Ashz

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I purchased a troy-bilt front wheel self propelled lawnmower from Lowes two years ago. Last summer the thing started to eat belts for the front wheel drive. I sucked it up and thought it was a fluke. This year it is worse than you would believe. Last week I mowed the lawn and broke TWO belts. The time before that I broke 1. I got a new one tonight and broke it about 3 minutes into mowing the lawn. I am at a loss on this.

So I just got off the phone with the Lowes Extended warranty hell hole and they hooked me up with a service center to take it to. Problem I can forsee is they replace the belt and say it's good to go. I seriously want to push this thing off a cliff, but will remain optimistic until otherwise is warranted.

Really P#@$ES me off right now. Just drove almost five hours from upstate Ny today, in time to mow the lawn and this is what I deal with.

I should have been forewarned when the first mower they gave me the engine seized about a half hour into using it. Let me say this thing wasn't cheap, and I don't feel like giving up and buying a new one. BUT COME ON! WTF? I can see no way to adjust tension on this thing as it is clear that is what is causing my issue. I am thinking that this thing is just a pile and don't really know what to do. Any suggestions? Any experiences similar?

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Rick500

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I have one of those too. Don't know if it's the exact same one, but mine has a Briggs & Stratton engine. If yours is the same, and the engine itself was bad on the first one, I'd put that down to a fluke.

The rest of the machine though... obviously it shouldn't be running through belts. Hope they take care of you.

beerthirty

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I would guess that there is a problem in the gearbox that the belt goes to. Does it have an oil fill port or grease zerk? Also check the pulley to make sure it hasn't gotten a warn edge. If this is one of the type that the gearbox tilts to tension the belt, debris packed under the cover could have worn the lower pulley sheave sharp. I'm betting it is inside the gearbox though.

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TexasSpartan

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What kind of engine does yours have? I bought a Troy-Bilt from Lowes last year and I made sure mine had a Honda engine.

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david_42

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Belts seem to be a common problem with Troy Built. My Bronco riding mower burns up belts routinely. It has a dead-man on the reverse, so I'm constantly flipping the blades on and off. The current belt was purchased at a farm store and is holding up MUCH better.

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Ashz

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Mine is a briggs. I took it to the authorized service center today. The woman gave me the normal business about belts not being covered after 30 days, yada yada. I explained to her that I wasn't concerned about the belt being covered but about why the belts are getting thrown in the first place.

She went on to tell me that I could be running the mower too fast, cutting grass that is too high, generally the CYA approach to saying that it could all be my fault and it could ultimately not be covered by the warranty. So WTH? I got the idea that this is all to ease me into accepting it when they tell me there is nothing to be done.

The great part was when she was telling me that belts getting thrown are normal, I interrupted her and said I understood that and could accept it as being normal if it happened every couple of months, or weeks. However I feel that having to replace two every week is rediculous, she just raised her eyebrows and said "it is what it is" How F-ing profound.

My guess is I will be getting another mower in the next week or so depending on what they say. I guess I shouldn't have gone with bLowes.

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springer

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Even though the unit says Troy Built , John Deere , They are not the same unit sold by manufactures dealers. I have a "Troy Built" lawn mower that is really a rebadged MTD unit that was bought at Lowe's I use it at the rental house . Piece of crap mower belts get thrown constantly hard to start (electric)so now its a push mower.Even the Honda units are cheaped down to get to the price point for the box stores.

I will only buy motorized equipment from the dealers now. The Kubota walk behind never breaks nor does the John Deere tractor I have, both bought at the dealer.

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