1999 Vortex need help

[Ed]

We installed a new blower about a month ago. Everything ran great during extended testing. Got it out on a job and one of my guys noticed he was losing vac. He goes outside and the truck is screaming and smoking near the blower. He shut it down for a couple of minutes, then restarts it and it works great the rest of the job.

Next job, I go out and watch the blower, belts, RPM's, etc. Sure enough it happens again. The RPM's don't seem to be reducing on the gauge, and the pulleys are still turning like crazy, but it is screaming and smoking and then it freezez up. Stop the machine, restart it in a couple of minutes, no problems. Blower is brand new, everything, including PTO is greased, oiled, etc. What could be causing this?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Ed

 

[Art Kelley]

Sounds like the belts slipping.

 

[bob vawter]

belts.....do you have a tensioner.......?

 

[Lyman]

I will trade ya a slightly used dual motor ninja and 25 ft of hose and what the hell, $50.

 

[BradFenstermaker]

Ed does the blower free spin with the truck off?

Did the smoke smell like burnt rubber?

Belts may be to tight or that blower is catching on a bad bearing.

Rotate the blower real slow and see if it has any ruff spots while spinning.

Unless the pto is sticking but I would think the ud would throw a tranny light on the dash. Clutchs would hot as well as the fluid.

You want about 1/2" of play on the belts on the belts.

 

[Jim Martin]

could be 2 different problems....

when you greased the blower..you don't have lines on the weep hole and grease got on the belts....

but you said it lock and then it released....pull your vac relief off and polish the thing up and then re-install....mark it where the setting is now so you can take the guess work out of trying to make sure you have it right.....

 

[dealtimeman]

ed call me when you get a chance.

 

[Ed]

Thanks for all the help guys. Especially Michael Lockhart. He is a super nice and knowlegeable dude. I really appreciate the help Michael.

The pressure relief valve is pretty rudimentary, but I think that might have been the problem. It's basically a 4" bolt throught the side of the waste tank, with a disc on the inside and a spring on the bolt on the outside. This was rusted so bad it couldn't open. We cleaned it up and re-set the relief valve and she's working great. Thanks again for everyone's help.

Ed

P.S. Except Lyman. Couldn't offer me that nice Butler, just a ratty onld neenja. I already have one of them hags. :mrgreen: