# Belt Eater



## rmclendon61 (10 mo ago)

Craftsman DYT4000 9172736403 42 inch deck belt shredding. Usually get about one mowing on a belt.


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## BinVa (Sep 21, 2020)

Are you using a quality belt? I'd check pulley alignment and bearings....maybe spring tension on idlers. Possibly misalignment in deck mounts. Did you have the deck off prior to this issue? B.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

Are you running the plastic pulley/spindle cover on the left hand side? Is there some debris trapped underneath it? Those things are a PITA for collecting debris. A rock, or a stick, stuck under that cover will shred a belt in a heart beat.


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## rmclendon61 (10 mo ago)

Using quality kevlar belts, mandrels are free and smooth. I'm not sure what is meant by "misalignment in deck mounts" 
I have had the deck off a dozen times in the 15 years since new.
Not using the plastic guard.
Thanks for the input.


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## thepumpguysc (Jan 25, 2015)

I had a buddy helping me install a belt “ONCE”.. he did 1 side while I maneuvered the other..
I fired it up and got about 4 ft and smoke came ROLLING out from the deck..
I looked and “my buddy” had ran the belt “keeper onner” around the little “U” instead of inside it and the blade pulley..
That was the second quickest $40.00 I ever spent.!!
Have a good look around the pullys, there’s usually a bolt or a U that helps keep the belt in place when the blades are not in use and there’s slack in the belt..


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## rmclendon61 (10 mo ago)

That is a very good thought. Maybe I will put the "Belt keeperoners back on the guide pulleys. Oh BTY there is never ANY slack in the belt (electric clutch).


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## BigT (Sep 15, 2014)

My mower has an electric clutch, plus belt guards (keeperoners) and a tensioner pulley.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

rmclendon61 said:


> Using quality kevlar belts, mandrels are free and smooth. I'm not sure what is meant by "misalignment in deck mounts"
> I have had the deck off a dozen times in the 15 years since new.
> Not using the plastic guard.
> Thanks for the input.


Most common way to end up with "misalignment in deck mounts" is to use the deck as a step to mount the mower. Don't run into it a lot on commercial zero turns, because they usually have "full floating decks" (suspended by chains). Conventional mowers usually have "fixed decks" suspended by hangers and bales. 200LBS guy stepping on a deck, every time he gets on the mower, will eventually throw the deck out of alignment with the clutch pulley. I see it all the time. Where's the belt shredding?.... Inside (rock in a pulley), Outside (routed wrong, flat idler locked up), On the edges of the belt (over tension, or bent pulley)


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## rmclendon61 (10 mo ago)

Thanks a lot, but I don't step on the deck. Still it get pretty rough treatment.


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