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belts for the blade wheels

Started by randy r, December 11, 2012, 05:05:31 PM

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randy r

Hey all,  I was reading on the forum the other day somewhere about a Gates replacement belt for the  blade wheels.  The belt # was there and everything, but I didn't have a pencil!!  Do you know what the Gates replacement belt # is? 
thanks
Randy

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Hi Randy. Welcome to the forum. You are asking about the Gates Belt. However I know nothing about it. Just wanted to welcome you.

What kind of mill do you operate?

What part of the country do you live in?

Thanks, David
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Chuck White

Welcome to the forum Randy!

David has it right, we need to know what kind of sawmill you have before anyone can help you!
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

drobertson

Randy for what are you asking?  I just had to ask not knowing what post you were reading.  david, Welcome to the forum by the way,,
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

ladylake

 A lot of mills with 19" wheels run B57 loose fitting or B56 tight fitting. Steve
Timberking B20  18000  hours +  Case75xt grapple + forks+8" snow bucket + dirt bucket   770 Oliver   Lots(too many) of chainsaws, Like the Echo saws and the Stihl and Husky     W5  Case loader   1  trailers  Wright sharpener     Suffolk  setter Volvo MCT125c skid loader

Magicman

Welcome to the Forestry Forum,  randy r. 

The more information that you share and also add to your profile, the easier if is for us to properly answer questions.  Adding your location helps with identifying the species of trees that are available to you, and the sawmill manufacturer helps with technical questions.  Some manufacturers may not recommend using off of the shelf replacement belts.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

delvis

Randy, I don't know what mill you are running, but my last mill was a Timber Harvester.  It came with Goodyear belts for the blade wheels.  When it was time to replace them I tried everything else under the sun.  I just couldn't get the blades to stay on and the belts would pucker up out of the groove with the tension cranked up.  I finally went back to a Goodyear belt and the problem went away.  If your mill came with Goodyear belts I suggest you stick with them.
If I never saw another board I will at least die happy having spent the last few years working with my dad!

bandmiller2

When I built my bandmill I used the 19" Browning sheves [pulleys] and used Gates B56 tight belts.I used Gates because the top profile was rounded commonly called a crown.bands like flat belts tend to climb,thats why a crown is used.I don't know if flat top or notched top belts will work,in 12 years all I've used is the origional Gates belts.As mentioned I've heard good things about Goodyear belts, if you can find them. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

ladylake


  I like Goodyear but have found Gates to be real close.    Steve
Timberking B20  18000  hours +  Case75xt grapple + forks+8" snow bucket + dirt bucket   770 Oliver   Lots(too many) of chainsaws, Like the Echo saws and the Stihl and Husky     W5  Case loader   1  trailers  Wright sharpener     Suffolk  setter Volvo MCT125c skid loader

Bibbyman

We have field tested belts for Wood-Mizer off and on for a couple of years.  The Goodyear belts special made for Wood-Mizer still performs the best.   Some of the other brands fail quickly. Some were very soft and came apart. 

We've never tried the B56 tight belt.  Only the B57 loose belts.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Buck

I (like the Bibbyman) do best with Woodmizer belts. I've tried the other options including the orange neoprene (I think it was neoprene) and dont get the same performance.
Respect is earned. Honesty is appreciated. Trust is gained. Loyalty is returned.

Live....like someone left the gate open

Magicman

Our sawmill manufacturers have done the R&D as Bibby described above.  They have run different components through the rigors of sawing so I do not have to.  I just follow their recommendations.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

petefrom bearswamp

Welcome to the forum Randy.
I have purchased Goodyear B57 from both WM and local Auto parts store.
Both work very well,, but price is very close so I tend toward WM.
Of course shipping costs make WM a little more expensive, but the people at WM are super to work with. and delivery is next day.
I know of one fellow who uses NAPA crowned belts on his WM.
Buck, I tried the orange belts as I am a sucker for something different  and couldn't get them to seat properly causing vibration and blade breakage.
They are hanging on a nail until I figure out what to do with them.
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

Magicman

I also have two of the orange belts and they serve as a reminder that better mousetraps are not always better....for me anyway.   :-\
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Doug Wis

 Think the post you read was mine . Its on page 2 now. Titled" belted vs steel wheels." Tk 1600 mill. haven't sawed much with it since I changed the belts, So can't comment on durability.
A man who says he can do everything at 65 that he did at 25 sure wasn't doing much at 25.

bandmiller2

Just reading Majicmans post I realized I'am the manufacturer and have to rely on my own R&D and service manual I never wrote, scary. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Magicman

And you are also quite knowledgeable and successful I might add.   smiley_thumbsup smiley_thumbsup
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Chuck White

Still waiting for randy r to let us know what he is running for a sawmill!

Seems like we're just going on a lot of "what if's" on this thread!  :-\
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

randy r

Wow!  you guys are a real family of saw men.  That's the way I feel about WM too.  They have been so helpful to me and Dad.  The mill is an 87 LT40 super (I think).  I actually run the hydro off one of my old tractors that the trans is out of.  We are 3rd owners of the mill, Dad got it from his cousin who was a Massey Tractor dealer.  Someone traded it in on a tractor.  We also have a sharpener but no idea how to use it!  We've had the mill now about 6-8 years but I've just started playing with it over the last 2.  The rest of the time, it's just been sitting there wanting to saw!  I think I need to work on the engine a little, not sure the governor is perfoming at top notch because it takes a while to saw.  It's pretty slow.  I've just finished a beautiful 4 plank fence out of old power poles.  It was a mess to saw, but well worth it in the finished product.  I logged 52 big logs last December and will begin them next.  We had a big wind come thru and it uprooted these trees.  A couple are over 40" thru.  I don't know if I can handle them or not.  We have a couple of big tractors and a 60hp skid steer so we should be fine.  The deal on the belts is that I used kerosene and diesel (I know, should have used something else) to cut thru the creosote.  It pretty much ruined my belts I think.  Someone said a Gates belt would replace and that's a quick fix but I didn't get the size.  I didn't think about the size of my mill- sorry.  Now that you guys know me, got any advise?  One more thing,  does it matter if you slab the log level- meaning my mill has these things that look like a "T" sort of and they are designed to pick up one end to make the log level, I assume so I can saw exactly parallel with the center of the log, although I don't know what makes them work, or if it is needed.  I don't have a hydro lever for them.
Sorry I got long winded!,
Randy 

ely

the orange belts did not work on my dads wm lt40, but i use them on my lm2000 with great results...on the idler side.

Chuck White

Wood-Mizer recommends GoodYear B-57!

GoodYear makes them especially for Wood-Mizer!

The "T" shaped things are called toe boards and they are for leveling your logs end-for-end!

It will make things go a little easier if you can get them working!
Really speeds up the process!

This is a really great Forum and if you have questions in the future (and I'm sure you will) just fire away, it gives the rest of us something to do when we're not sawing!

Thanks for the PM, Randy.
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

randy r

Thanks for the info Chuck. Can u give me a quick lesson on where the operatin control for the toe board should be? As I mentioned, my hydro runs off my tractor, and it also could have been modified.  I have 3 levers at the tongue end of the mill. Left is clamp, middle loads log, and right raises stops and rolls log. That's it. Should there be a 4th?

Chuck White

The hydraulic controls on my mill are on the side of the hyd control box!

From the rear:
The first control is the LOADER!
The 2nd is the TURNER, the first thing the turner lever does is to bring up the LOG STOPS, then the actual TURNER comes into play!
The 3rd is the rear TOE BOARD
The 4th is the front TOE BOARD, the toe boards adjust the level of the log, end-for-end!
The 5th is the CLAMP, used to secure the log against the log stops!
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

pineywoods

Tight belt vs loose belt again. First off, I'm 100% in the loose belt camp. Granted, it just don't LOOK right, but years of experience and thousands of mills have shown loose belts to work just fine thank you. The argument for the tight belt is it keeps sawdust from getting under the belt. Yeah it might help, but when (not if) fine dust does get under there, you have a real problem on your hands. Loose belts give a way for the dust to get OUT. I do occasionally get a clump under the driven wheel belt, but it's easy to get out and when it does happen I usually find that the sawdust exit chute is plugged up with bark. All that sawdust gotta go somewhere..
I have tried most brands of belts over the years. The goodyears recommended by woodmizer are far superior in every way. Last longer, track better, less prone to splitting and fraying. The construction is a bit different from run-of-the mill belts. There are several layers of cord distributed throughout the body of the belt as opposed to 1 or 2 layers on the outside. The flat surface gives more blade contact area, less chance of slippage.
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

ladylake

 Tight belts don't get sawdust under them..  Just harder to change. Steve
Timberking B20  18000  hours +  Case75xt grapple + forks+8" snow bucket + dirt bucket   770 Oliver   Lots(too many) of chainsaws, Like the Echo saws and the Stihl and Husky     W5  Case loader   1  trailers  Wright sharpener     Suffolk  setter Volvo MCT125c skid loader

drobertson

Pineywoods,, I am with you 100%, My only thought, and coming from reading, is more hp transmission with the steel wheels, but really, these belts from wmz are tops. and the sawdust issue, never heard of it or seen it. I just got back from running the lt-70 again, had to make a few adjustments on the drive belt and band tension, but these cotton pickers are just bad to the bone!  I robbed the thread just a bit but was so excited about runninng it again I had too.  If the 40's could drag off a tie I would be unstoppable 8)  and as a side note this 70 has the loose belts as well. 
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

randy r

Well, there ya go Chuck.  As I said, my hydro runs off  the ports on my tractor.  The previous owner must have reworked the controls because I only have 3 levers, which are clamp, loader, and turner/log stop.  I guess I will have to look into adding a couple more, if that's possible with my set up. 

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