V- belts

[larry crouch]

Guys, just food for thought! Most are running 1/2" belts either mower belt or A section belts. The next size up is the B  section belt .66 instead of the .50 and the depth is greater also. The HP difference in these two belts are quite a bit, why not instead of throwing your old pulleys away cut them to accept the B section belt. You can go to Gates belts or just google V belts and theres all kind of info on Hp and RPMs.
Would love to hear some opinions on this. (I do know it will work)

[Huffy044]

I would be very careful cutting a "A" pulley to accept a "B" belt. Most of the pulleys have a RPM raiting and even though they are suposed to turn that rating times 3 before they explode (this does NOT mean they can turn 3X's speed safely, it just means they need to be rated at say 5,000 and not explode until 15,000) This is the safety factor.

Cutting metal out of the groove MAY weaken them to the point they MIGHT explode, not this might not hurt you as they are under the deck, but if you were airborne or a deck that might not contain the scrapnel, the guy/gal next to you might get hit and hurt, or someone on the side lines.

McMaster Carr sells a pulley that is both A and B.

[fx28]

if you are reffering to the billet aluminium pullys it could be done easily, recutting them that is. i know the bigger belts according to the gates info shows them to carry higher hp loads. My thoughts are the bigger belt will not disapate enough heat with is one of the big problems I am having. I currently am running a cast iron spoked pull on trans and a one piece Sisco from TSC on the engine. Up north here the TSC is not carring them anymore . I would like to see a billet pully with cooling fins or spokes to try to help get rid of some of the heat. I saw Ron's has some 2V setups. I sure he has run them, I would be interested in  how they handle the heat.

Chuck Miller

[gtpuller]

Martin makes a/b pullies in many sizes

[tractorracer12]

I run the weld on tsc pulleys. That take the A,B belts. I ran 1/2'' belts for 2 years and would have to change belts every other race. I switched to 5/8'' belts and can go several races on the same belt,with no noticeable wear. I didn't notice any power lose  by the 5/8'' belt either,it don't slip a bit.  Aluminum Pulleys may be light but they hold in lots of heat causing the belts to get hot also.   

[George Herrin]

I got plenty of motor all knows that. I run almost a whole season on one belt on any given mower I own. I use EC aluminum pulleys or the black one piece steel weld on hub pulley's from TSC.

[fx28]

George, are you running 1/2 or 5/8 belt ? 

Tyler , the aluminium is acting like a heat sink on the crank, I know what you are talking about. That why I was thinking of some type of fins or slots to move air through as it rotates.

Larry, what type pullys are you running ?


Chuck Miller

[larry crouch]

EC front and rear!

[George Herrin]

I run 1/2" belts even on the Super Modified, it is using steel pulleys everything else has EC pulley's And they have enough meat to cut to 5/8 if one chose to do so.

[Burwell555]

Problem I had, and I run the one piece tsc weld togethers first then mid season switched to EC pulleys. The aramid belts didn't work for me on the tsc pulleys. The gates green belts from napa worked awesome. Had almost a half season on the one before switching to the EC set up. While at the same time, my buddy would actually break the gates belts about every 3rd or 4th race. He had a cheap weld together tsc pulley and cheap pulley on the tranny as well. Fast forward, I put the ec pulleys on, the gates belts just flat wouldn't let go clutching, so it was hard on my 700. After a sour experience with the aramids, I decided to try em one last time, now on the EC puleys they are great!!! Personally I prefer the blue Oregon belts. But that's just one of the many joys of lawn mower racing I have experienced but can not fully understand LOL

[royalblu68f100]

I have used the steel pulleys the entire tire I have been mower racing.  I have used different belts in different widths.  For me the red rotary belts (ace hardware), and the blue oregon belts (tsc) have worked the best with my set up.  On another mower I have used black gates, green gates, and blue oregon belts and the blue has worked the best.  

On both mowers I have had issues with the green belts exploding (at least that is what it looked like they did!) I have yet to have an issue with the red belts.  But long story short, any belt will give problems if you have alignment issues, slippage (to small of a pulley, or too little belt wrap, spring tension etc.), or heat build up (too many pulleys).  I have also noticed that bounce in the clutch mechanism is not a good thing.

[Jim Knutson]

E.c. Pulleys front and back-proper size for good belt wrap, and align pulleys. I get a whole race season with a built oppy on my mod-x.