Squealing V-Belts

[Rod Dittmar]

I'm contemplating changing my squealing, screeching, embarrassing GATES V-belts for another manufacturer. Nothing worse than, starting the car up in front of a bunch of parking lot admirers and, having those belts outdo the exhaust. I've aligned and re-aligned. I've tightened & loosened. Nothing seems to make a difference. Start-up is the worst, but then usually goes away. What brand belts are you V-Belt guys using?

3+ years on this car and still having a blast!
Rod

 

[James Shaw]

I haven't noticed a difference between manufacturers. I tighten mine up pretty tight, but I've also taken the shine off my water pump pulley belt surface with sandpaper, which gives it more grip.

 

[David mono]

Take the belt off and spray it with belt dressing, spray some on a rag and wipe it on the pulley contact surface. I have had the same problem.

 

[Rod Dittmar]

I haven't noticed a difference between manufacturers. I tighten mine up pretty tight, but I've also taken the shine off my water pump pulley belt surface with sandpaper, which gives it more grip.

Jim, thanks for the scuffed pulley suggestion. I'll give it a try.

 

[Brian Kissel]

Rod, I was anticipating the same issue. My BBC for my Lola should have hopefully around 825 pounds feet of torque. As we all know there is next to no room in these things for your normal setup, yet alone tensioners. I would have no room or desire for a serpentine belt drive. I had a company build cogged pullies for everything including the ac unit. This should be a zero squeal, minimum room setup. Been well over a year waiting for my engine so I haven’t been able to mock things up yet. Health issues since last May has kept me from really giving a crap anyway but hopefully I’ll start again soon.

Jones Racing Products, Inc.

Jones Racing Products, Inc.

www.jonesracingproducts.com

Regards Brian

 

[Paul Hendrickx]

when the belt is noisy some thing turns slower than the crankshaft..... mostly the alternator... is the battery ok? alternator well grounded?
simple test....
when you have the same conditions, take 1 jumper cable, put it on the negative terminal of the battery,let some body start the engine, it sqeeks, put the jumper cable on the body of the alternator, if the noise stops immediately, you found one of the possible origins of the noise.
everything well in line?

when you start you dig in the battery,the alternator try to fill up immediately the gap... and electricity, is simple + and - have to have the same size/capacity
on recent cars for polution reasons and to not put strain on the engine the alternator start refilling the battery 6-7 seconds after running conditions is detected in ecu

 

[Rod Dittmar]

Rod, I was anticipating the same issue. My BBC for my Lola should have hopefully around 825 pounds feet of torque. As we all know there is next to no room in these things for your normal setup, yet alone tensioners. I would have no room or desire for a serpentine belts I had a company build clogged pullies for everything including the ac unit. This should be a zero squeal, minimum room setup. Been well over a year waiting for my engine so I haven’t been able to mock things up yet. Health issues since last May has kept me from really giving a crap anyway but hopefully I’ll start again soon.
Regards Brian

Brian, WOW! I love it. Those pullies look great. I'll add this to my list of possibilities.

when the belt is noisy some thing turns slower than the crankshaft..... mostly the alternator... is the battery ok? alternator well grounded?
simple test....
when you have the same conditions, take 1 jumper cable, put it on the negative terminal of the battery,let some body start the engine, it sqeeks, put the jumper cable on the body of the alternator, if the noise stops immediately, you found one of the possible origins of the noise.
everything well in line?

when you start you dig in the battery,the alternator try to fill up immediately the gap... and electricity, is simple + and - have to have the same size/capacity
on recent cars for polution reasons and to not put strain on the engine the alternator start refilling the battery 6-7 seconds after running conditions is detected in ecu

Paul, thanks for the info. Battery is fresh & pulleys aligned. I'll use the jumper to test the Alternator ground.

 

[Rod Dittmar]

Take the belt off and spray it with belt dressing, spray some on a rag and wipe it on the pulley contact surface. I have had the same problem.

Dave, thanks for the suggestion. Does this stuff really work? Last time I tried this was on my '55 Dodge when I was in high school. It actually made the squealing worse! Although I'm sure there have been improvements in it over the years. Maybe last ditch effort.

 

[David mono]

Dave, thanks for the suggestion. Does this stuff really work? Last time I tried this was on my '55 Dodge when I was in high school. It actually made the squealing worse! Although I'm sure there have been improvements in it over the years. Maybe last ditch effort.

It has worked for me, I had no squeal before I painted the pulleys and none after the dressing. I have used it on other cars other than mine and it worked. But spray it on the belt off the car.

 

[Bill Kearley]

The alternator can't help but be grounded if you can start your motor ,Think about that for a second !!
Scuff your pulleys. I use a product called Door Ease, I know it's a lube but it works well with the rubber and the belt pully contact gets sticky.

 

[Ian Anderson]

Are your belts the correct width? They should get “jammed in the V” and not run on the base of the V.

Ian

 

[Paul Hendrickx]

Brian, WOW! I love it. Those pullies look great. I'll add this to my list of possibilities.

Paul, thanks for the info. Battery is fresh & pulleys aligned. I'll use the jumper to test the Alternator ground.

Just an other idea, if your alternator is a single wire version with just 12v feed line, and if you have acces easy to disconnect , you could try that one too. will have same results as test with jumper lead test

 

[Brian Kissel]

Rod, if I may add, Chris at Jones Racing is a incredible wealth of information. As my situation is not a normal drive setup, they will custom make ANY combination you could ever dream up. These cog drives are used on 2000hp plus engines all the time. That alone made me go with them, and the EXCELLENT customer service from Chris was only icing on the cake. I can't recommend these guys highly enough. Although, I don't have my engine ready to go, I did tons of research at the track. Hopefully one of the other excellent suggestions from other forum members will work for you. Just have this in the back of your mind if a long term solution is needed.

Regards Brian

 

[Paul Hendrickx]

Just an other idea, if your alternator is a single wire version with just 12v feed line, and if you have acces easy to disconnect , you could try that one too. will have same results as test with jumper lead test

I have to correct self a small bit, you need to disconnect feed wire before switching on contact and starting...so the alternator will just run empty, no resistance,

 

[Jerry Irwin]

The alternator can't help but be grounded if you can start your motor ,Think about that for a second !!
Scuff your pulleys. I use a product called Door Ease, I know it's a lube but it works well with the rubber and the belt pully contact gets sticky.

confused with starter ?
I ran a race motor with no alternator and relied on BIG battery.

 

[Rod Dittmar]

confused with starter ?
I ran a race motor with no alternator and relied on BIG battery.

Jerry, no belt = no squeal. Probably not an option in my case.

 

[Darius Rudis]

Do you have enough belt "wrap" around each pulley?

Aweful example in Yellow:

Increasing belt wrap, beginning with a good start.

 

[Randy V]

Darius - I may be ignorant of some instances, but I’ve not ever seen an idler pulley used in a V-Belt drive system outside of the old Mopar double V-Belt AC Pump system of the late 60’s early 70’s…

 

[Randy V]

Gilmer belt drives (cogged belts)…
These are commonly used in external oil pump drives - one word of caution - monitor the belt tension that it does not get too tight when hot. They normally tighten up as they heat up and if you adjust to 1/2-3/4 inch slack when cold, you may find a failed belt soon. I always readjusted belt tension when hot and you’ll be astonished as to how “loose” the belt seems when cold.

 

[Randy V]

V-Belts - I used to use Goodyear Gatorback V-belts and later the Green V-Belts. Amazon or your local NAPA or Parts store may have a selection that works for your required length. They did neither chirp or squeel…
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