Changing belt on a Jet 1442

[Paul Ray Moore]

Has anyone changed the belt on a Jet 1442 lathe? I had to change the motor pulley and in doing so I streached the belt so that there is a lot of slop. I have to say that Jet customer service has be fantastic. They sent me the motor pulley and are now sending me the belt at no charge. The manual explains how to change the belt but it also says it should be done by a authorized repair station. The customer service rep said that I could probably do it. The issue is that the repair station is around 80 miles away so I thought I would just try it myself.
Just wonder if I'm getting in over my head.
Thanks,
Paul

[George Morris]

Paul I am interested in any replies you get,I have a 1442 and had to replace the motor on it this year. You are right customer service is very helpful. Please e mail me when you get more info. Thanks! gmorris465@gmail.com

[Bill Bolen]

I've not had to change yet but there is a good post at woodturnersresource site in the tool talk section. Look for a post about 1442 reeves drive problem. Talks about a belt change...Bill...

[Todd Tyler]

Hi All,
I have done it a couple times. It is not too bad for those with much mechanical ability. You have to loosen the hand wheel set screws and screw the hand wheel off the spindle (LH threads iirc). Loosen the lock screw on the spindle nut, remove spindle nut. Remove rear belt cover. The stationary pulley half has two set screws, loosen them. Now you can carefully move the spindle towards the chuck end by tapping on the spindle nut end of the spindle. Once the spindle is thru the front bearing it should slide easily out far enough to allow getting the old belt off and the new one on. Clean inside the head as needed and reassemble in reverse order. When putting on the spindle nut, I think there is a section about setting preload in the owners manual. If not, tighten the nut snug so there is noticable drag then back off 1/4 to 1/2 turn so spindle turns freely. I tightened the nut on mine until I had about .005" or less of axial lash in the spindle. It is a fairly easy job to do and I'll apoligize in advance if I missed any steps from memory.

[Paul Ray Moore]

Thanks guys. I expect it to come in today or tomorrow. Reading the manual it doesn't see too tough but I'm concerned about getting the spindle back to the same place it was before pushing it through. You say left hand threads so to loosen it I would turn it clockwise instead of counter clock wise? I think that is what you mean but I want to make sure.

I've been very happy with the lathe so far and Jet has been great. I just messed up when I changed the motor pulley by streaching the belt now there is a ton of slop in the belt. When I change to the higher speeds I have to go very slow or it will just bog down and not come up to speed. Hopefully the new belt will fix it. I'll check out the other site and see what I can learn.

[Paul Ray Moore]

Well I got the belt yesterday. I went home last night and started changing it at 7:30. It took about an hour and a half. After doing it I don't think I would recommend doing it. First I took the motor pulley off and cleaned the shaft with break cleaner and sprayed it with silicon. then I followed the disassembly instructions for the spindle. I started pounding on the end of the spindle with a dead blow hammer. It took a lot of effort to move it out. I would get it to a point and it just didn't seem to move so I'd take a break and go back. I finally got it through but just a little. I kept pounding on the spindle to get some clearance but it wouldn't move. I finally was able to get the belt off and the new one on. Then I reassembled the spindle and moved to the motor shaft. One of the hardest parts was getting the spring back on the motor shaft and putting in the clip ring. You have to compress the spring and slip on the clip. That is about a 6 hand job and I only had 2.
The end result is that I got all put back together and it worked much better. I don't know if it actually running at the top speed but it's fast enough. I can also go from the slowest speed to the highest speed as quick as I want and it won't bog down. It also sounds much better.