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Date:         Mon, 15 Aug 2005 08:54:09 -0500
Reply-To:     Stan Wilder <wilden1-1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Stan Wilder <wilden1-1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: After-market Alt. belts?
Comments: To: jimt <camper@TACTICAL-BUS.INFO>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I've had lots of belts just come apart. The belted backing looked very good and the v drive rubber looked good but they separated and gave me two separate rubber hoops. They showed no other damage and the independent parts still looked good. Don't be fooled by the general appearance of belts they can fail even if they look like new. They age just like your tires and the rubber looses its resiliency and bonding qualities over time. If you think your old belts are good, go ahead and run them but carry spares for them. You're just running on borrowed time. I have some V belts on shop fans and compressors that are 25 years old but they're going to leave me stranded in the desert or in heavy traffic.

Stan Wilder Engine Ceramics 214-352-4931 www.engineceramics.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "jimt" <camper@TACTICAL-BUS.INFO> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 8:24 AM Subject: Re: After-market Alt. belts?

> Belts of today can last that long as well if you buy the quality belts and > not the discount brand. Some of todays belts however are operating in 600 > degree environments now when in the past the only way those temps were > reached was when the engine was on fire. Keep oil/fuel/hydraulic fluids/etc > off of the belts and they last a long time as well. The first belt on my > daughters jeep lasted 120k miles before I pulled it. I only pulled it > because it had 120k miles on it. > > From the belt mfr, most of todays belt failures are related to chemical > causes from the fluids getting on them. Fix those leaks. Next main failure > points are frozen AC compressors or alternators with failing bearings. Next > was improper installation (wrong belt/covers not put on right/wrong > tension/bad tensioner/etc). > jimt > > On 8/14/05 4:12 PM, "James Benthall" <Taobythesea@AOL.COM> wrote: > > > Robert, > > A mechanic told me the other day that when he was looking at a problem on > > an old car (don't remember which kind, but it was an American model) with > > 160,000 + miles on it he noticed that the belts were the originals from the > > factory! > > He said they just don't make them like they used to. > > james > > > >


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