The club within

[maxparot]

Today I join the ranks of those BT3 owners that have experienced the worst our beloved BT3 has to offer.
I had the misfortune to experience changing of the belts.
This of course virtually requires an inspection of the shims.
All in all the only part I was truly cursing was actually getting the belts worked on the motor and blade pulleys. This burn't about 45 minutes of the 1.5 hours it took me to complete the service. Other than that a few taps with a soft faced mallet to seat the arbor bearing was the only other glitch.
I was wondering how many of us have had this experience?

[cgallery]

I've had to replace my shims, but not the belts. I have spares onhand, but I'm not looking forward to having to do the job some day.

[crokett]

I had to replace them and like you puttig the new ones on took up most of the time I spent on the job. At the time I was also working at 30 degree weather in an unheated shop the belts needed replacing though else I wasn't going to finish some Christmas presents I was working on.

[Ed62]

Nope. Never replaced the belts or the shims. Guess I'm just lucky.

Ed

[Uncle Cracker]

Nope. Never replaced the belts or the shims. Guess I'm just lucky.

Same here... Not looking forward to it, but if an hour and a half is all I gotta put in to make my li'l BT baby happy again, it's the least I can do for the many years she has worked for me without complaint.

[chopnhack]

I'm with Uncle C, I havent had to do it yet, but I would consider it a small price to pay. I wonder if the v-twist or whatever they call them would work on our saw?

[gsmittle]

I think I just jinxed myself...

...I haven't had to change the belts yet, but now that I've mentioned it, I'll have to do so before too much longer.

By now you'd think I'd learn not to mention or even think about good fortune.

g.

[LCHIEN]

i have spares. in my experience that greatly reduces the chances you will need to replace your original belts.

[twistsol]

I'm probably cursing myself by saying this, but when I bought the BT3000 a decade ago, I bought a set of belts and a few other spares to have on hand. I think keeping them on hand has prevented needing them. If I throw them out, I just know I'll need them the day after trash day.

[docrowan]

I haven't had to do this. Are the belts really stiff or are they hard to get to? If they're stiff has anyone tried soaking them in very hot water for a while before installing them?

[cgallery]

i have spares. in my experience that greatly reduces the chances you will need to replace your original belts.

That didn't work with my shims.

[skillybob]

If I have to replace my belts ---- I'm getting a new Saw

[Turaj]

i have spares. in my experience that greatly reduces the chances you will need to replace your original belts.

I have spares as well (belts and shims as well as brushes) and thankfully so far I have not had to change anything!

[cork58]

I have, twice. I have 2 saws and the first one took awhile. I learned a few things on the first one and the second time around it was maybe a 30 minute job. A piece of 3/4 conduit 6 1/2 long will really help the belt loading. I followed the instructions from Jim Frye the first time. Second time I understood what he was saying so it was much easier. I suggest getting his pdf. and reading it a few times before you start and while doing it. When you get to the actual belt loading you will understand what the conduit is for.

Just my thoughts

[cork58]

For those of you in question about the shim problem try this site. I have done it but with a bit of a modification to the location of the new holes, just worked better for me.
http://www2.gol.com/users/nhavens/ht.../shims1-e.html