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dapest
Guest
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 Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 1:49 am Post subject: Reconditioning belts |
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Sorry if I'm a pest, but this is related to an earlier post about
squeaking alternator belt.
Normally I would not ask such a dumb question since belts are so cheap.
But I cannot work on this vehicle where it is located any more,
otherwise I would just replace the belt.
The alternator belt making the racket (I am making an educated guess
here) is the type that is serrated on the pulley side. It shows no
obvious signs of wear-cracking, missing teeth or rubber, etc. I have
tightened it such that the play is about 1/3 of an inch which from
reading is within specs.
So far there have been a number of suggestions for trying to get more
traction out of this belt and stop it from squealing, but I want your
opinion as to which, if any, offer any promise they might work, or if
you have other suggestions. Obviously the belt is not far off from
working since the squeal goes away once it has heated up and rubber
contracts when heated.
Among the ideas proposed good or bad are:
wd-40 on the belt-this makes no sense to me at all since wd40 is a
lubricant
sandpapering the belt
sandpapering the pulleys
cleaning the pulleys with alcohol
cleaning the belt with alcohol
cleaning the pulleys with brake clean
The other possibility I guess is that the pulleys themselves might be
worn, since this is a high mileage vehicle (70's van/318).
It seems to me that lightly sanding the belts and then cleaning them
with alcohol might offer the best possiblity of diminishing the squeal?
What do you think? |
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Tegger
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 1:49 am Post subject: Re: Reconditioning belts |
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dapest <dapest@belts.org> wrote in news:46c1bd7e@news.cuneo2lemon.net:
| Quote: | Sorry if I'm a pest, but this is related to an earlier post about
squeaking alternator belt.
Normally I would not ask such a dumb question since belts are so cheap.
But I cannot work on this vehicle where it is located any more,
otherwise I would just replace the belt.
The alternator belt making the racket (I am making an educated guess
here) is the type that is serrated on the pulley side.
It shows no
obvious signs of wear-cracking, missing teeth or rubber, etc. I have
tightened it such that the play is about 1/3 of an inch which from
reading is within specs.
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How hard are you pushing? Do you know what 20 lbs of force feels like? Is
20 lbs the spec for your engine?
Have you considered that the pulleys may not be quite in the same plane, in
which case LOOSENING the belt is the answer? Have you sighted along the
pulleys (in the manner of checking a 2x4 for twisting or warpage) to see if
they are in plane?
--
Tegger |
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dahpater
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 1:49 am Post subject: Re: Reconditioning belts |
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On Aug 14, 10:34 am, dapest <dap...@belts.org> wrote:
| Quote: | Sorry if I'm a pest, but this is related to an earlier post about
squeaking alternator belt.
Normally I would not ask such a dumb question since belts are so cheap.
But I cannot work on this vehicle where it is located any more,
otherwise I would just replace the belt.
The alternator belt making the racket (I am making an educated guess
here) is the type that is serrated on the pulley side. It shows no
obvious signs of wear-cracking, missing teeth or rubber, etc. I have
tightened it such that the play is about 1/3 of an inch which from
reading is within specs.
So far there have been a number of suggestions for trying to get more
traction out of this belt and stop it from squealing, but I want your
opinion as to which, if any, offer any promise they might work, or if
you have other suggestions. Obviously the belt is not far off from
working since the squeal goes away once it has heated up and rubber
contracts when heated.
Among the ideas proposed good or bad are:
wd-40 on the belt-this makes no sense to me at all since wd40 is a
lubricant
sandpapering the belt
sandpapering the pulleys
cleaning the pulleys with alcohol
cleaning the belt with alcohol
cleaning the pulleys with brake clean
The other possibility I guess is that the pulleys themselves might be
worn, since this is a high mileage vehicle (70's van/318).
It seems to me that lightly sanding the belts and then cleaning them
with alcohol might offer the best possiblity of diminishing the squeal?
What do you think?
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Tighten it. |
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Scott Dorsey
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 1:49 am Post subject: Re: Reconditioning belts |
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In article <46c1bd7e@news.cuneo2lemon.net>, dapest <dapest@belts.org> wrote:
| Quote: |
Normally I would not ask such a dumb question since belts are so cheap.
But I cannot work on this vehicle where it is located any more,
otherwise I would just replace the belt.
|
Do you use used condoms? When you look in the fridge and see a sandwich
that is all rancid and slimy, do you throw it out? Or do you try and
figure out some kind of condiment that you can put on it to make it
palatable?
| Quote: | The alternator belt making the racket (I am making an educated guess
here) is the type that is serrated on the pulley side. It shows no
obvious signs of wear-cracking, missing teeth or rubber, etc. I have
tightened it such that the play is about 1/3 of an inch which from
reading is within specs.
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So, it's shot. It needs to be replaced. Belts are like that. Belts
are wear items. You replace them regularly.
| Quote: | So far there have been a number of suggestions for trying to get more
traction out of this belt and stop it from squealing, but I want your
opinion as to which, if any, offer any promise they might work, or if
you have other suggestions. Obviously the belt is not far off from
working since the squeal goes away once it has heated up and rubber
contracts when heated.
|
These suggestions are mostly foolish. If your belt is bad, it is bad.
If your belt is good, someday it will _be_ bad and you will need to
replace it again.
Therefore if you have a vehicle on which belts cannot be replaced, you
must fix it so the belts _can_ be replaced.
| Quote: | Among the ideas proposed good or bad are:
wd-40 on the belt-this makes no sense to me at all since wd40 is a
lubricant
|
No, it's not a lubricant at all. It's a water displacement agent. You
can use it as a solvent. Earlier in this thread, someone suggested that
spraying WD-40 on the belt would briefly quiet it down for diagnostic
purposes. Nobody was so boneheaded as to suggest it as a long-term solution.
| Quote: | sandpapering the belt
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You could do this, and you might eke a few more days or even weeks out of
a failing belt.
| Quote: | sandpapering the pulleys
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If the problem is the pulleys, this would fix it. But the problem is
not the pulleys. The problem is the belt.
| Quote: | cleaning the pulleys with alcohol
cleaning the belt with alcohol
cleaning the pulleys with brake clean
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These will fix problems caused by grease or other contamination on the
belt. But that is not your problem. Your problem is that the belt is
bad.
| Quote: | The other possibility I guess is that the pulleys themselves might be
worn, since this is a high mileage vehicle (70's van/318).
|
That's possible, but you will never know without replacing the belt.
If that _is_ the case, the sandpaper described above will fix the problem.
| Quote: | It seems to me that lightly sanding the belts and then cleaning them
with alcohol might offer the best possiblity of diminishing the squeal?
What do you think?
|
I think you need to replace the belt and you need to stop making excuses
for why you can't replace the belt. If you cannot get the bolt loose,
take it to someone with a welder and have him get it loose. Then you
can actually fix the problem instead of wasting your time on half-measures
that do nothing.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
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