Belt Dressing

From: George Best gsb@plaza.ds.adp.com

I've got a friend that uses Coca-Cola as belt dressing.  Some of his engines
have a flat belt that runs the flyball governor.  If the belt starts to slip
he just pours some coke on the belt.  Works for him.  You just need to watch
your coke if you're drinking one and not sit it down within his reach if his
belt starts slipping ;-)  He's a beer drinker, but I haven't seen him pour
is beer on a belt yet, just my cokes.

George Best

From: Edward Tabor edward.tabor@dol.net

Soap works well as belt dressing.  I use liquid Joy on my mower when the belts
slip, they slip slightly worse until the soap gets tacky, then they grab well.

Ed

From: "John Hammink." johnh@multiweb.nl

Sometimes at our major shows I 'm grinding six bushels corn cobs
for the spectators, everyone likes it and the children at most when
they may put some cobs into the grinder (safety first ofcourse).
It happens now and than that the belt slips and I found out that
when I throw a small hand grinded feed between the belt and
the engine pulley the belt graps for a few hours more.

        John H.

From: farmer robinson@svs.net

A John Deere combine I used to have had a flat belt
drive from the engine to the separator. When it sat there
running in a cloud of soybean dust and pubescent fuzz it
would get really slick very often. I had used about
everything on it over the years. The best was a light brown
rosin stick. The black stick was OK. Plain old asphalt
foundation paint worked very well. I have been known to roll
up a piece of plain (no mineral) roll roofing to use as a
stick. Years ago I used to melt down the tar sealer from
junk battery cases. RTV silicon gasket stuff was only fair
as was shellac. Tung oil was a little better. Permatex high
tack isn't bad.

The "V" belt drive on the grain tank was the other
extreme, it was prone to coast when the tank was empty and
run grain out on the ground. For it I carried a plastic
bottle of baby powder to keep the belt from dragging.  

--
farmer
Central Indiana USA

From: Richard Allen dini_44@ablewise.com

Sugar and pectin, besides being wonderfully sticky for curing slipping belts, 
also are some of the best organic reducing agents around and work great for 
fluxing the lead or babbit pot prior to casting bullets or crank bearings. 
Make sure to ignite the smoke just like when using wax. Oh, I almost forgot, 
they also work great for sweetening and thickening jelly and jam.

From: Germoamer@aol.com

McMaster Carr carries belt dressing, spray or liquid in their catalogue.  I 
also think our local wholesale hardware still carries it.  I need to go by 
their for some other things if you want me to check or purchase some.  Thanks 
for the continued spout search. 

Tom Schmutz 

From: alanb2@webtv.net (Alan Bowen)

I just bought a can of spray type belt dressing at K-Mart. That would be
a good place to look for us US folks.  Is there an OZ-Mart or a UK-Mart,
ect ???

[Editor: We have K-Mark down here too you know...]

From: "Brian and Melissa Campbell" brianc@worldaccessnet.com

This will still get some glares from the ladies in the club when we bring it
up, but we had a belt slipping at our loacal county fair show. The ladies
were demonstrating strawberry jam making in the kitchen so we snitched a
little and it worked great.
FWIW
Brian Campbell

From: BLCKSMTH blcksmth@wcnet.org

Believe it or not, automatic transmission fluid works for belt
dressing. I was skeptical until I tried it.

Bob Willman

[Editor: Don't use this one on rubber or rubber coated leather belts - the
rubber will go soft and fall about as the AT fluid eats it!]

From: ChaplainHu@aol.com

I think I remember using beeswax when grinding feed in the cold of winter.

Hugh Atwell






This article is part of the Stationary Internal Combustion Engine Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ). This series is a combination of my views and knowledge
and the views and knowledge of other people - most of them members of the
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