Belt tension on 252 stumper

[deevo]

Hello all...having a 04' 252 with low hours, I notice that with the yellow jacket teeth on there it doesn't take much to stall the head during grinding..the belts from the jackshaft back to the clutch is a tad loose but not too bad and I want to replace all the belts anyways but my concern is getting the drive belts too tight and pull the crankbearing out of the 25hp kohler.....whats a general rule of thumb you guys go with to set those belts up to get enough grip yet not over tighten.....thank you..

I just bought the yellow jacket setup for my 252, but haven't put them on yet, only have 16 hours on the grinder. Sounds like your taking to big of a cut to be stalling it out like you are saying, they are more aggressive then the stock ones I know. Let me know how you make out. Where abouts are you in Ontario?

 

[stumper63]

If the jackshaft belts aren't glazed from slipping too much and don't need to be replaced here's what I do. Make sure cutter wheel belt is tensioned first. I tighten the cutter wheel belt so there is about 1/4" flex in middle of belt when you push on it with a couple fingers pretty firmly. As you spin the wheel by hand it should come to a stop pretty quickly. Then the jackshaft belt I also tension by feel, about 3/8"-1/2" flex in middle of belts as you push down pretty firmly. You could follow book instructions and get a belt tensioning meter, but I've never needed one and haven't had any issues with bearings wearing prematurely. You should get about 350-450 hours on cutter wheel bearings, and 750-1000 on jackshaft, that's been my experience.

Stumper63

 

[deevo]

If the jackshaft belts aren't glazed from slipping too much and don't need to be replaced here's what I do. Make sure cutter wheel belt is tensioned first. I tighten the cutter wheel belt so there is about 1/4" flex in middle of belt when you push on it with a couple fingers pretty firmly. As you spin the wheel by hand it should come to a stop pretty quickly. Then the jackshaft belt I also tension by feel, about 3/8"-1/2" flex in middle of belts as you push down pretty firmly. You could follow book instructions and get a belt tensioning meter, but I've never needed one and haven't had any issues with bearings wearing prematurely. You should get about 350-450 hours on cutter wheel bearings, and 750-1000 on jackshaft, that's been my experience.

Stumper63

Thanks for the tip Stumper63

 

[deevo]

Thanks Stumper, I do know they driver and driven of cutter head are glazed but I've deglazed them with a good cleaning in gas and crosshatched them with emery cloth as best I could, but all these time while I was pumping grease as I grease it every time out, it's not hard to overgrease the bearing and it ends up running around on the belts...Not good...I ended up having to go to a slightly longer pump belt from the 270 to the 280 as it was too short and close enough for the clutch hub to rub of the inside of the guard and that solved that...but today i'm going to take it for a test spin and see how it works...

I suppose Vermeer has the pulleys off jackshaft and cutter head design strictly for them or are they a common size we can outsource locally as I haven't measured them yet?? Thanks again...

i'm in London Deevo

Wow, thanks for sharing, I will remember not to overgrease

 

[pacific stumper]

Re grease

Grease is a bearings best friend and i'm always in the habit of greasing every thing I run my equipment but that 252 is the first piece I've ever worked with that throws grease inside the covers and all over the belts....what an ugly surprise and one helluva mess when I opened it up to see why it was slipping.. :msp_w00t: I have all new belts on it and aligned and tensioned everything today and took it out for a test run and although the teeth are not razor sharp, it still tends to slip and squeal and stall the head easier than I feel it should...maybe it's the teeth that are just too agressive

I have had the same problem with over greasing my machine. I put three pumps in every couple hrs of run time and it's seemed to have solved the problem.
My belts squeal a little when I first turn on the clutch but they provide all the power I need when grinding,,,,,,,,,,I keep them a little loose cause I figure belts are cheaper to replace than engines
I also run yellow jacket teeth,,,,,,,they work great but I haven't found a good way to sharpen them yet