Check those belts

mgambuzza

mgambuzza

Senior Member
Although I've already put over a 100 miles since buying my Model A in October, one item I never checked until recently was the fan belt - DISASTER waiting to happen. As seen in the pictures below it would be just a matter of time before I would've been stranded. Ordered a couple days ago from Brattons, and today I'm good to go, and much better off than I was or would've been.
 

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I date the back of mine with a silver sharpie. Time flies faster than a radiator fan. LOL
 
A lost belt should never strand a model a driver, you'll just get home a little later than you thought. Your car will run a long time without a belt except in stop and go traffic.
 
In many parts of North America, the fan belt could be removed in November and replaced in April, with no loss of cooling capacity, a faster warm-up, and at least 1 more horsepower. Just saying,...
 
Just before we left on one of our long tours, I noticed the belt was like that. I was about to replace it but didn't - I left a new one on the floor in the back along with a spanner. It finally delaminated enough to cause a ruckus under the bonnet 2,500 miles later. When we arrived at the National Meet, there was a guy who had driven over 2,000 miles with no working water pump. The car ran a little warmer than usual but he stayed on 50 mph or more without damage to the car. If the belt breaks, it is possible to drive on except in stop/start traffic as has been said. The other thing you would lose is power output from the generator. If you don't use the starter or lights, you can drive a LONG way on what is in a good battery.
 
A friend once lost his belt on a trip from Stockton Ca to Reno NV for Hot August Nights. He used his wife's pantyhose to make it over the mountain into Reno. That was on a SBC powered pickup.
 
HD Rider said:
A friend once lost his belt on a trip from Stockton Ca to Reno NV for Hot August Nights. He used his wife's pantyhose to make it over the mountain into Reno. That was on a SBC powered pickup.
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I don’t think they even sell panty hose now.
 
I start looking at it a bit more closely in the early months of year 4. If I have a maintenance project going from there then I change it. They last a long time. Not a lot of pull on them, and I tend to drive my car every few weeks during the summer, and take it out, or warm it up 3 or 4 times during the off-season.
 
Model A’s like the Model T use a siphon cooling system. Pump is there to help, the siphon moves most of the coolant.
 
ursus said:
In many parts of North America, the fan belt could be removed in November and replaced in April, with no loss of cooling capacity, a faster warm-up, and at least 1 more horsepower. Just saying,...
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So, what did they do to keep the battery up? Must of charged it frequently?
 
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