[SEL] IH3M Belt pulley

[Jim Hunter]

I made wooden belt tightning idler pulleys for my tractor. Used 3/4 oak boards stacked up with grain of each one turned at different angles.  I made it extra wide so when I turned it down I was able to leave a 3/8x3/8 lip on each edge of pulley to help me keep belt on pulleys when the belt is not completely tightened.I drilled the end and side of idler shaft, installed a zerk.  Then bored hole thru pulley to fit the shaft. Hold it on shaft with locking collars. While spinning idler slowly by hand I began to grease it. To my amazement before the grease came out both ends of the pulley around the shaft, some of the grease came out through the end grains of the wood!! Fortunately I am running the idlers on the outside of belt so a little grease won,t cause any belt slippage! In the future I will use a tighter grained wood!!       Jim