Grizzly G0453W planer belt life?

[Jim Mackell]

We have probably less than 15 to 20 hours of actual running time on our planer. Noticed some odd noises coming from under the drive belt cover. This model has 3 drive belts from motor to cutting head. The middle of the 3 was twisted out of position and quite frayed and stretched. I ordered a replacement, but I'm wondering if this is a one off or a common problem.

Anyone?

[Matt Day]

I have an older 4 poster and have had no belt issues, except for some rubber dust that forms inside the shroud. Could have just had a defective belt. Check with a straight edge that the pulley's are in the same plane. If everything checks out, and it's under warranty, call Grizzly and ask for replacement belts.

[glenn bradley]

Are you sure the belt was on properly in the first place? My G0453Z has been running four or five days a week since 2010 on the same belts.

[Jim Mackell]

Are you sure the belt was on properly in the first place? My G0453Z has been running four or five days a week since 2010 on the same belts.

Nope, can't be sure. The odd noise is what led me to take off cover. The inner and outer belts are fine. The middle one was rotated 90 degrees so that the flat top was riding the pulley. It's possible it slipped out of position during the shipping process. Once the replacement gets here, we'll see if it happens again. Otherwise, we love the machine. Does a great job.

[glenn bradley]

May have been a QA issue from the assembly. I couldn't recall any reason to take the belt cover off the machine during initial setup; that's why I asked. I couldn't remember looking at the belts till the first inspection (around 200 hours IIRC). At the time I removed my cover there was some belt dust that I cleaned up. The next time I checked (I really have no idea how many hours of use had gone by) there was only a small amount of belt dust. I assumed this to be due to things getting broken in. I imagine your machine will do fine with the new belt. Remember to change your gear oil after break in as per the manual. Beyond that it seems to be a low maintenance, trouble free machine.

[Bill Space]

Systems that use multiple belts used to ALWAYS require that you purchase a matched set of belts. Today I have heard that the production tolerances are so good that this is no longer necessary, but I don't know if this is true or not.

Be aware that there is a possibility that the new belt may be slightly different than the originals, and might therefore be forced to transmit most of the power, or little or none...so it could again self destruct, or contribute little to power transmission, leading to failure of the other belts possibly.

Food for thought, nothing more...

Bill

[Jim Mackell]

Remember to change your gear oil after break in as per the manual. Beyond that it seems to be a low maintenance, trouble free machine.

Not looking forward to that! How messy was the process?

[Cary Falk]

Not looking forward to that! How messy was the process?

I am surprised you haven't done it yet. I had to change mine early on due to the leaky gasket which is a common problem. Not too messy of a job. It helps if you have a tube for you gear oil bottle to get to the fill hole easier. If you are going to drain the oil I would pull the gear box and replace the gasket with some RTV gasket in a tube stuff from the auto parts store. I think the gasket leaking is a matter of when and not if. Did you not top off the oil before you started using it? I think they usually ship it either low or empty. I think it is in the manual. I haven't had any belt issues since I bought it 6 or 7 years ago.

[Jim Mackell]

I had to change mine early on due to the leaky gasket which is a common problem. Not too messy of a job. It helps if you have a tube for you gear oil bottle to get to the fill hole easier. .

It was fine when delivered. Just approaching 20 hours. The location of the fill hole makes filling it quite a pain in the butt. But we got the job done!