Vermeer 505M belts

[jltrent]

I have a couple of belts on my Vermeer 505M round baler that the alligator splices need replacing as the belts are torn at them. Will it be okay to cut a couple inches off the belts and put new ones in? Should I take all the belts out and re-size all a like? Thanks for any help.

[Buck Farack]

I have a couple of belts on my Vermeer 505M round baler that the alligator splices need replacing as the belts are torn at them. Will it be okay to cut a couple inches off the belts and put new ones in? Should I take all the belts out and re-size all a like? Thanks for any help.

You shouldn't need to take off a couple of inches. If you pull all of the hooks out and cut it square along the holes, you can probably get by with about one-half inch or less per end. I'm kinda lazy and a tightwad, too, so I'd just do the ones you need to do if you can get by without cutting off too much. There's probably more difference than that in them by now, anyway.

[Bison]

It's best to pull them all and cut them to the same length and resplice them all.
Use the shortest belt as your guide,use a sharp stanly knife and cut them square to the length using a carpentry square as a guide to cut along.
A couple inches shorter belts won't affect the bale dia to much, but using a shorter belt than the others will put undue strain on the shorter belt(s) splice and it might fail in short order.

Anyway,that is my experience.

[jltrent]

Thanks for the reply. I took all the belts out and cut them to the same length. I ended up cutting off around 3" to get them all the same. (4 belts are 10" longer than the other four belts) The repair manual I have says you can cut up to 10" off, but no more. I put new alligator splices in and squared them up real good before mounting to the belts.