I used the stock belt with my 15% pulley for about 15k miles. Toward the end of that period, the belt began to squeal in the morning. It said "Soooo-Weeee". Then, it kept asking if it had a pretty mouth.

Anyway, I now have a nice fresh -25-060535 belt and no more squeal. The tensioner and the idler pulleys appeared fine - turned freely, no play.

Here's what my belt looked like at 1500 miles with no mods:



Here's that same belt (top) after 15k of 15% pulley usage, compared to macncheese's belt (bottom) after 40k of stock usage.

 

[quote] Then, it kept asking if it had a pretty mouth.

A little more seriously, that is an interesting comparison. I'm at about 20k of pulley usage and haven't had any strange noises yet. Something to keep an eye one.

 

Randy Webb Said: I'm not following what you're saying Andy; did your 535 just pop off after 1500 miles, but your stock lasted 15k?

 

Ryephile wrote:

No, please re-read my post. I had the stock belt for 1,500 miles. I got a 15% pulley. That same stock belt stayed on for another 15,000 miles. Then I replaced it with a 535 belt. That was 500 miles ago. That 535 belt is working fine.

I think you replied to the wrong thread. You quoted RandyBMC, not me.
_________________

SHOW ME THE NUMBERS! 1/4 Mile Database

 

The way you structured your statement, it sounded like your 535 just blew off, hence my quote from Randy and the 539 being a better choice.

Anyway, is your point that the idler is more abrasive with the reduction pulley versus stock? Care to elaborate?

 

Andy, cover your dipstick hole!

I have had the 535 belt for 8K miles on a 15% pulley. It is severely glazed and sqweeling like a pig.

 

I'm not making a point, just showing pictures of belts.

 

I think that there are two issues here. The quality of the stock belt vs. the aftermarket belt and the wear rate on any particular vehicle.

Andy, your belt did look like crap but it was clearly worse than mine or anyone elses running aftermarket belts. Additionally, while significantly worn on the top??? the V area of the belt looked just fine and showed little sign of wear. Could it be that you have an idler pulley problem?

John mentioned that he was looking into higher quality aftermarket belts that will wear and stretch less. Has anyone else found such an animal that will fit our cars?

I had a 535 on my car with a 15% pulley for about 7,000 miles. It showed no sign of wear, nor did it slip, but it did stretch to the point that you could no longer see the top hole on the tensioner. I replaced it with another 535 when I put on the 19.

Let's source some high quality belts so that we don't have to replace them every 10k miles.

 

i was having a meeting in my office and playing with my old supercharger pulley while I was pretending to be interested in what my guest was saying.

The pulley is black and I noticed that the middle rib of the bearing surface where the belt runs is polished and seems to be slighly sharper than the others. This made me wonder if there is a flaw in the stamping/casting of the pulley which causes the belt to get cut in the middle (long axis) which leads to the failures some people have been experiencing recently.

There is no way to see this unless the belt is off but it would be worthwhile to consider next time one lets go. It would also be interesting to have Randy (or anyone else doing lots of pullies) check any they are taking off to see if they see any such wear pattern.

 

Well, after only 7k miles (about 5k of them with the 19%), my replacement belt is now glazed and squealing. It appears to have stretched, the tensioner bar is barely protruding above the spring, maybe 1/4". No holes are viible at all.

I have a spare NAPA 535 that I'll slap on for the time being, but I'd like to try the Goodyear belt or anything else that may not stretch as much.

 

If I recall correctly this specific question was asked a while back, and Randy indicated that the middle rib wear pattern is actually caused by the pulley removal tool, not wear from the belt. He said that the only way to verify this was to inspect the stock pulley prior to removing it with the puller --


>>The pulley is black and I noticed that the middle rib of the bearing surface where the belt runs is polished and seems to be slighly sharper than the others. This made me wonder if there is a flaw in the stamping/casting of the pulley which causes the belt to get cut in the middle (long axis) which leads to the failures some people have been experiencing recently.
>>
>>There is no way to see this unless the belt is off but it would be worthwhile to consider next time one lets go. It would also be interesting to have Randy (or anyone else doing lots of pullies) check any they are taking off to see if they see any such wear pattern.

 

>>Well, after only 7k miles (about 5k of them with the 19%), my replacement belt is now glazed and squealing. It appears to have stretched, the tensioner bar is barely protruding above the spring, maybe 1/4". No holes are viible at all.
>>
>>I have a spare NAPA 535 that I'll slap on for the time being, but I'd like to try the Goodyear belt or anything else that may not stretch as much.

Andy, are you going with a longer belt per Ryephile's Randy Webb post about using a longer 539.
Goodyear Gatorback Part # 4060537 / 6pk1365 ( 53.75" )
Gates K060535 ( 53.50" )

 

The NAPA 25-060535 is made by Gates, so I think it's the same as the K060535. I'll try the Gatorback 4060537.

 

The Gatorback is the b@lls. Terry Sayther sells them cheap.

Andy, back on the first pic...what is sketched out on paper on your workbench? :smile:

 

in my spare time (!) I build staircases; that is a sketch showing the cross section of a stainless steel curved stair stringer...the outer plates are 1/4 x 12" stainless plates, helically curved; they are assembled with 1-1/2" sq bar spacers to form a helically curved box beam. the top is set back to form a 2" deep channel into which a glass ballustrade is fitted. This was completely designed and fabricated in my shop and insatlled in a Manhattan residence; two flights' worth! A pesky project that kept me from my intercooler work!

_________________
""the onus of proof is on he who asserts the positive."

 

The chewing gum that the factory used for "welding" let go as I tried to use the tensioner tool today. Luckily, it happened before I got the old belt off.

 

>> A pesky project that kept me from my intercooler work!>>

Speaking of which......how you doing on the IC? EBay plate and bar?

Coming to NASA this weekend?

 

I'm no Milich, but I'll be there on Sunday.

BTW, I got a local shop to weld my tensioner tool 400X better than the factory did. Worked like a charm and now my new belt is installed. The tensioner bar now protrudes about 1/8" further than it did with the strectched belt. No more squeaks.

 

jlm, >>>> A pesky project that kept me from my intercooler work!>>
This site may help cut development time: http://www.bellintercoolers.com/

 

Here's a brand new NAPA 535 belt (top) and a stretched-out NAPA 535 belt (bottom):



The tensioner shows how little of the bar was protruding with the old belt (left) compared to with the new belt (right):

 

Bell has well over $1.5k from me, supplying raw cores

 

I have a question about the "holes" and "bar" that everyone is guaging to see if their belts need to be replaced. Where is it and how do you tell?