Run With Us and Avoid Belt Failure

No one can afford downtime. Fortunately, much of your drives' costly maintenance can be avoided.

If you're replacing the belts on your drives as often as twice per year, ask yourself why. Each time a belt breaks, don't just replace and discard it. Ignoring the underlying cause results in ever-decreasing performance and costly belt replacement. And not only are you wasting money, you're also squandering maintenance time.

The culprit could be misalignment, an under-designed drive, an incorrect belt-to-sheave fit, or maybe even old metal components. Sheaves and sprockets that haven't been replaced in more than eight years are beyond their useful life. To identify causes of failure and find recommendations on corrective measures, download the Synchronous Belt Failure Analysis Guide or the V-Belt Failure Analysis Guide.

Keep these tips in mind to help decide if it's time to replace your drive's parts:

• Belts typically last two years. Analyze your drive if yours are lasting for a shorter period of time.
• If you've experienced increased downtime and unscheduled maintenance, your drive's metal might be worn out, causing the time between belt changes to shorten.
• Use a Gates sheave gauge, an inexpensive tool, to measure whether your V-sheaves are worn.
• Consider purchasing a Gates molded notch V-belt constructed with EPDM for better heat and stretch resistance and less downtime.

To receive a weekly Belt Tip from Gates, sign up today. And visit our Belt Preventive Maintenance website for more free resources.

Gates engineers help diagnose your belt failure issues and provide assistance on replacing metal components or complete drive systems. Contact us to get started.