Belt for Riding Mower

[ssmith1627]

Holy cow -- I had no idea it would be such a job to find a new belt for a mower !

I have a Snapper Hydro. Apparently Snapper mowers have a bad reputation ? Don't sell ? Lowes, Home Depot, Sears -- none of them carry Snapper. I knew Ace Hardware had them at least a year or two ago but apparently not any more -- drove out to a store only to find no Snapper mowers and no Snapper parts.

Have one place left to try tomorrow that's way out of my way. They've done service on my mower before but it's not convenient at all. Wish me luck ! If not, I'll have to try to search online.

Why do belts not list the length ?? I'd be perfectly happy to find another belt of the same length -- about 60 inches. The belts in the stores show what they're for but no specs at all. So far everything I've found has been at least 6 feet in circumferene.

Time to sell this mower before something else breaks that I can't replace ! Sorry for the rambling, just frustrated.

Steve

[williwatt]

Try http://www.jackssmallengines.com/snp_hr_belts.cfm They have some Snapper hydro belts listed but you'll probably need your model number.

Bill

[ssmith1627]

Thanks Bill. If I can't get it here at this last place tomorrow, I'll order from them. I do have the model # with the manual.

I'll either buy 1 belt and sell the dang thing or just buy 4 belts ! haha

Steve

[siliconbauhaus]

I thought snappers had a good reputation? Have you tried calling snapper directly?

[ssmith1627]

I got this mower from my inlaws -- so not something I purchased myself. It's been fine for me, no major issues. I just can't believe it's not carried by Ace Hardware, Lowes, Home Depot or Sears. Nor do any of those places carry any of the parts for it.

If this were something so specific like a part of the throttle or steering or something, I'd call Snapper and expect to order that part. But a belt ? Sheesh. I had no idea I'd have to go through this. I've been trying to find it locally all week with no luck. We won't talk about how tall my grass is now.

Steve

[Daryl]

Didn't Walmart have something to do with the decline of Snapper? Such as undercutting local dealers?
Does the belt have any numbers at all on it. most belts I am familiar with have a code for the length and width stamped on them,

[LinuxRandal]

Didn't Walmart have something to do with the decline of Snapper? Such as undercutting local dealers?
Does the belt have any numbers at all on it. most belts I am familiar with have a code for the length and width stamped on them,

Walmart wanted Snapper to make a cheaper one for them, to compete with the borg and such. Snapper went to Walmart and said, NO, we want to keep our stuff here and control it's quality (I am pretty sure it was the CEO who wrote a book on the whole incident). So Snapper decided to go pretty much with their own dealers (hence finding parts in the hardware stores, etc, being problematic).

That said, take the old belt to an autoparts store. Most likely you can match it up to a Gates belt (just not branded Snapper).

[Pappy]

I had the same problem with my Deere. The mfg's keep the sizes a secret so you have to buy thier belts at their prices. I got a Deere dealer to look up the sizes of both belts for me so I can buy them at the auto parts store or Tractor Supply.

[sparkeyjames]

I have an old (1977) Montgomery/Wards 11HP 36" riding mower (yes you read that right). All the belts on it can be replaced at the auto parts store. Still gives the lawn a nice brush cut. Only thing that is a pain is pulling out the mower deck to sharpen the blades.

[ssmith1627]

Hey guys.

The belt itself didn't have any numbers on it -- I think it's just too worn to read any of that. Who knows when it was last replaced.

A bit of further confusion came from the mower manual. I had one from the internet that I'd printed. Then in a file folder my wife had, there was an original manual. I thought oh, there's the original, fine. But nooooooo. That ended up being the manual for a different model Snapper altogether -- I think one that belonged to my father in law. Nothing like trying to get parts for the wrong thing !

The the local co-op sold Snapper mowers but didn't seem real interested in helping me sort out my belt issue. I found one there that was close to the broken one I had in hand. But it wouldn't fit. The co-op offered to order it but I didn't want to wait for that.

Last hope -- a place about 30 minutes away that services and sells snapper mowers. They gave me the right part in about 30 seconds. I should've gone there first but just so far out of the way. Got my mowing done Saturday afternoon but now I think the battery is dead on it. At least now i know the RIGHT place to go for a new one !

What a saga. Thanks for listening.

Steve

[Woodshark]

Hang on to your Snapper. You don't see them in the big box stores because they are made to last.

Up until 4 years ago I had one that was older than me. According to the Snapper people it was built in 1959 or 1960. What a beast. Three blades and it had an old style engine. No rewind on the starter cord, you had to wind the rope around the moter and pull. If it didn't start you wound the cord and pulled again. Sucker would start on the third pull even after being left over winter.


I'd still have it but the deck was rusting out from under me. I bought a cheap lawn tractor from Home Depot and it does not cut anywhere near as good as that old Snapper did.