tg1860g"breaking belts"

[Shack]

I've had Kubota tractors that really worked well, so when I needed a smaller mower that was capable eventually of pulling a Swisher Deck Mow, I found this little Kubota TG1860. The folks that owned it were not mechanically inclined (or posed as not be so) and said it needed a few things to be perfect.

2003 model, 478hrs, garage kept, looked new (seat had small cracks it only damage), so I get a new battery, all new belts (Kevlar), change fluid in tranny, grease every zerk I find, and headed out on my merry way to mow.

The first drive belt lasted 1 hr. It didn't fray, it broke. OK, bad belt. Ordered a D&D Kevlar, supposedly 3X stronger. Mowed 6 hours, it broke! No fray, just a clean break through the Kevlar, rubber, internal belts....slight angle, but clean. OK, something's up.

I have no history with this thing, but I knew going in they had a rare tendency to throw drive belts, and generally needed the drive belt changed yearly because of wear. (Single belt driving the machine and 52" mower is asking a lot) but this is not right.

I spoke with the local Kubota dealer, who told me to check the idler arm, they wear and get wobbly, which is was a little, so I'm repairing that. QUESTION: what else do I need to look for??? Transmission spins free, the PTO stack seems free, and all the drive tensioner pulleys are free. I thought is might be an unreasonable load caused by something binding in the mower deck when engaged, but nothing is jumping out at me.

I got OEM Kubota belts coming, and would like to get whatever is wrong corrected this time. Wife's giving me the eyeball about buying a mower we don't need to do something I had a tractor for!

 

[ve9aa]

Don't mow in the rain or an especially wet lawn or..................(you guessed it!) you'll break a mower drive belt.

Have had my TG1860 (diesel) probably closing in on 15yrs now or so and popped a lot of belts in my 500+ hours that I've put on it. Machine has nearly 1000hrs on it.

2? years ago I went with a cheapie Princess Auto (think Harbour Freight) belt as that was the only store open on a Sunday and that transmission drive belt was was something like 3/8th or 1/2" shorter than stock and, guess what? I haven't broken a drive belt in 2 yrs and thing pulls hard and I swear drives faster like never before going up inclines. Perhaps a coincidence as I don't break drive belts every year.

 

[Dave_eng]

Try another brand of Kevlar belt. The brand you were using, when I used them, did not last like a Kevlar one.

The OEM belts will tell the story!

Dave

 

[D2Cat]

I missed the message that TG1860 belts need replaced each year.

 

[rut3556]

>>I missed the message that TG1860 belts need replaced each year<<

I replaced my first one this year, and it's a 2001 with ~350 hrs. on the clock. Oh, and I bought it new. Oh, and if I waited for my grass to be dry before mowing it would never get mowed!

 

[lugbolt]

generally speaking clean breaks are almost always one of two things. (1) tension loading; in other words it's pulled in two, usually by a shock load (pulling trucks plows, etc--and occasionally when the mower is stuck in a ditch, one tire spinning at full speed and then it "catches" (gains traction). Sometimes when the belt is wet and slipping it finally grabs, and that'll do it too. (2) defective belt; or "junk". Those usually just break at the seam.

It has been a long time since the TG1860 was made, and I worked on a few of them over the years but belts being an issue? Never. I put a few deck belts on, one or two HST belts but it wasn't a big issue like it's made out to be. In fact, their biggest problem was people overheating them (diesels especially) and secondly the power steering. It was a crude EPS system in comparison to today's EPS systems. But it was nonetheless power steering, something that the G1800's didn't have, and should have (on the 2 wheel steer models). TG1860 replaced the G series. Occasionally someone would bring me a TG1860 usually diesel because of the area that I was working in (folks were a little better off than in other areas), and they'd want the trans filter replaced....that was a problem....nobody wanted to pay what it cost to have it done (trans removal required, and partial disassembly).

I don't care for the TG series, although they weren't necessarily problematic, I just never really liked them.

They aren't tractors, so using one to pull anything ground-engaging is going to break parts. Keeping that in mind helps longevity.