Belt tensioning pulley

[Shane T]

I'm considering the possiblility of adding a tensioner pulley to my blower belt system. This would be an attempt to make belt changing easier. Currently it is a very difficult and time consuming job. If it were only once a year it wouldn't be so bad. My question is where can I purchase these kind of parts. It needs to be wide enough to handle three 3VX belts. Its seems to me that I've seen something on some other TMs.

 

[Doug Cox]

Shane- I think Johns custom Machine has something like what you are looking for. I also think Powerclean came out with a conversion kit. I am also interested in this, so keep us all posted. I'll see ya in Nashville.

 

[bob vawter]

my steam genies take less than THREE minutes to change all THREE belts!

 

[Shane T]

Thanks Doug, I'll check em out. Look forward to meeting you in Nashville.
Bob, I'll trade you straight up, my PowerClean for your "Brand New Steam Genie". :wink:

 

[bob vawter]

Thanks Doug, I'll check em out. Look forward to meeting you in Nashville.
Bob, I'll trade you straight up, my PowerClean for your "Brand New Steam Genie". :wink:

i ain'ts GOT one yet.......but i'm working on TWO...
a change of plans...
BOTH will be 47's...i took my 45 blower apart las nit.......wasn't up to par...
so now it will be two..
BRAND NEW STEAM GENIES 47's!

 

[GeneMiller]

http://www.brewertensioner.com/screwadjust.html

gene

 

[hogjowl]

You mechanics should have seen me and my son changing out the three blower belts on my V.

I got it done, but knew I was probably making it harder than it really had to be, and that you know it alls would be laughing like hell if you could have seen it.

Shut up, Odin.

 

[joeynbgky]

2 minutes to change my 3 tcs belts with a screw driver why its running pop umm off, someone on here todl me that easy way

 

[floorguy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzo6a16IZgg

 

[Ron Werner]

Took a little extra engineering to make it fit but it works great.
Got it from John's Machine Shop.

 

[Shane T]

Thanks Ron, I need mine to ride on the back(flat) side of the belts. I will give John a call, maybe he can get a different pulley to fit. Besides making it easier to change belts I want create more surface for the belts grip the drive and blower sheaves.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Prying belts on and off with a screwdriver greatly shortens the life of the belt.

 

[Larry Cobb]

Doug;

I loved the 30 second belt change.

Reminds me of the constant valve adjustments I had to do on my wife's VW Beetle.

On the belt tensioner ...

We do have a stainless ball-bearing design that mounts on the engine.

It was designed for the flat side of several 3VX belts.

Larry Cobb

 

[Shane T]

Larry, That looks like what I'm looking for. Is your tensioner self adjusting(spring loaded)? Will it fit on my 31 horse Agies? How much is it?

 

[Lee Stockwell]

You can buy them off the shelf at AutoZone.

 

[bob vawter]

you boys are gonna put an eye out wit those things.......

 

[Shane T]

You can buy them off the shelf at AutoZone.

I've tried these types of items from Auto Zone before and have not had good luck with them. Most of it is made in China or there abouts.

 

[steve g]

Prying belts on and off with a screwdriver greatly shortens the life of the belt.

no it doesn't, that is how kelly at steam action supply does it, the last belts I changed out were ones he put on like 3 years ago, they were cracked and hard and brittle, rolling them on did not cause that, I had them changed before they went bad, the alternative on my machine is unbolting the blower prying it upward bolting it back down checking to make sure its all straight and aligned then retightning to the correct tightness, this would take me probably a couple hours. this would also break the little piece of black hose that connects the blower to the silencer as I know that piece will crack out and break as it has never been changed.

 

[Erik]

Thanks again Harp!!! :idea: :idea: Hope to be able to show at MF6.

 

[Shane T]

So I guess those of you who just run the belts off & on never bother adjusting them.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

From a belt manufacturer's site:

"Always shorten the center distance of the drive until the
belts can be laid over the sheaves. Never pry or force a belt
on the drive with a pry bar or by cranking. This will almost
certainly damage the tensile cord and although the injury
may not be visible, belt life will be drastically reduced."

This is especially true for matched sets of belts.

 

[Jim Martin]

you have to pry/walk the blower belts over on the vortex.....for as long and as hard as I have ran this machine......it has never hurt the belts one bit.........and this is my second set that I have ever had to put on.....they are never cut ..split..or torn..they just finally wore down into the grove of the pulley and were glazed............

 

[steve g]

From a belt manufacturer's site:

"Always shorten the center distance of the drive until the
belts can be laid over the sheaves. Never pry or force a belt
on the drive with a pry bar or by cranking. This will almost
certainly damage the tensile cord and although the injury
may not be visible, belt life will be drastically reduced."

This is especially true for matched sets of belts.

this is also a prochem machine, your profile says you run prochems, belt changes kinda suck on our machines, at least blower belt changes. I am on my 3rd set of pryed on belts all the beltd were cracked, hard and brittle when retired and lasted the expected amount of time. just wait till you change yours the next time. remove all the covers, take off the air pump, pry the blower up as prochem does not leave enough adjustment to push it back, bolt everything back down, align everything, then find our you broke the little black hose that connects the blower to the silencer and have to pull it ALL back apart again. I know because this has happened to me, paying kelly 30 bucks to install new belts every 3 years or so, is money WELL spent. my hands stay clean and my knuckles un skinned. belts last the expected time, never had one break yet, everything stays aligned, and the stupid black hose is working fine for now until one day it will finally give out, then I will deal with that when I need to.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Good grief. Do it right. Rachet socket and extension. Fifteen minutes, and a pair of BX43 Gates belts.

It's hard to loosen because you've never done it. The blower to silencer hose has probably been cracked and dried out for years. Time to put on a new one. Usually you don't have to remove it, just use a screwdriver to loosen the clamp. (Borrow a screwdriver).

I'd be pissed if my distributor's mechanic was too lazy to do it right just because the damage isn't immediate.

What other shortcuts does Kelly take? Does he clean and polish the old oil filter instead of changing it (why get dirty hands huh?) Descale with plain water? (don't have all that gunk coming out). Check ONE spark plug and assume all the others are just like it? Top off the motor, blower, and pump with the same 10w30? Might as well put a glug in the governor as well...lol

Hacks beget hacks...

 

[GeneMiller]

Larry has it right belts should be tensioned inward to increase the wrap, less chance of slipping.

gene

 

[steve g]

Good grief. Do it right. Rachet socket and extension. Fifteen minutes, and a pair of BX43 Gates belts.

It's hard to loosen because you've never done it. The blower to silencer hose has probably been cracked and dried out for years. Time to put on a new one. Usually you don't have to remove it, just use a screwdriver to loosen the clamp. (Borrow a screwdriver).

I'd be pissed if my distributor's mechanic was too lazy to do it right just because the damage isn't immediate.

What other shortcuts does Kelly take? Does he clean and polish the old oil filter instead of changing it (why get dirty hands huh?) Descale with plain water? (don't have all that gunk coming out). Check ONE spark plug and assume all the others are just like it? Top off the motor, blower, and pump with the same 10w30? Might as well put a glug in the governor as well...lol

Hacks beget hacks...

ummmm never done it before, wonder why I know exactly what happens and how to take it all apart, how do you think I know about the dried out little hose. I have a 6ft tall stainless rolling tool box, air tools, welder, I have rebuilt a cub xl from a bare frame, I have removed engines from cars and reinstalled them. I have turned a wrench or two in my day. I worked for a company that ran 6 prochem units, performers, legends, bruins. I was the in house maintenance guy, we were 100 miles from the nearest distributor so if belts broke it was my job to fix it. an d yeah, I have likely changed more belts on prochem units than even you. if pryed on belts last 3 years and 1500 hours, I would say prying them on had NO effect on their life span. its 15 minutes, or 2 hours or more, I will take the 15 minute choice.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Ok. so you're a hack with a lot of tools?

 

[Ron Werner]

Larry has it right belts should be tensioned inward to increase the wrap, less chance of slipping.

gene

depends how big your sheaves are

 

[GeneMiller]

true Ron, but inward would still increase the wrap. mine by the way are pushing outward.

gene