My obsession with idler pulleys

Make sure the idler is not jamming, the heat of some configurations you testes can make the grease inside the bearing degrade

Bearings are all cleaned and lubed with speed cream, even tried ceramic for a day, was quieter but same issues

Idlers will get hotter with more leverage. Ie the bigger then length of the fulcrum the hotter the bearings will get. Its why my idlers run cool even though they’re 4135mm

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Just setup dual idler, gonna take it for a spin around the block

Ok so belt skip is gone with dual…now let’s see if I can loosen it a bit

Nope, gotta keep it pretty tight or it skips

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Skips both accelerating and braking?

Just braking

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I find I need to keep my belt pretty tight with two idlers to help eliminate belt skip on hard braking. I can still get it to skip if I gun it hard, brace myself, and then slam on the bakes. I will be upgrading to a 15mm belt in the next week, and maybe that will let me loosing it all up a little bit. But coasting is already better and there seems to be a lot less drag in the drive train.

I’m on 15mm already and I’ve tried soft, flexible and hard, stiff belts with the same results

I don’t think it is possible to run a hdt5m belt in a “skip-proof” way without completely over stressing the system. I usually get a skip or two when i really jam the brake. When applied smoothly, the benefit of the pulley is that I can decelerate hard without the skip, but it will still happen under the wrong conditions

There really isn’t a way to get no skips unless as patrocks said, you apply a significant amount of tension. What helps skipping significantly is using higher tooth pulleys. Due to our lack of clearance, we all often use smaller pulleys than what is recommended. The more teeth on the pulleys, the higher the torque transfer. I remember seeing a graph about it and there is nothing but positives as you add more teeth. Also helps belt life because it doesn’t have to bend so sharply.

As for the bearing heat, if it gets HOT something is wrong. My idler gets warm for sure but that is obvious. Anything that moves with power going through it is going to get some form of heat. Pretty sure my motor wastes 5x the energy my belt system does though.

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Heyy @GrecoMan, here they are all the idlers you want to see, courtesy from Down Under. This tread is not near its dead…

Mad Max Interceptor, Mateee!!

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I wasn’t saying the bearing got hot, the belt does, which also heats bearings, but it’s the tension on the belt causing heat. Without an idler I can run my belt looser without a single skip slamming the breaks at 25mph+, the wheels would skid, I could drift slide around corners

How about we reverse this whole idler idea and use a geared idler/tensioner on the toothside of the belt?

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That would work too but would cost alot more.

Since when was cost the point, it’s an addiction :rofl:

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Nevaaaaaahh !!

Ok I’m officially dumping the whole idler idea, at least until somebody provides a working setup that accomplishes the task of an idler. Just removed idlers and went for a ride with belt tension I know would skip on idler…not 1 tooth skip without Idler, full brake from 25mph

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My idlers caused more problems than it solved lol

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Honestly I think people need to stop adding idlers to mounts without any engineering to back up the decision or testing to show it actually works, lowers load, etc

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you could always buy my mounts :wink: no idlers included!