Troubles in snowblower city

MNGB

MNGB

Tractorologist
Senior Member
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Went into the shop this afternoon to check the new notched belt for fit and wear NOT good the darn belt flipped over and was running upside down over the blower / auger drive, removed the blower from the GT5000 looked it over and over thought maybe the idler V pulley was out of alignment on the RH side added some washers to move the idler reinstalled started the tractor engaged the PTO ran about 2 minutes could see that it had made a half turn stopped removed the blower thought I'd try a Kevlar "A" belt installed the blower ran it 5 minutes all looked ok went outside and blew snow for 10 minutes belt is in place but started slipping in heavier snow will go back and add so tension to the belt adjusting idler.
I'm now wondering if the other belts were rolling over and running on the backside causing them to fail in about 10 hrs
 
My experience has been that when a belt flips over is usually caused by to wide a belt for a pulley. Any belt should run with the top flat at least flush with the pulley sides if not recessed a bit. Also alignment could be the issue. Only piece of equipment that I run a FHP belt one in the wood spliter. Everything is is Kevlar. Good luck.
 
Thanks Roger for the reply. the fit in the pulley great so it must be an alignment problem but there is no easy adjustments to be made, I was back in gave the belt more tension went out and blew for 15-20 minutes was in some heavy snow was really making the blower grunt it worked good no slippage checked the belt when I got back into the shop its on the pulley's as it should be so I'll give this belt a try see if it will hang in
Its 24*F man that's nice for a change was out with about half the clothes as last time an never got cold
 
It's too bad you can't mount a GoPro on the front of your tractor so you could see what those belts are doing under load. Whipping can also cause a belt to flip and seeing that makes my skin crawl. Kind of like control surface flutter. NOT good.
 
Cvans said:
It's too bad you can't mount a GoPro on the front of your tractor so you could see what those belts are doing under load. Whipping can also cause a belt to flip and seeing that makes my skin crawl. Kind of like control surface flutter. NOT good.
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Hi Chris ya to the go-pro idea it could be informative at times, I was going to take pictures of how the belt changes direction but got busy and just forgot am going to look for a picture or diagram to post
 
Would be interesting to see the belt route Gary. A lot of belts on garden tractors change direction and twist 90 degrees too after the engine pulley. And maybe again before the attachment.
You’ve been having your share of belt trouble along with myself. But I think I have both Case tractors and thrower figured out. In some cases, not tractors, belt guides are a must. Who knows what was removed by previous owners on tractors and implements over the years if you did not own it from new.
Would belt guides help Gary, do you think. All thou you seem to have it fixed now.
Is your belt routing any thing like this ?

Noel
 

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That is close to what is on the IH Cub snow thrower belt setup. On the Cub one pulley is under spring tension and the other is the tension adjustment pulley. Both have the belt running in the grove. It looks like the right hand spring idler the belt runs on the top side. To me that has the belt making and opposite bend than the other 3 pulleys. This backward flexing could be causing issues. Just my thoughts.
 
You definitely have the same thing happening no matter what belt you use. My 60” Swisher brush mower drove me crazy for awhile throwing belts and tearing them up. I had to deal with a belt guide or keeper that was missing, idler arm that had just a small amount of slop at the bearing, and a slight mis alignment coming off the engine pulley. It doesn’t take much to cause problems. Another thing is in your case moisture from melting snow or ice build up causing slipping. It’s probably something simple that just happens when things warm up. Hope you get things figured out.
 
Hi Jim yep I think snow on the belt has a lot to do with the slippage, as for belt quides what there is is in place but I suspect idler misalignment on the the RH one the turns the belt to vertical and put a 1.4 twist in the belt to go over the auger pulley but there is no way to make any adjustments on it
 
Propane1 said:
Not much distance for the belt to twist between auger pulley and idler pulleys.
But that’s the way it’s made.

Noel
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Hi Noel yep and there isn't much that can be done, I've been thinking about this and what Roger said about the B belt not fitting into the pulley enough, the pulleys are universal "A" / "B" pulleys and now that I have installed an "A" belt it fits down into the pulley much further as I've post the 40" SB on the Husky is an "A" belt it now has about 34 hrs on it and is working fine
 
MNGB said:
Hi Noel yep and there isn't much that can be done, I've been thinking about this and what Roger said about the B belt not fitting into the pulley enough, the pulleys are universal "A" / "B" pulleys and now that I have installed an "A" belt it fits down into the pulley much further as I've post the 40" SB on the Husky is an "A" belt it now has about 34 hrs on it and is working fine
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Along with the belt seating deeper into the auger pulley like you mentioned this would allow the belt to enter and exit the idler pulleys in a more horizontal position. It don’t take much to throw this design out of wack as far as felt travel.
 
A little off topic but we had a lot of equipment in our facility run with V-belts. Some up to 150hp. The operating instruction always went to great lengths describing how important it was to have the pullies in exact alignment. Then you run into situations like the snow blowers we deal with and the belts run all over the place and can last a long time. Really makes you wonder about how important belt alignment is.
The short distance for the 1/4 twist between the drive pulley and the idlers is going to be a problem. A longer distance is going to be required for a B belt than an A belt. The B belt will be more stable once seated in the pulley but will take a longer distance to make the twist. Notched belts do not like to be twisted like needs to be done in this application.
Your kind of caught between a rock and a hard spot.
 
Was out for .7 hr blowing fairly deep snow not heavy but lots of it anyway the "A" worked very good when I got back in the shop I looked at it quick and it looks like new will look it over better Monday when the snow is melted off and it all dry
 
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