Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Tele man
...bet the drive belt for that alternator co$t$ more than any fuel saving$ (ha,ha)!
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I've seen the drivebelts on industrial machinery last so long they need changing from age. And this is machinery moving literally tons of green lumber and needing to suffer constant start stop cycles and surviving the torque of a 480v motor.
They bought their belts at the local auto parts stores. The belts were just a variety of v belts and serpentine belts. The truly extreme applications may use 3 v belts in tandem, but the amount of torque they had to withstand is truly mindboggling.
IIRC the serpentine belts popular on newer vehicles have Kevlar threads in them to increase their strength and reduce the stretching common on normal belts. I'm curious about how many horsepower is being transferred from a serpentine belt in a vehicle running down the road with the AC blasting and the headlights on? A significant amount I'll wager. And under less than ideal conditions for a belt, with the heat of the radiator blasting it day in and day out.