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Emergency alternator belt

N15JB

Well Known Member
Does anyone have experience using a Power Twist Plus link belt as a temporary get-me-home alternator belt? I carry an extra Gates belt in my -10, but it would be a real pita to have to pull the prop away from home. I have also read the pros and cons of fastening an extra belt to the front of the engine, so I am not looking for a debate on the merits of that. Thanks.
 
Now that the subject is open, I saw a 172 with an extra belt pulled around the engine nose and safety wired back out of the way. It was so it could be pulled down and used without prop removal.

At first I thought it was pretty clever, but considering it has the same heat and aging as the belt un use, the wisdom of that is open to discussion.

Any experience with this approach?
 
I've seen it done and have my spare belt safetied to the front of the engine so replacement can be done without removing the prop. Yes it will be exposed to the same heat and time but it will be a second belt just the same and capable of getting me home. I can change it once home is I want to and add restore the backup if I feel the need.

I'll try to post a picture.

Bevan
 
an armchair observation.....

That's a pretty amazing bit of tech!...looks like some cable ties I used once!

but for a spare v-belt.....why not wrap the spare in foil, keep the heat degradation down a bit?
....and it's not quite the same as a belt that's delivered a load, flexed, slipped, friction heat & cool cycles etc. for hundreds of hours is it?.....it's just the same calendar age.
 
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Does anyone have experience using a Power Twist Plus link belt as a temporary get-me-home alternator belt? I carry an extra Gates belt in my -10, but it would be a real pita to have to pull the prop away from home. I have also read the pros and cons of fastening an extra belt to the front of the engine, so I am not looking for a debate on the merits of that. Thanks.

I am surprised no one has tried a power twist belt on their RV, or at least hasn't written about it. Seems like it would be an easy and low risk experiment, especially for a plane equipped with a backup alternator. If other testing were being done primarily in or near the pattern, the risk would be low even for a single alternator plane.

The big question I have is: once one of them fails, what damage can it do under the cowl? What can the little bits get into? One certainly wouldn't want little belt links getting loose and jamming up a throttle linkage or melting on the exhaust, etc.
 
Does anyone have experience using a Power Twist Plus link belt as a temporary get-me-home alternator belt? I carry an extra Gates belt in my -10, but it would be a real pita to have to pull the prop away from home. I have also read the pros and cons of fastening an extra belt to the front of the engine, so I am not looking for a debate on the merits of that. Thanks.

Jim,
FWIW, as I make a list of items to carry for dealing with issues in the field, and I carry a lot, I have never once considered a belt. Why? In the thousands of field hours I personally have in RV's, and I travel with a giant heard of other RV's week in and week out for 13 years accumulating god knows how many hours, not once have I ever wanted, or needed, a belt in the field. I can and do list a million other items that have failed and carry them generally due to their difficulty in being procured in the field, but a belt has never been one of them. And even if I did need a belt, they are readily available and a complete prop on/off single handed on a 540 metal with just a wrench is 45 minutes start to finish, shut down to start up, including cowl. Alternators, starters, brakes, tires, solenoids, seals, gaskets, ignitions, coils, electrical items balh blah blah, the list goes on with what can be carried for common, or even uncommon, failures in the field. If you were to list items and failure rates and plot, I dont link a belt would make the top 100.
Just sayin.
 
Jim,
and a complete prop on/off single handed on a 540 metal with just a wrench is 45 minutes start to finish, shut down to start up, including cowl.

Agree, spare belt is stupid, just change it every so often and you will never have a problem.

On another note, if you ever need a job please let me know, anyone that can pull cowls, RR a prop and re-install cowls in 45 minutes is no less than a god!
 
He's not fibbin

I have on TWO occasions personally been involved in prop off/on in 45 minutes. Two 3/4 wrenchers that know what they're doing and it's no big deal.

As for the God part, I aint goin there!
 
I have on TWO occasions personally been involved in prop off/on in 45 minutes. Two 3/4 wrenchers that know what they're doing and it's no big deal.

As for the God part, I aint goin there!

I will bow to you for that as it would probably take me 45 minutes just to safety wire the prop.
 
I will bow to you for that as it would probably take me 45 minutes just to safety wire the prop.

Amen, brother.

I'm sure you get faster after you've done it a few times - and I'm equally as sure that the first time I have to do it, it's going to be a 4-hour job at minimum.
 
A little thread drift here, and maybe this should go in its own thread.

At what interval should specific items be replaced?

Slick mags: 500 hours (Inspection)
Alternator belt:
Auto plugs: 100 hours
Auto plug wires:

????

I added auto plugs because we have found, via the EICommander, that auto plugs start acting "strange" at around 100 hours. The only way you would know there is a "possible" issue is if you had an EICommander installed.

When I was doing the car thing, I used to replace my plug wires yearly but I never seem to proactively replace the plug wires on the plane.
 
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Slick mags: 500 hours
Alternator belt:
Auto plugs: 100 hours
Auto plug wires:

Replace Slick mags at 500 hrs?
Why?

There is a prescribed inspection every 500 hrs. it is not uncommon for them to need nothing at the first inspection.

As for alt. belts, I think 500 hrs or 5 years is a conservative interval that would keep someone from ever getting stuck because of a failed belt.
 
Replace Slick mags at 500 hrs?
Why?

There is a prescribed inspection every 500 hrs. it is not uncommon for them to need nothing at the first inspection.

As for alt. belts, I think 500 hrs or 5 years is a conservative interval that would keep someone from ever getting stuck because of a failed belt.

That is correct, I should have said "inspect", not replace. (I've updated my post above.) I am just looking for a list of things that should be inspected and/or replaced at a set time limit that experience has shown fail at a set time.

I know that some people run items for many hours past a recommended limit and others have the same part fail at many hours less, but I'm looking for "good practices".

Bill
 
Does anyone have experience using a Power Twist Plus link belt as a temporary get-me-home alternator belt? I carry an extra Gates belt in my -10, but it would be a real pita to have to pull the prop away from home. I have also read the pros and cons of fastening an extra belt to the front of the engine, so I am not looking for a debate on the merits of that. Thanks.

I got one of these and put it in my on-board tool/parts kit. I don't know about long-term use, but I'm quite certain it would get me home from anywhere I happen to be, and I can deal with pulling the prop and replacing the regular v-belt then, under much more favorable conditions.
 
As for alt. belts, I think 500 hrs or 5 years is a conservative interval that would keep someone from ever getting stuck because of a failed belt.

I replaced mine at around 600 hours, the first time the prop came off since new. There was some minor checking but the belt was a long way away from failure.
I think Scott's suggestion makes sense.
I do not carry a spare and do not plan too.
 
belt

I tried to put a spare alt. belt behind my prop when I was building my 6a because my old instructor did that with his Archer. I couldn't make it work right in my plane however. As best I remember, there were interference problems with the baffling and cowl. John
 
PowerTwist

Jim, I'm running a power twist belt. We will see how long it lasts. Supposed to last many times longer than rubber belt, transmit less vibrations, and so on. Took about 5 minutes to install.

Does anyone have experience using a Power Twist Plus link belt as a temporary get-me-home alternator belt? I carry an extra Gates belt in my -10, but it would be a real pita to have to pull the prop away from home. I have also read the pros and cons of fastening an extra belt to the front of the engine, so I am not looking for a debate on the merits of that. Thanks.
 
I have used the Power twist type belts in my HVAC business on troublesome units and they last about three times longer than a standard grooved type fan belt. They need to be installed very tight at first but break in fast. I am sure they would last in a pinch and probably a lot longer than a standard type. They take the heat a lot better as well. I have seen them run constantly for three years and still look good. Eventually they get brittle and break
 
If memory serves, Hartzell has a maintenance step at 500 hrs to pull the prop and clean the grime out of the oil passage. I replaced the alt belt at that time and will continue on that cycle.
 
DAYCO TOP COG

I have been impressed with the quality of construction of these belts. One was supplied with my Plane Power alternator, and I just replaced it after 5 years since I was doing an engine change. These belts have a lot of twine embedded in the bottom of the belt, and the top of the belt has grooves to help with cooling the belt. The belt I replaced looked totally serviceable on the two sides that run in the pulley, but the top surface had very small cracks that had developed over time. I found a replacement, new, on Ebay for less than $10 with free shipping.
 
If memory serves, Hartzell has a maintenance step at 500 hrs to pull the prop and clean the grime out of the oil passage. I replaced the alt belt at that time and will continue on that cycle.

Coming up on 500 hours on the tach...can you tell me where this is specified? I couldn't find it in my Hartzell prop manual.

Thanks...
 
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