ProCharger belt shredding

[gqneon]

So - when I first installed my stage 2 procharger with a D1SC, it came with the dedicated 8" drive pulley and the 5" blower pulley. The belt supplied (and the identical replacement I bought "just in case" before the install) were way too short for the kit. It shredded that and my spare while I was on the phone with ProCharger within seconds when I had to take an idler off just to get it forced on, like they recommended.

So I went and bought several belts, each a half inch bigger than the supplied 66.9" belt, and tested them (only thing local was 6-rib belts). I learned that the 68.5" wrapped the pulleys without removing anything and allowed me to use the tensioner in it's proper adjustment range. I ordered 2 8-rib versions of it online, and installed an 8-rib on it.

It has worked great, for 2500 miles, until tonight. I went and did some cornering tonight, not breaking tires loose, just controlled turning stuff, neutral powering through corners testing the stock tires.

I only did this for a couple minutes, and headed home. I hadn't made it a mile when I heard a snap and the sound of something smacking in my engine bay. I stopped and saw it was shredding the blower belt, and I was lucky enough to limp it home.

I cleaned up the mess and will swap belts in the a.m. when it's cool again.

I guess I'm trying to figure out what causes an otherwise functioning belt to fail. It didn't show any premature signs of wear and it ate up the belt on the side of the pulley closest to the front bumper. It almost looks like it walked up a rib and got insta-chewed.

Will cornering cause this to happen? Or could this be a byproduct of downshifting my car? I heard downshifting can be hard on blowers, but I don't really understand why that would be. I drove it hard tonight before that without issue, so I'm wondering if it's just a combination of hard driving and lateral force? I don't know.

I dropped pulley size to 4.63" so I'll probably toss on a half-inch shorter belt since I have one in the garage.

Also - is a belt that's too tight or too loose more likely to shred?

Let me know what you guys think or have experienced with this. Thanks!

:cheers:

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[04SloSnake]

I have never had a centrifugal blower so it may be different, but was there dust on the pullies? I have heard this being a result of severe belt slip which would typically be too big of a belt. On the PD blower cars it can happen on a downshift or "launching" from a roll as the blower speeds change quickly. Sorry I couldn't help more.

 

[gqneon]

There actually was dust on the pulleys. I assumed this was from the shredding itself. It never squealed and had terrific wrap, but I wonder if maybe with the reduction in pulley size, since the belt fit initially, if it might have stretched some and under hard driving maybe it hit the maximum tensioner range? I don't know.

Tapatalk spelling errors inside!

 

[04SloSnake]

I know when I had belt slip issues I would get a lot of dust from my belt rubbing away. Mine was never bad enough to shred the belt but I assume in the wrong circumstances it could have happened. If you did any data logs recently you might be able to see if this was a problem.

 

[gqneon]

I installed an 8-rib I had here that was a half inch shorter. It tensions properly and had more room for tightening it up later. Doesn't have much deflection, maybe a quarter inch at the longest run or a tad more. Can't turn it 90 degrees anywhere along the run. Those were the two things Procharger told me to check for. I don't want it overly tight because I'm sure that will cause it to fail also.

I ran it for 5 minutes and stopped it and took this picture. I'm wondering if this is too tight? I can see the striations in the belt smooth side already. This might be normal.

PC feel free to chime in, too.

Tapatalk spelling errors inside!

 

[ProChargerTECH]

Sounds like the first belt was far to loose, got hot and snapped.
But without more details little lost.

The image you have now show, I see no issues.
Make sure everything is lined up with the balancer.
Nobody has had a belt issue so far, or alignment, so it would be odd.

Follow the proper tensioning steps, make it tight, and all will be well.

 

[kcc0521]

I had a procharger years ago and it threw the belt multiple times which I think was due to bracket flex.

 

[ProChargerTECH]

I had a procharger years ago and it threw the belt multiple times which I think was due to bracket flex.

Bracket flex has been a none issue for years and years now.
However yes that can cause issues on any supercharger, or improper alignment.

With the mounting points this system has, and the 8rib belt.
This will support over 1000HP before even hinting at issues.

Its stronger then the Dodge brackets, and they are making 1000rwhp on 6 ribs.

 

[gqneon]

Sounds like the first belt was far to loose, got hot and snapped.
But without more details little lost.

The image you have now show, I see no issues.
Make sure everything is lined up with the balancer.
Nobody has had a belt issue so far, or alignment, so it would be odd.

Follow the proper tensioning steps, make it tight, and all will be well.

Thanks - yeah the 68.5" belt worked great on my 5" pulley and made between 10-12 psi at redline (depending on the measurement instrument) consistently without slip or issue. I dropped to the 4.63 and I was surprised that I had enough room on the tensioner to adjust that same belt to the smaller pulley, I had a smaller belt for the install and ended up not needing it.

It turns out it was at a hair shy of it's maximum adjustment, and was slipping very quietly at high rpm with that belt. I didn't realize the light dust in that area was from the belt. That explains the boost needle fluctuation at about 10psi up on the smaller pulley.

I installed a half inch shorter belt I had so it's a 68", and I adjusted it to how tight I believed it needed to be, stepped on it in 2nd, about 9psi it started squealing. Tightened it a turn, repeat, same thing. Tightened it up a turn, max adjustment. Stepped on it in 2nd, same thing. So I am babying it until my total of 5 new size belts get here. I have ordered 3 green stripe belts in incrementally smaller sizing and a couple of Bandos as well.

I will say this - the Bando was slipping pretty sneaky like. I think when the belt began to stretch over a little bit of time that's what got me.

So like you said - too loose and got too hot - makes perfect sense.

Some people are saying crank these belts down, but I remember you guys saying no more than a 90 degree twist on the belt on the longest run or more than 1/2 inch in that same area up or down on the belt.

What's the right way to know? I'm assuming if the belt ends up squealing, it probably glazes it or weakens it the first time, making it less tractable. Am I wrong?

 

[ProChargerTECH]

You can go past the 90 degree, when running elevated boost above the stock systems.
Glad to see you got it taken care of.

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