5 Belt Drive Enemies To Watch Out For & How to Counteract Them

Belt drives are, for the most part, trouble free, but because of that, their maintenance is often overlooked. We’ve put together 5 Belt Drive Enemies to look out for. Keeping these five enemies at bay will help you to keep you belt drives running efficiently.

1. Oil & Grease

Watch out for leaky bearings and excess oil which can drip or splash onto belts. Leaking bearings should be replaced or, alternatively, an oil-resistant belt could be used.

2. Belt Dressing

Belt dressing is rarely beneficial to belt drives, as the tackiness can actually accelerate the time to failure of V-belts. If your v-belts slip or squeak, the best action is to identify and correct the problem. Belt dressing should never be used on synchronous belts.

3. Dirt & Debris

“PT Product Manager's Quick Tip”

Always keep drives properly guarded. In addition to the obvious safety benefits, good guards also make maintenance easier, protecting the drive from outside damaging influences and ensuring large debris don't enter the drive.

Dirt accelerates belt wear and the build-up of dirt in a v-belt groove  can act as insulation and could cause the drive to run hotter. Dirt also impairs traction and foreign matter on a belt or in grooves or sprockets can cause excessive vibration or lead to broken belts. Inspect guards periodically and keep them free of debris and grime which can build up.

4. Heat

High temperatures shorten a belts life through heat-aging. If your belts operate at 180F or more you may want to change to a special heat-resistant belt if belts don’t last their estimated lifespan.

5. Vibration

Always try to minimise excessive vibration which is often due to low tension or damaged tensile member. A back side kiss idler could be fitted in the vibrating span in extreme cases. Belts shouldn’t be allowed to vibrate laterally (also known as snaking).