Did you use real Honda belts or generic replacements?

Likely you routed the belts wrong and missed an idler or tensioning pulley. do you have a diagram that shows how the belts should be routed?

Hi,
I carefully sourced aftermarket ones although to be fair my originals still did have life in them as it turned out.

No i don't have a diagram, maybe Honda will shoot one my way but I'm fairly sure its right, i was carefull

Kevin.

Since it worked before you removed the belts and it doesn't work after you replaced them only two possibilities exist...

1.The belts are wrong regardless of how carefully you sourced universal belts for a specific application. OEM belts are the best choice ESPECIALLY on Hondas

2. The belts are not routed or installed correctly or you didn't set a tensioner or idler pulley or reinstall a spring.

Regardless of how correct it looks you are missing something so look again and again and again and again until you see what's wrong.

In the future, BEFORE you remove belts take pictures or make sure you have a diagram or pencil one. Diagrams are not in the owner's manual so you'll need to find a service manual and Honda is a company that doesn't give them away for free.

Hi,
no it didn't work before i replaced them, that was the reason for the replacement.

I'm hoping you are right about the tensioner but I can't find it, hence the post, I'm hoping someone can point me to where it is ?

Many thanks
Kevin

With the brake/clutch on brake, see if the belt can be moved by hand on the pulleys. It should. If not, that's a sign that the belt is likely mis-routed. With the clutch/brake off check to see if you have much more resistance on the belt even to the point of not being to move it. If not, that indicates that the clutch/brake is not releasing and engaging the idler or the belt is too large..

This post was edited by grass1950 on Mon, Apr 22, 13 at 18:03

"no it didn't work before i replaced them, that was the reason for the replacement"... really?

You said "had no power/drive in higher gears on my Honda HF1211 S ride-on mower, the belts were old so i figured the belts were slipping so I replaced them".

After the belt replacement you say "Since replacement I now have no forward or reverse drive in any gear"

Hardly the same problems before and after belt replacement.

Unless you find a manual with a belt routing diagram there is nothing we can do to help cause we can't see what you did wrong.

Can you post pictures of the routing of your drive belt?

JL makes a good point.

Thanks Grass 1950,

With the brake/clutch on brake, see if the belt can be moved by hand on the pulleys. It should.
Yes it can

If not, that's a sign that the belt is likely mis-routed.

With the clutch/brake off check to see if you have much more resistance on the belt even to the point of not being to move it. If not, that indicates that the clutch/brake is not releasing and engaging the idler or the belt is too large

ok that's my next check for tomorrow morning, , I suspect it will move freely, can it be tensioned?

Just Lurker, what I did was to leave the old belt in place and route the new one over it if that makes sense, then I removed the old one, same for the deck belt.

"what I did was to leave the old belt in place and route the new one over it if that makes sense, then I removed the old one, same for the deck belt"

So, you had a problem and then routed the new belt exactly like the old belt was routed not knowing if the original belt had jumped an idler or tensioner pulley causing your original problem, right?

Either the belt is too long or the belt is routed wrong.

We can pound on these keyboards forever and we still can't help you cause you don't know what you're looking at and we can't see what you did. Perhaps if you moved your mower closer to your monitor?

Again, can you post pictures of the routing of your drive belt?

BTW, I seem to remember that the deck belt on that honda is toothed and may be a timed belt. BEFORE you fire it up and engage the deck make sure the blades don't interfere when turned by hand WITH THE ENGINE OFF.

Hi,
thanks for everyones help thus far. I will get some pictures up.
I followed up on the belts to find out why they might be different, I traced right back to the original supplier "optibelt"

It transpires they don't make the belts anymore. Mine were original off the mower and definitely had no teeth, on the deck belt or transmission belt. A UK supplier spoke with Optibelt, as did I and I have ordered the nearest alternative available drive belt through them, same sizes, pitch etc so hopefully it will be here in a day or so.

When i refit the drive belt I will take some pictures. I'm not overly optimistic this new belt will solve anything as I'm convinced its the same as what i have but its worth a shot.

Thanks very much again,

Kevin

Hi,
think I've achieved a bit of closure on this. It turned out that the original supplier of the belts changed/stopped making the belts that my model mower uses. It looks to have coincided with Honda changing the drive belt sizes for these machines.

Hence the belts I have been sent have all been the wrong size.

I spoke again to a Optibelt supplier (the OEM for the belt) who again tracked back and they sent me a smaller belt than any I had received before.

And viola, I have forward and reverse drive, the spec belts have all been too big. Anything from 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches.

I haven't used it on the lawn yet. I appreciate some good advice along the way :-)

For anyone else experiencing slipping drive belts there is a spray you can buy to regenerate the belts and also it was suggested buffing them up with some emery or sand paper would also help them get back their 'bite'. In hindsight that would have been the better route for me as my belts were intact, just slipping.

Thank you again

Kevin