Technical I NEED A GOOD, STIFF BELT

I don’t agree that the idler is the culprit of Billy’s belt issue .
If you look at his application,,,,,,that belt probably only has a 25-30 degree back bend,,,,,,I don’t believe that is enough to cause a belt failure like he has .
I’m just guessing from the pic,,,,,,he can measure the angle,,,,,,but I don’t think that is his issue .
Poor quality rubber,,,,,,is the culprit in my opinion.
Of course,,,I’ve been wrong before,,,,,what do I know ?

Billy,
I see you have a 36 tooth pulley on top,,,,,what’s on bottom ?

Tommy

 

Here is a picture of a Scag Tuff Tiger mower drive belt, it's a cog belt that makes more then a 180* turn on the back side ( silver pulley in the center ). Maybe you can find who makes their belts and see what sizes are available. These belts last forever on our work mowers.

 

Why not fire off an email to Gates technical and ask their opinion? The worst that could happen is they tell you not to use their belts in that application.
After doing some local canola harvest work and checking out how the headers operate, I've got a new appreciation for how hard v-belts work.

 

There's always room for a crown

Good idea, the idler is wider than the belt, it may be walking around. I'll take a pic later

The upper blower pulley is 6" diameter the lower is 5". I had to help a friend install 2" leveling struts on the front end of his new Ford PU yesterday so I didn't get to my stuff. I will do so shortly and be back with more information as I get this belt out of the car. I rolled it around and all the numbers are worn away.

 

The belt is worn and the numbers are barely visible. This says made in mexico, 2514MX???

Not much help
Further up the belt, Hi Power is a brand name???

The back has a crown on it, normally a belt that is designed to run on its back side would be flat yes?

Not much ID left on it. I will take it up to the auto parts store and use a belt gauge on it to determine length and angle. Back at ya in a bit.

 

Gates appears to make Hi Power belts but not this number.
Here are the best pics I could muster. Looks like 2514MX

 

it looks like that Hi Power belt is an industrial belt. Great for your air compressor but not so great for your hot rod When you need it to have it's backside run around an idler. . Hi-Power® II Belts | Gates Corporation

They have the whole listing size wise by number on that page or the attached pages.

 

I've never had much luck using industrial belts on a car. Personally I would get an automotive belt with notches on the bottom to give extra flex for bending backwards

 

@Bandit Billy ... Not to sidetrack your thread, but the first time I saw the title to this it reminded me of a funny (to me anyway) story my Dad told me years ago:
My Mom and Dad used to go (trailer) camping and fishing with another couple their age, on a pretty regular basis. One night as they were sitting around playing cards, the other lady was complaining about not feeling well. My Dad says "What you need is a good stiff...." and before he could say "drink", she interrupted and said, "That's what Charlie (her husband) says, but I'm not having ANY of that!".
Well I thought it was funny..... maybe you had to be there.....
Back to regularly scheduled programming.

 

I'm just astounded the timing cover's not polished!

 

Apparently Hell froze over!!!

 

It is, it is just covered in crud in that pic. Here is an old one from assembly.
Never fear, it is shiny once again!

 

That's what Gate's BX line are; notched belts. I'm pretty sure their Hi-Power line is an industrial belt.

 

Unless I am wrong (and I am never wrong) this is a 63" belt and Gates does sell a BX63 on amazon for $20. I'm thinking of buying an extra and tossing it behind the seat.

 

Maybe that poor old belt succumbed to its humble beginnings, surrounded by the lavish expenditure of plating, polishing and 'petting'...

 

Sounds like performance anxiety...or so I've heard. I'm glad the radiator let go or I would not have checked that belt.

 

Hey Guys ,
I think I was wrong,,,,,looking at that pic in post #42,,,,,,it looks like the belt is back bent on about a 70 degree angle,,,,,my earlier guess was wrong .
Sorry about that,,,,I’ll try to do better !

Tommy

 

You can get v-belts that have the "V" on the back side too so those should have no issue bending in both directions.

 

I'd say your 70 degree estimate is pretty close on that back bend. I have the radiator back in so it hard to get in there but the pic shows it pretty well. I am shocked that belt disintegrated so quickly.

I saw those on line. I was worried that they would "walk" on that idler pulley since they have only a small contact patch in the middle of the V. It is possible that this "industrial" gates belt was a mis-application from the start. $20 bones for a belt is a drop in the bucket so I ordered a couple from Amazon today, I also got 2 extra sockets (for the idler and the gen mount) to throw in my tool kit so I can do a roadside replacement should it be necessary.

 

not necessarily, - I have had them octagonal in cross-section so that they run backwards on an ordinary pulley.
Question - if it was originally flat on the back and has worn in a crown/convex shape, why is the writing still showing only on the edges ?
Should not that be where the writing should be missing ?

 

I fully agree. That belt has a crown to it and it is obvious it always had. Hopefully I will have a couple new belts on my doorstep tomorrow to try that will perform better.

 

Too much over-thinking on this thread....
You wanna get longer life out of it? You want it to run smooth? You want it to run quiet? You wanna fix it and forget it?
Fix it the TRADITIONAL way! Get a pair of your wife's pantyhose (to avoid getting sidetracked, don't ask for the ones she is currently wearing), wrap it around the pulley you want to roundy-round, tighten the generator, and Tango on. It'll only cost you a few bucks for the replacements, can be done anywhere (even the side of the road), and will serve you for many miles.
The best part is, your wife will feel she's part of your hobby, and peace will be restored in the household!
Now.... any other problems got you stumped that I can help with??

 

Pantyhose?

 

Pantyhose are for emergencies, no silly, the roadside tool kit!
They work!

 

My wife is too young for pantyhose. Besides, she is too short. I need 63"

 

https://parksidemotors.ca/replace-a-belt-with-pantyhose-fact-or-myth/

 

Two pair

 

biting my tongue…….

John

 

Have you gotten the belt issue figured out? Seems like maybe just a poor product. I tried a power belt on the '34's 283, which looked like an automotive belt, but that sucker would roll over in the pulleys and fly off at anything over 4,000 rpm.