Belt Upgrade? Trying something different.

[rustybucket]

I usually replace belts once every two years unless we put an extreme amount of hours on one season. So tis the time and tis the season.

I went to order a couple new matched sets at napa last week and was informed that gates no longer sold matched sets that all their belts were within spec to be matched. Well, that seems good and all but honestly I've never been super pleased with the matched sets, always seems like one is more floppy than the other.

So after doing a little digging last night I came across PowerBand belts from Gates. Seems like a killer upgrade over twin single v-belts Basically the principle is two belts, belted/bonded together to make one single unit of two V belts.

The reviews and specs I read online these belts seem to be quite a bit stronger and more robust than twin single belts.

I'm sure others here have done this, anybody have an experience to share? Any reason this is a bad idea?

I ordered 3 from amazon (one for each main and a spare). I'll also retain two of the used single belts on the boat as a backup/backup.

Amazon link I ordered from
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V5JW62/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My existing belts are Gates 7470's which is a 47 9/16" belt, the new twin v belt is 47.5, should fit nicely.

 

[Westfield 11]

The link you posted says the belt is 40.0” long.......

 

[rustybucket]

The link you posted says the belt is 40.0” long.......

Sorry, I copied/pasted the wrong link, I have corrected it in the original post. Thanks for pointing that out.

They make various lengths of these belts, I'd imagine most peoples will be slightly different.

 

[Beachcomber]

We started using this type of belt on equipment over 10 years ago and found them to be much better than the old matched sets. Some of the ones we were using had 5 belts banded together and they were a great improvement.

 

[rustybucket]

Just wanted to update, tried to install the belts last weekend, and it was a definite no-fit. Not even close. Back to the drawing board lol, gonna try to re-order a different size, the v's were not the proper width/depth, length was good. Will update when/if I find the correct part.

 

[DCMY #92]

Are these new belts supposed to run on the same pulleys?