Chris,
There could be a few things contributing to the problem. Take a close
look at the cogs in the belt and see if there is evidence of wear from
the belt ratcheting on the front gear. Some folks have had problems if
the front gear is too small because it doesn't allow for enough belt
contact. If memory serves me, this can be a problem if the front gear is
less than 24 teeth. Could you hear anything that sounded like the belt
may be ratcheting on the gear?
If the belt just broke, it could be due to excessive tension caused by
a bumpy surface. Depending on the car's design, suspension travel can
cause the belt to get real tight and under the right circumstances it
can snap (it happened to me once in Topeka upon 'landing' after hitting
one of the real bumpy parts of the course).
I used to set the belt tension such that, with the car sitting on the
ground, I could twist the belt with my hand and get it to go about 65-75
degrees from it's resting position with moderate amount of effort.
What you experienced may just be a fluke. It can happen. Check the
belt tension. Check the size of the front gear. Check to see if there
was ratcheting.
I didn't want another broken belt so I switched my car to chain drive
and am very happy with it.
-Jeff Blumenthal
Christopher Eveland wrote:
Hi all-
I took the Red Devil to its first autox yesterday, and ran into a
little snag: I broke the drive belt (is that what we call the one that
isn't part of the CVT?) on my second run. It broke somewhere near the
start... I'd guess on a rational level that it broke on the launch,
but I swear I had power for at least the 1st 20 feet, and I did get up
enough speed to coast well off the course.
Anyway, I have a spare belt, so I can replace that, but I'm wondering
if there is any autox specific trick that should be employed to keep
this from happening again. Different tension? Driver adjustments?
Thanks for the tips,
-Chris
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