Belt tensioner again

37chief · May 22, 2019

I may be confused, which isn't too difficult. My two pulleys one on top (drive pulley) turning CW. One below naturally turning the same way. Is the slack side between 7 and 11, or 1 and 5 My tensioner is between 7 and 11. On the flat side of the belt. Thanks, Stan

jon f mn · May 22, 2019

That would be the tension side. Is it there to route the belt around something? Sometimes they are used for that.

jaoneill · May 22, 2019

Slack would be between 1 & 5, I had a similar situation once where the hired man had worked on a machine and when he took the idler pulley off the arm it was mounted on it passed behind the belt, leaving it on the wrong side when he installed the new pulley. Took me a while to puzzle out why the idler was hopping and jumping. :roll:

Janicholson · May 22, 2019

Yes No. Assuming the drive shaft comes from the center of the unit, and goes to the driver's side (car speak) and assuming we are looking at the pulleys from the center along the shaft, toward the driver's side, the tension side (drive side) is to the rear 7-11. and the tensioner pulley would be at 1-5. If the drive is on the passenger side, and we look down the shaft to the passenger side from the center, and the pulley is turning CW from that point of view. The tension is on the front side, and the rear side from 1-5 is where the tensioner pulley would go. Jim

MarkB_MI · May 22, 2019

I just checked my ancient Mott F6. It has the tensioner on the "slack" side. Note that as V-belts idlers go, mine doesn't have much tension; the tensioner is spring loaded and you can easily release the tension on the belt by pulling on the tensioner. I think it's possible to adjust the cutter shaft to increase or decrease tension, but I've never needed to do that, even after installing a new belt. I'm pretty sure the belt is intended to slip if the shaft jams. At least that's what it does.

jon f mn · May 22, 2019

Why not post a pic?

Steve@Advance · May 22, 2019

The slack side will be between 1 and 5.

Easy way to remember, a belt can only pull, not push.

For it to be configured that way, there must have been a reason, a clearance issue, something other than the standard "tension on the slack side" rule. Maybe they want the belt to slip instead of biting in and breaking if something suddenly were to jamb it.

Leroy · May 23, 2019

Every one I have seen it is always on slack side and not on pull side, same things on chains.

Belt tensioner again

37chief

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jon f mn

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jaoneill

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Janicholson

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MarkB_MI

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jon f mn

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Steve@Advance

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Leroy

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