Belt Question

[lynnl]

I have a Troy-Bilt tiller (Horse model) which uses a dual belt system to drive the transmission/tines. No longer remember exactly why, but I've been running it with only one belt, even tho I had an extra, new belt. (I think a service tech recommended that to me..)
Well this weekend the one belt starting slipping so I replaced it with the new one. But I intend to get another and start running it with dual belts as per design. Now here's my question: the unused pair of sheaves are kinda rusty. Should I clean and polish those surfaces down to a bright 'shiny' condition before installing the new belt? i.e. will the new belt wear excessively before it 'polishes' the sheaves smooth? These surfaces are not easily accessed for any manual polishing or sanding. Tho if necessary I could mount some sandpaper on the end of a stick and apply it to the grooves while running the drive. (Hope no safety folks are watching this site.)

[Oso]

Two things.

One, yes I would clean up the pulleys to avoid wear of various sorts.

two, unless the idlers are independent, you need to match the belts so they are same length and ride the same way in the pulley. otherwise only one will do the work anyway.

three, since one belt path is worn and polished and the other is rusty and not so worn, probably the matching is pretty much irrelevant anyway. Get a pair of belts and if one seems tighter in the (formerly) rusty ones, swap them. Hopefully that will fix.
You might even put the slipping belt in the rusty pulleys and the new in the polished. The difference in stretch etc may compensate for the difference in effective pulley diameter.

[Doc Nickel]

Actually, what I'd do is run the old belt, alone, in the "rusty" pulleys for a while.

The old belt will knock down some of the rust, but wear on the belt isn't a concern since it's used anyway.

Once the old pulleys are something close to "clean" again, then put on a pair of new belts.

Doc.

[lynnl]

Wow! After coughing up the price of two new matching belts ($27 + chg) this has become a more serious issue! I didn't realize Troy-Bilt uses precious metals and gemstones in their belts. I'm darn sure gonna clean up that pulley groove now. It wasn't apparent, just by looking the other day, how much was rust and how much dust and dirt. But I'll soon find out.

[Thrud]

Lynn

When I sold parts for Duetz & Volvo Tractors I had a set of triple matched belts for the blower (cooling) on a old tractor - they were $240/set (B width metric belts about 4' long) 25+ years ago...

[lynnl]

These (probably 15-18" long) may have been cheaper directly from Troy-Bilt. But since I was there, and they had 'em onhand I just meekly pulled out the credit card. They do look a lot stronger...can see fibers that the sales guy said is Kevlar. They're an aggravation to replace, so if these will last it'll be money well spent.

[docsteve66]

Lynn: Those fabric looking belts are well worth the money. Wife does about 90 % of her own mower work. She went through Good name brands belts quickly, the fabric covered ones supposedly had Kelvar some where in their geneology. And I thought the old troy bilts had an idler pulley that kept same tension on the belts even if unmatched in length. The lever that operated the drive system had dual, independent pullies with flat backs that were floppy. Troy and Gravely used to be good stuff. Have not seen any new stuff- sounds as though you have not either .
Steve

[lynnl]

This one has no idler pulleys. Just dual pulleys on the horizontal motor shaft, and on the end of the drive shaft. When you pull down on the drive lever it raises the entire motor mount assembly which is riding on two vertical round rails. This takes up the slack in the belts. Probably a good 2 or 3" of movement when that drive lever is pulled down. It's a good sturdy, well made machine. And considering the abuse any machine takes when asked to churn up solid ground I have no complaints. Sure beats using a shovel!

I had to replace the tines a year of so ago, to the tune of $100+. I've thought about trying my hand at building back up the metal on the old ones with welding rod. ...to have a spare set for the next time. What I've found is that sandy soil really wears them fast.

[wierdscience]

I once used my Troy-Built to dig foundation footings,I tilled a strip in a straight line and when I had the strip tilled as deep as it would go I would stop and shovel out the dirt with a scoop shovel,It worked great made a nice trench and a lot cheaper than renting a backhoe,only one problem once I was down about three feet I had to get my tractor to lift the tiller out of the trench!oops! Oh I forgot to mention I also have a horse model tiller and it has two grooves ,but they are two different speeds,you might want to check this out on yours.

[This message has been edited by wierdscience (edited 04-24-2003).]

[motorworks]

Troy-bilt is now MTD
link:http://www.mtdproducts.com/home.jsp
I think you may find parts info etc there
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