have been a fluke? Time will tell.

[bobodu]

It's GREEN....don't buy GREEN....