replaced 417-8 drive belt, Uh oh!

[pops38 4]

Hi all, I'm new here but have had my 417-8 for about 5 years and finally my drive belt broke. I replaced it with a supposed equivalent Kevlar belt. (82" X 5/8) which was supposed to match up with a discontinued toro108501. Anyway the belt was tight going on but I got it eventually. The new setup however only had about 2 inches of pedal movement on the clutch. Much less than before. Anyway I started it up in neutral and tried to get it in gear but there was too much gear clash almost like the clutch wasn't working. Can someone give me a little primer on how this clutch and transmission  works so that I might understand what my problem is? Thanks.

[oldlineman 1,482]

I would say that the belt is to tight or not routed right. clutch depends on the belt getting slack enough to let it slip on the engine drive pully.

[WHX?? 49,177]

 Pops

 

All the belt guards & belt brakes in place and adjusted? I thought it was supposed to be an 83 incher?? Others will be along to welcome & help.

[pfrederi 17,887]

108501 is for a hydro not an 8 speed

7473 is for 8 spd according to parts manual

 

Personal preference but for gear trannies I use Toro Belts.  seem to engage more smoothly....

Edited May 8, 2018 by pfrederi

[pops38 4]

56 minutes ago, oldlineman said:

I would say that the belt is to tight or not routed right. clutch depends on the belt getting slack enough to let it slip on the engine drive pully.

Nah, It's routed right, but I can tell that it's too tight for the belt to slip on the engine pulley. So that's how the clutch works, by slipping. Well I'll be doggone. Never paid much attention to the transmission and clutch until this happened. Thanks for the reply.

[pops38 4]

40 minutes ago, pfrederi said:

108501 is for a hydro not an 8 speed

7473 is for 8 spd according to parts manual

 

Personal preference but for gear trannies I use Toro Belts.  seem to engage more smoothly....

You're right! My bad. I meant the 7473. I read the wrong number off of my research notes. So this belt, I ordered, was claimed to be a replacement for the 7473. I guess not, at least in this case. I'll go to our toro dealer and get one. Thanks for the input!

[WHX?? 49,177]

Your welcome Pops ....When lookng for a "correct" size belt I get one either size of what I believe to be correct. Take what doesn't work back.Works for me real well. I get them at a local TSC.

[Ed Kennell 38,687]

Just a reminder....The belt guard must be in place for the clutch to work properly.   The bottom flange on the belt guard provides the support for the declutched slack belt preventing it from drooping and contacting the drive pulley.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Ed Kennell

[Tuneup 1,433]

What about the clutch adjustment? If the old belt was slacking and he adjusted it tighter, wouldn't you now want to loosen it back to the 'new belt' position? Just tossing this out there but any adjustment is worth a look-see.

[pops38 4]

17 minutes ago, Tuneup said:

What about the clutch adjustment? If the old belt was slacking and he adjusted it tighter, wouldn't you now want to loosen it back to the 'new belt' position? Just tossing this out there but any adjustment is worth a look-see.

This is one thing that I was wondering. How is this adjustment made? I could not find any info online or in my owners manual. I would be very curious to see if there is an adjustment to be made. Like I said, I had a heck of a time getting the new belt on. I was looking for an adjustment at the time so to get the belt on I loosened the idler pulley enough to get some extra slack.

Edited May 9, 2018 by pops38
more information

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,102]

There is no adjustment for belt length.

You can adjust the rod from the pedal on the left side to accommodate operators with different leg lengths. Just changes the pedal position when it is in the rest  position.

 

Could you have installed the belt if the pedal had been held down? That is a worthless question in a way because the idler would still have to be loosened to get the belt between the L-bracket and the idler groove.

 

Garry

[pops38 4]

To wrap this up. I went and got an OEM Toro  belt 7473 same number as the aftermarket 7473 except it was probably 1/2" to  3/4" longer when held up to the aftermarket belt. I was a little skeptical. Installed the OEM belt and immediately saw I had more clutch pedal travel than the aftermarket belt, Put machine back together and the new belt worked perfectly. Thanks for the guidance to buy OEM. This is apparently critical for this application. Too bad the aftermarket belt got a little dinged up. Can't really return it. It probably works in lots of applications because I saw it got about 4.5 out of 5 stars from most buyers.  Thanks to all who chimed in.

[Tuneup 1,433]

4 to 5 stars for them there MTD tractors    So glad you got it done! Enjoy the tractor.

[doc724 925]

If you read the forums regularly, there are many people here who recommend that you only buy Toro belts for drive belt applications.  They claim that there are dimensional differences between Toro and aftermarket belts.  I cannot confirm if that is true or not but I have only bought Toro belts and never had a problem.  Plus, Toro belts are often less costly that Stens or other aftermarket belts.  I always avoid buying low cost belts as well.  I am a firm believer in you get what you pay for and when a drive belt snaps, it is not a 5 minute task to reinstall a new one-especially if it happens in the field.

[WHX?? 49,177]

I gotta tell ya guys I just searched ebayed a 114895 5/8 x 83" belt for a 520 and found this. Ordered one figuring it would be a cheap schooling if nothing else. Quite impressed with it so far tho. Was made of rubber much like OEM Toro Belts, not Kevlar wrapped and rode a bit high on the pulleys for hopefully good wear in to the pulleys. Don't know if is same dimensionally as OEM but for 15 clams don't care.  Time will tell.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/REPLACEMENT-BELT-FOR-Toro-107939-108502-112801-114895-8160-93-9809-5-8-x83/190942297055?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649