I needed some new belts for my 3 pt. hitch mower. I've had to change them a couple times. The last belts were Kevlar and made by Pix in India. They seemed better at first but after some heavy cutting they just deteriorated and severely stretched. I decided to try some standard non kevlar Gates belts as I've read they are a very good belt. They cost about $35 more than I could have got the Pix kevlar so hopefully they last a long time. Does anyone have experience with Gates High Power II belts? They are B74 size belts.
If it ain't Gates belts I don't touch them here in the US, V belts or not.
Of all the industrial belt manufacturers Gates has to the pick of em IMHO.
I stand behind Gates Belts as well. Odd or No Names are usually Foreign made and of less grade quality.
Funny, all I stocked for truck belts was CAT when it came to V-belts. Outlasted the rest plus came as two for matched set.
OK, since we are on the subject: How do you measure a v-belt for length? Gates belts come with a number printed on them. But it never quite comes out right. I had a job with an unknown belt the other day and I just took 6 or 8 belts of all the lengths with me. I'll have to return the rest. I hate doing that to my vendors.
If I remember right, it is around the outside circumference. If I remember wrong, it is something else entirely. Easy enough to check my memory I guess, run a tape around the outside of a NEW belt.
Always been told to run a string around the pulleys to get a measurement which thus entails measurements are from both sides just outside will include thickness of the belt to final dimensions.. Instead of thinking of it as a thick round circle with two different circumferences think of it as a line, if you cut it and lay it flat it will be of same dimensions on both sides
Kind of wierd they are measured around the outside but the number is based on the inside dimension. Outside is 77 inches and inside measurement on a B74 is 3 inches less.
I have always used Gates belts and hose which give excellent service.
Yall need one of these.
Me too and from my local parts house they are super cheap. Have had good luck with dayco too but prefer gates
In over 40 years of tinkering with stuff I've never seen a Gates product fail because it was crappy product, not once.
How does that work when the belt is in 5 pieces, none bigger than a shoe string?
In that case you just have to say the obligatory...well damn!
I generally stick with oem belts if I can but use gates and continental regularly also
Gates also makes the best snowmobile belts
A guy I know has a permanent dark red line running down from top of forehead to his chin. Was looking/listening for a noise leaning over racing the engine. A piece of the belt snapped his face like a bull whip. Realistically any belt that will keep the accessory's turning---is a good belt.
Gates and Dayco, We run a lot of the Gates green stripe belts on stuff with good results. We put a lot of Bando and Browning belts on fans, blowers and compressors too. Not a huge fan of Carlisle
Gates offers excellent training on their products. Great resource for apprentices and old dogs. Nice tools, too. I have their laser pulley alignment kit. Nice setup.
Find their automotive belts in a and z section better than any oem belt. Never found their b sections much above average. Bando or mitsuboshi would be well ahead in b. Use nothing other than gates hydraulic hose any more. Both hose and fittings are a1
Why would their B belts be less quality? If it's the same model of belt, the construction should be the same between A and B or other section sizes.
Could not get b belts in the MC range like the a and z
Would somebody please explain what all the numbers and letters mean? Is there a difference between an automotive belt such as a 9360 and a cogged raw edge such as a AX360 for instance?
I've seen belts with 2 sets of numbers, ie/ B** and 4L380 or something along those lines. On B belts the B is the section width then the number is the outside measurement. Just because I needed a B74, I discovered that the outside measurement is 3" longer. I wonder if they go by the inside measurement so it's easier to measure around the pulley's??? I'm not sure but I think someone told me automotive belts are generally higher speed and made to different/better standards then industrial belts. For some applications there are several different types of belts that can be used.
From my own little experience amd imagination, auto belts are designed to carry higher loads in smaller spaces so tend to have more cord and are not a stretch fit so should be idealy be paired. Some times i ask for more than what i need and pair them as best i can on the shop counter. Industrial belts usually stretch to tension equally. And loads of sheaves to carry any amount of power. Belt lenght is normally pitch lenght which i think is where the belt sits in the operational diameter of the pulley so some where in the middle of the belt section. Some metric belts use Li, La , or Lp for lenght.