anthony390

hi

i was just wondering if there is some belt tips for letting them last longer and stay new as long as possible?


and let them be REAL ONES PLEASE... not anything that will waste a belt and then you have to buy a new one because of some stupid jerk who told you a lie

so does anybody have any input???

ChadCapece

If you've got to store your car for a long time, keep them soaking in WD40 before you put the car up. Also, never bend/crease them.

anthony390

does that work???... thats only if im gonna store my car away for a while RIGHT

and oh ya this thread s for ANY kind of tips & tricks for belts

Ben.C

Actually that softens the belt so that there's 'less' resistence....

Another extreme way to reduce the resistence is to clip away alternate teeth... This tip from Japanese Magazine.

How to prolong belt life is proper belt tensioning.

anthony390

how do i know if i am tensioning it properly???

ChadCapece

Just tight enough that it doesn't skip. That's what I do, but I may be doing it all wrong.

anthony390

when you say "less resistence" you mean like a smother drivetrain or freed up drivetrain? right?

but that doesnt mean that the life of the belt is prolonged... Right

koabich

Actually the WD40 trick does not necessarly offer less resistance but it does make the belts more flexable. If you notive the current trend is stiffer belts. The Tamiya "Low Friction" white bets are much stiffer than the stock bets. Schumacher is now back to the stiffer belt (at least when I ran the Mi2, people were not using the softer belt. Corally belts are pretty stiff as well.

I think the idea is that softer, more flexable belts hold onto the pulley more, they wrap around the pulley more causing more friction. A Stiffer belt has a tendancy to not want to grab onto the belt (not sure if I am saying this correctly) so you only need to make sure the belts are tight enough to not skip and you will have a car with a much more free drivetrain.

To make a belt last long is just common sense. Do not bend or crimp. Do not let the belt flip on the pulley or roll over on itself. Do not run them overly tight and make sure they do not skip. That's about it. Do put dressing on the belt or put WD40 on it. Leave it dry. WD40 and other stuff makes the belts softer because it breaks down the rubber causing the belt to fail prematurely. Some may say the if you don't put a dressing on the belt, it will dry rot. Well that is true but it will take a belt longer to dry rot than it will take WD40 to destroy the belt.

anthony390

thanks for the input

its a good thing that i wasnt gonna do that nor i am gonna do it now

i wasnt gonna do it because i alrady have a free drivetrian and well with your 2 cents i have even more the reason not do do it

so also what you are saying is that i shouldnt do anything to my belt...
just leave it alone and properly tension it

and oh ya any tip or tricks i can do so i can tension my belt it just right?

R/C Anonymous

iTrader: (1)

i usually tighten it per instructions for the specific vehicle...if i run stock motor i will normally leave a touch looser then the manual says

anthony390

my manual doesnt say anything about the belt except for the installation

koabich

The belt should have slack in it. It should not be tight. The tighter the belt the more friction it adds to the drivetrain.

The general rule around my track is run the belts as loose as you can without them skipping.

My personal advise is to play with them and see what you like. If you want better throttle response, tighten them up a bit. If you want longer runtime and more top end, try loosening them.

anthony390

so to get in the ball park you should try to get the belt as loose as possibe without it skiping and that should be the best way to prolong the belts life also?

R/C Anonymous

iTrader: (1)

yes anthony...it isnt REAL technical like some people make it out to be...just run them loose enough where they dont skip under acceleration...u can make them a touch tighter but dont make it so tight it has serious drag on the whole drivetrain

koabich

Also, keep in mind that new belts will stretch so you will be adjusting the belt tension after almost every run when the belt are new. Don't worry, once the belts are broken in, they will stop stretching!