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I just spent an interesting couple of days with my BT3000. I broke a belt and had “one of of those days”.
First I did a search on this site and read just about everything on belt and arbor bearing replacement.
I choose Replacing Arbor Bearings on BT3000 by big tim.
Replacing Arbor Bearings - BT3Central Forums
And Belt Replacement Instructions By Ed Ellickson
Belt Replacement Instructions
Big tim’s post is an excellent step by step way to do this with many clear photos. Other then dinging the pulley, everything went smooth.
Now to the fun part.
Having to R&R the belts two and a half times I think I have found an easy way.
First time I did it by Ed’s way, I made the conduit tool and it work pretty good the first time. I still thought there might be an easier way. I remember reading a post by slick_rick where his daughter thought of using a wrench to rotate the arbor. I tried it and it worked. But not having a ten year old at hand, 3AM, things were a little tight with both hands in there. So here is my final solution.
First put the arbor nut on the arbor.
Use a 19MM deep socket with a long extension and rachet. This gets your one hand out of the way
Now rotate the arbor counter clockwise and deflect the top edge of the belt downwards onto the arbor to catch the grooves.
Continue to work the belt around and checking the belt at the motor shaft.
Once the belt is in place work in down by deflecting the top edge of the belt.
You will probably think I am a glutton for punishment because I had to R&R the side panel, dust cover, guide holder and belt to do this post. Total time was 20 minutes, including taking the pictures with one hand.
As to belts and parts, here is the link to Sears. Put in BT3100 for Model Number.
http://www3.sears.com/
Belt is $9.20 + S&H and here in three days. I bought four to have two spares.
I hope this helps and I want to thank all of the members for their posts on these subjects.
John
Attached Files
]). Remove blade and spacers.
An FYI, the belts from Sears are now $14.56 a pop.
J
Great tip re: ordering the belts from Sears! They are alot cheaper there than through Ryobi (or eReplacement parts) - $21.93 each at both Ryobi & eReplacment, only $14.56 at Sears!