OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Two Stroke Lawn Mower Frames Victa 550 Pro - How to replace drive belt?

:-) Thats not the worst idea - I was trying to take a picture to show the difference in sizes of the belts when I stretched them out off something under tension. Amazing how much the 'assumed' M36's had stretched - and yet the brand new ones were impossible to use

Honestly, you'd be amazed how much you're saying that is appreciated as I do not consider myself knowledgeable in this area - I muddle through as best I can - and so you wonder am I doing something wrong or half arsing - as it's gone so badly. So that it's just a really tricky mess is actually oddly good to know. So much thanks. :-)

PS. Not sure how I'd be able to 'safely' stretch the M36's - as any weight hung from it would place a lot of the stress in just one spot i.e belt is hung over one or a couple of hooks. It'd be a fine line figuring out how much to hang to do anything but not to damage the belt.

If you remove the tensioner and the belt fits nice and loose then you have to adjust the tensioner so that it tightens the belt. Should not be that hard to work out, just use whatever belt you like and modify the tensioner to fit. I didn't get an answer but do the other 2 have belts on them or is this the reason the PO got rid of them because he couldn't get belts to fit

Yes, I understand how it 'should' be - but as I said I have literally tried M36, M36K, M37 and M38 belts - and none seem to work correctly. So please understand that unfortunately it is not as simple as it seems. I can only assure you 'd prefer to do just about anything else than spinning my and your wheels on this.

Again it's not just as simple as 'well just modify the tensioner' - I get what you're saying and in other situations perhaps one could but I'm not at that point yet.

I believe I did answer you, I was not clear what you meant by was there belts on them. There are currently no fuinctional belts on any of the 3 550's I have - they came with 2 very clapped out belts - one which appears to be a very worn and stretched M36 - the other I cannot read. They work well for a very short period with the best of these two on. But they end up having issues. As mentioned a number of times when I try the M36 it's just incredibly tight and cannot be the correct belt - you cannot move the tensioner even a few mm - so engaging and disengaging the drive is near impossible.

I can't comment on why the PO sold them - my understanding was his late father loved them, bought up about a half dozen of them from the local council surplus - but he had to make room in his shed after his dad died. Beyond that I'd be guessing. :-)

Hi Tyler,

I would personally be doing what someone has obviously done on the red one - get an angle grinder and take a bit off the tensioner

Attached Images
Victa tensioner.JPG
This looks very obvious but will only work if the cable is long enough for the tensioner to move back

As stated back to Tyler - I am pretty sure whoever did this - and we're assuming this was 'by design' didn't really know or achieve what was desired. As the tensioner arm rest against a raised area of the chassis, with the spring pulling it back to here. The idler pulley is of a size where it will almost hit the raised area IF you go removed part of the arm.

And this is aside to the actual reason it's assumed they did this - as it still won't be able to add any more tension to a new M36 belt - as stated I literally broke the steel cable on one by trying to add more tension - the belt is incredibly tight and based on everything I've seen about belts, far too much so.

So my gut feel is that was a 'bodge' effort that achieved nothing - the only variables that can change and affect things are either the pulley sizes, pulley locations (which won't change) or the belt size - the latter being the most easily changed one. Anwyay it won't be solved today.

Just out of interest could you try the new m36 belt on the other mower that the old belt that looks like an m36 came off of.

wouldn't be the first time for dodgy manufacturing had stuffed up a belt

I hope it's a simple as that I know it probably won't be

Just out of interest could you try the new m36 belt on the other mower that the old belt that looks like an m36 came off of.

wouldn't be the first time for dodgy manufacturing had stuffed up a belt

I hope it's a simple as that I know it probably won't be

Tyler, much thanks for the ideas.

Yes, I have already tried all the belts I have onhand M36, M36K, M37 and the Gates M38 on both mowers - which appear to have identical pulleys and layouts etc. There was no noticeable difference or info I could ascertain from doing this.

:-)

Just to clarify, the new m36 belt did or did not fit the other one with the old belt?

I would just go to a local bearing place and get a longer belt, just take one that doesn't fit and get one a bit longer

The brand new M36 belts (one standard rubber and the other kevlar) did fit on both mowers. The fit was identical but it was so tight on both of them that you could not move the tensioner arm effectively to engage the drive (the arm struggled to move even a few mm, even when you adjusted the cable for maximum force).

Both mowers came with old and torn up standard rubber belts on them.

Is there an M or Z (as I believe thats the other compatible belt class) thats effectively a 36.5? Anyway I think your advice of going and asking a vbelt specialist is a good idea and is something I'd planned to do next I'm in town.

Late postscript to this saga - as mentioned the M36 belts didn't fit, as they were far too tight and when you engaged the drive you couldn't get the tensioner arm to move, as the belt was so taunt already.

Anyway, 4 mths or so ago, knowing I had the winter break (slight reprieve from the kikuyu monster!) I cut a strip of rubber from a thick section I had - about 10cm long x under 1cm wide - maybe 4mm thick. I carefully threaded this inbetween the belt and the rear drive pulley, effectively trying to stretch the belt by having it pushed out a tad further for several months.

I was pessimistic about how this would go - but surprisingly it achieved enough to allow the drive to be engaged & mow effectively - although I still had to have the tensioner arm in the incorrect spot (applying pressure closer to the middle of the belt rather than the rear. But working is fine by me.

We'll see how long these last - but worked well the first time around.