Options
Serpentine belt question
Liberty44140
Member Posts: 4,330 ✭✭✭✭✭
should gates belts lengths be exactly consistent?
this weekend I did both water pump impellers so I put brand new gates belts on at the same time. Bought both gates belts at the same time. oem belts were on there, the right ones. The old belts slipped right off when I lowered the tension pulley on each side. I think the tensioners were maxed or close to max but I don't know. Anyway the port new gates belt went on like the old, went on fine and I've got the tensioner at or close to max to get the right tension. I can twist the belt at or just past a quarter turn at the longest run and there is 1/2" thumb deflection. The starboard new gates belt however was hard to get on with the tensioner fully lowered, had to really pull to get it on. I did have to use the tensioner to get the same tension as the port motor but it's certainly not maxed out. So that leaves my question, is it possible that one gates belt was slightly shorter than the other? Bought the same time but one was made in the us and the other in mx so i would think that it's possible that it's 1mm shorter even though it's same upc and same gates part number. Both sides tensions are the same and fine after sitting overnight.
this weekend I did both water pump impellers so I put brand new gates belts on at the same time. Bought both gates belts at the same time. oem belts were on there, the right ones. The old belts slipped right off when I lowered the tension pulley on each side. I think the tensioners were maxed or close to max but I don't know. Anyway the port new gates belt went on like the old, went on fine and I've got the tensioner at or close to max to get the right tension. I can twist the belt at or just past a quarter turn at the longest run and there is 1/2" thumb deflection. The starboard new gates belt however was hard to get on with the tensioner fully lowered, had to really pull to get it on. I did have to use the tensioner to get the same tension as the port motor but it's certainly not maxed out. So that leaves my question, is it possible that one gates belt was slightly shorter than the other? Bought the same time but one was made in the us and the other in mx so i would think that it's possible that it's 1mm shorter even though it's same upc and same gates part number. Both sides tensions are the same and fine after sitting overnight.
07' Cruisers 390 (Previous Rinker's: 06' 342EC & 01' 310FV)
Post edited by Liberty44140 on
Comments
PC BYC, Holland, MI
@Black_Diamond thanks. I work for a manufacturing company so it made sence to me that there would be a +/- tolerance especially since these came from different countries but wanted to make sure there was nothing to worry about. I spent some time looking in to this last night and there are indeed tolerances on belts. I couldn't find the exact tolerance for these belts but it looks like it could be 5mm or almost 1/4".
Next time I buy belts I will be much more anal to make sure they come from the same lot, same country, etc... I ordered these from Walmart.com
How would you determine belts come from the same lot, etc?
PC BYC, Holland, MI