Caroni Flail Belt Failure

[Eagleview]

None of the pulleys are finned but what a great idea.

Sorry , what i meant was that the tapered ridges of the belt grooves on the pullies act as heat sinks themselves and could be refered too as "fins" . As i said before , i think the spring is too light . And even when it is stretched to the maximum adjustment it is not getting much stronger . I would say if you used a heavier spring or made a solid link you could adjust the belts untill you have 3/8 of deflection at their longest run . This is the standard belt deflection of most belts and does not transmit undue loading on the bearings .

 

[davitk]

Curious about this;
How much "slack" do your belts have ?
Not really "slack", but how much can you deflect the longest run of belt with a reasonable amount of hand pressure ?

A couple of pics of my Hanmey, one of the belt tension and a good ol' dirty one after mowing 5' tall swamp grass; the belt cover was still comfortable to the touch.

 

[IslandTractor]

A couple of pics of my Hanmey, one of the belt tension .

That is about all I get with the Caroni but I have to put more force on it to deflect the belt that much.

 

[Eagleview]

That settles it for me . davitk , yours is the same setup as mine . Even though your belts need a bit of adjustment they still are not getting hot . What that says to me is that the idler spring on the Caroni is not strong enough and is being pushed away by the belts under load and alowing them to slip . I wish someone would try a stronger spring or a solid link to answer this question one way or another . Maybe take the cover off and have someone watch the idler while mowing some thick grass , it should not move . The tractor should determine the amount of hp that is fed into the rotor not the idler pulley .

 

[IslandTractor]

That settles it for me . davitk , yours is the same setup as mine . Even though your belts need a bit of adjustment they still are not getting hot . What that says to me is that the idler spring on the Caroni is not strong enough and is being pushed away by the belts under load and alowing them to slip . I wish someone would try a stronger spring or a solid link to answer this question one way or another . Maybe take the cover off and have someone watch the idler while mowing some thick grass , it should not move . The tractor should determine the amount of hp that is fed into the rotor not the idler pulley .

I'll try that this weekend, weather permitting. I have a solid replacement wire that I will substitute after running the stock spring for a while. I figure I can mow about 20-30 minutes to get the mower up to operating temperature and I'll then use an infrared thermometer to check the temp of the two pulleys (after removing cover) and will then substitute the solid wire and repeat the test. There are a couple of similar fields that need mowing so I think I can get 30 minutes or so on each set up.

 

[Eagleview]

That's great , but is there any way you can test them a day apart ? Its a little unfair if the pullies are already hot for the second test . Look forward to the results .

 

[Cyberroc]

I think the cool time he will get while changing over the solid line should be enough. If it does fix the issue, I would suspect it to stay cool after 30 minutes.

 

[Eagleview]

That is not a fair test . With the belts not slipping it may only have a cover temp of 50* from cold . Testing after it is already hot is just a guess as the temp may still be 100* and still falling when re tested . Who would know how long it would take to release it's heat ? This is going to be a test not a guess .

 

[Cyberroc]

That is not a fair test... ...This is going to be a test not a guess.

Sorry doc, horses, reign em in.

I was not trying to say it was a fair test, however ((warning, engineering content)) without using another set of parts for the second test or at least the use of a control; neither way is a true test.



I do find it funny when one method is considered to be wrong, only because another method is thought to be less wrong.

 

[Eagleview]

I did'nt mean it (the second part you highlighted) the way it may have read , it was supposed to be light hearted and maybe should have had one of these at the end