Micro-V and Poly-V belts failures and breaks analysis
By using this easy chart, you will be able to troubleshoot belts for eventual problems and to avoid roadside failures causes by a weak belt. Always replace your broken belts with high-rank Gates belts for durable performance.
Abrasion
APPEARANCE:
Both side of belt seems like shiny or glazed. In advanced stages, textile becomes exposed.
CAUSE:
When in motion, the belt makes contact with an item in its track such as a flange or bolt. This may be arrived because of a bad belt tension or pulley bearing size.
SOLUTION:
Change belt and remove the foreign item or, if it can’t be removed, be sure that contact is isolated. Check the automatic belt tensioner and be sure of current belt tension.
Chunk-out
APPEARANCE:
Pieces or chunks of rubber that come from a damaged belt. When it appears, the belt can break at any moment.
CAUSE:
Chunk-out can happen when cracks move parallel to the cord line. Heat, age and stress are the first causes.
SOLUTION:
Change the belt with a Gates Micro-V® belt. Gates belts are manufactured for higher flexibility and heat tolerance in present’s smaller engine compartments.
Pilling
APPEARANCE:
Belt rubber is ripped off from the ribs and accumulates in the grooves.
CAUSE:
There are a plenty of possible causes, including loss of tension, misalignment, worn pulleys or all in the same time. It is currently found in diesel engines, but not only.
SOLUTION:
When it makes the belt noised or vibrated, the belt must be changed. Accessory brake pulleys must be checked for material accumulation into groves. Change if needed.
Uneven Rib Wear
APPEARANCE:
Belt is damaged to the side with the potentiality of failures in the tensile cord or damaged ribs. A sort of grinding noise may also appear when running.
CAUSE:
A foreign thing in the pulley may cause uneven deterioration and cut the belt.
SOLUTION:
Change belt and check pulley for foreign items or failures. Replace pulley if needed.
Improper Install
APPEARANCE:
A belt rib begins outspread from the strands. Without checking, the cover will separate
CAUSE:
A bad belt installation is a current cause of untimely breakdown. One of the outermost belt ribs is getting out the pulley groove, causing a belt rib to track out of pulley groove.
SOLUTION:
The belt’s lifetime has been very limited and should be changed quickly. Be sure all ribs of new belt fit into the pulley grooves. Launch the machine. Then, with the engine and battery disconnected, check the belt for proper installation.
Cracking
APPEARANCE:
Small, some visible cracks on the length of ribs.
CAUSE:
Continually exposed to high temperatures, the tension of bending around the pulley conducts to cracks. They appear on ribs and spread out into the cord line. Currently, if more than 3 cracks appear in a 3’’ section of a belt, 80% of the lifetime is gone and the belt must be replaced.
SOLUTION:
Change it with a Gates Micro-V® belt, which is manufactured to faced up high temperatures and cracking resistant. Check every pulley bearing wear. Change if needed.
Misalignment
APPEARANCE:
Sidewalls of the belt could be like glazed or the edge-cord could be frayed and ribs tear off. A particular noise may appear. In serious cases, the belt could get out of the pulley.
CAUSE:
Misalignment obligates the belt to kink or twist while tracking, causing untimely failures.
SOLUTION:
Change the belt and realign the pulleys. Also check to be sure the entire pulleys system is not twist or broken.
Gravel penetration
APPEARANCE:
Little holes are visible on the back of the belt. Dents could be visible and textile around holes could be fail.
CAUSE:
Foreign things like sand or rock are wedged between the belt grooves and pulley ridges.
SOLUTION:
The belt needs to be replaced to prevent tensile cord separation and eventual roadside default. Change it with a Gates Micro-V ® belt cause it is precision ground for a better pulley fit, unlike common knife-cut belts.
