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Repairing a cast belt pulley for looks.

M

mkirsch

Well-known Member
I bought a cast iron belt pulley a couple of years ago intending it to be a birthday present for my dad to put on his Super H. %$#@ing seller threw it loose in a flimsy box, and of course it shows up chipped. When I tried to contact the seller, he never replied.

Luckily I found a paper pulley in time.

It's been sitting in the front closet in my house making me mad since then.

I've got the pieces. There's 3 triangle shaped bits that all fit back together pretty well.

I'd like to fix it for looks. Welding will cost more than I have in the pulley. I certainly don't want to try welding it myself; it'll shatter into a million pieces.

Any ideas for an epoxy or other adhesive to glue the pieces back in? Bondo and paint should cover up the sins. Maybe some fiberglass on the inside to hold things together just in case some dipstick actually puts the belt pulley drive in gear... At this point I just want it to look good for display purposes.
 
If the chipped area does not extend far inward from the edge, why not just chuck it in a lathe and machine away the edge 'til the chipped area is gone?

No one except the most a n a l of the "correct police" would ever notice, and the pulley would look good and even be fully functional.
 
I'd think JBweld would hold it together and could be worked down to match.

Just thinking of the next guy, I'm gonna suggest that you somehow find a way to make it look okay but make it in some way obvious that it is a repair. You don't want it winding up in an estate sale and have somebody buy it to put on a tractor and have it fly apart on them.
 
I dont want to upset anyone but throw it away,Years down the road some one trys using it and it flys apart,and some on is injured bad,its not worth it

jimmy
 
I would make the repair with fiberg;as and save the pieces for later welfing. If being made of bodyfiller uou can shape it to look good and if it should come apart I don't think it would do that much damage. I would check with a bodyman. Glenster may have a comment about this. Armand
 

Hmm, I do build model airplanes for my other hobby... I have REAL thin cyanoacrylate, not "Krazy Gloo." With the rough crystal structure of the cast, pressing everything back together tight and drizzling in that glue just might work.

Frankly, I don't think this chip would prevent most farmers from using the pulley.

Cowman, I'm 99.999% sure it wasn't you. :)
 
Thinking about this I do not think IH made a cast iron pulley for the H or super H (this is the flat belt pulley?). I think it was either paper or steel. Check it with a grinder and see what kind of sparks you have. Armand
 

Augh! I may as well have said "hot water heater."

Yes it is definitely a cast STEEL pulley. Even so, looking at the crystalline structure of the broken metal, I'm not too keen on welding...
 
Machine a Graphite block of the radius of the inside of the pulley, and wide enough to extend beyond the gap. A good gas, or TIG welder could build up the area with cast filler and then machine it down to be invisible, and strong.

I would never consider a cosmetic repair for liability and prudent moral reasons if it were to throw chips, or explode. Turning it down to a narrower width is a great idea, and thinner belts are common in practice. JimN
 
If you have an Oxy-Acet setup I would braze it. Go to a welding store and get some brazing rod and flux. I fixed the intake manifold on my F-20 and then painted it with a cast iron heat resistant paint. It looks great. There were 2 flange sections broken off. I ground grooves in them and filled em with braze. Heat it slowly and cool it slowly. Can't tell it was ever broken. Here's the manifold after I brazed and painted it.
a122416.jpg
 
First of all, I don't know the RPM's of an H belt pulley, but if they're anywhere close to the PTO speed(540), if that thing "comes apart" during use the chunk that comes out of it will be lucky to go much farther than a dozen feet or so...not like you'd have a potential bomb on your hands. Plus, most belt-powered equipment, in use, has the belt tension set pretty low anyways.

Second, I have wire-welded the front screw-on cast pulleys(the ones that adjust the fan belt tension on the engine) due to some nameless idjut hammering on them and they've all held up fine. If you have access to a wire welder, that'd be the way I'd go. Grind some V-grooves along the crack for penetration then grind and sand the welds flush, paint it, and it'll be invisible.
 
RPM will vary with the tractor, but it's considerably more than 540. 1360 is a common speed. On an 8-1'2" pulley, that gets a belt runnin' at just under 40 mph. And that's about 75% of the speed of a grindin' wheel turnin' at 3400, and they fly a lot further when they low apart. You'll excuse me if I'd rather be somewhere else when the epoxied pieces come flyin' off.

If he wants to get a competent welder to make a good repair to it, that's one thing. But to put it back together with epoxy or whatever, and disguise the repair is dangerous. Ever wonder why they tell you not to paint wooden ladders?. Same idea.

If all he wants is a conversation piece that doubles as a BIG paperweight or a doorstop, the epoxy repair is fine, but the center splines or something else on it needs to be boogered so it can't ever be put on a pulley drive again without making repairs that would cause the glued pieces to show up.
 
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