Do belts stiffen with age?

[broomvac]

Hi fellow vac fanatics,

Some of you may have seen my recent Royal thread. Well, today I began cleaning my ultra-bargain 1020Z, and all was smooth sailing until I went to install a new belt.

With even a huge amount of effort, I could not get the damned belt over the motor pulley. I mean, this belt was absurd. This thing was so tight, my belt lifter tool (for hand vacs, perhaps?) was getting chewed up by the edge of the belt access port. I’m sure that after a few more tries, I could have gotten it engaged, but with genuine concerns about the possibility of bending either the motor shaft or brush roll, I gave up. A used, smooth Kirby belt went on thereafter without too much oomph.

Yes, I had the correct belt—a genuine Royal Style 8 (1-672260-001)—and had the brush roll slotted in correctly. I was even twisting the belt in the correct way. I’m a pretty strong dude, too. Frankly, these belts had me stumped.

Then it hit me. Although this belt and its identical twin have never been used, look pristine, and feel very pliable, they are quite old. They came with a used Kirby I bought ten years ago and I have had them in storage ever since. Who knows how old they were before they came into my hands. Perhaps this is my problem.

Those of you in the industry: are all Royal Style 8 belts like this, or have mine gone stale? In your experience, do NOS belts get crazy stiff with age? Your advice would be appreciated.

https://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREADM.cgi?37968

 

[suckolux]

Well I THINK so, yes

 

[madman]

Rubber can behave in many different ways when it ages. Depending on the type of rubber/elastomer used, the vulcanization process, and the chemicals used, it can do many different things. I've never personally seen rubber shrink but still stay pliable, but it's possible. Generally rubber either gets hard or soft.

It's surprising, anyway. I suppose it might've been stored in some extreme environtment (hot / cold).

 

[huskyvacs]

All new belts are hard to put on which is why some vacuums came with belt installation tools to assist in putting them on (anyone ever try and put belts on Dirt Devil hand vacs? - you have to be He-Man!)

But yes they can shrink and become less-pliable with age as the rubber decays and will not want to stretch out. Then the rubber dries out and starts cracking apart.

An idea I had that you might want to try is microwaving a bowl of water and then putting the belt in the hot water to soak for a little bit to soften it up, then try installing it again and see if it will go on. Let it air-dry or dry with a rag before turning the vacuum on of course. I remember doing this trick as a kid to soften toy bouncy balls that had become stiff and less bouncy, not sure if it works with all rubber.

 

[kirbyklekter]

I can vouch for the hot water soak

it's helped every time when needed. When a belt becomes slightly stretched I hang on to it to use as a spare for a machine that uses a larger belt, because I'm just that cheep sometimes!

 

[vacuumlad1650]

They dry out over time, causing them to snap easier and be stiffer.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

I store my Kirby belts in Ziploc bags to keep them safe.

~Ben

 

[dysonman1]

Age will cause rubber belts to dry out and be hard to install (almost impossible sometimes). Try to never use a belt older than 2 years. I have a few genuine Hoover convertible belts that I got years ago. Probably 10 years old now. I tried to use one to change the belt on a model 70. It was SOOOOO hard to get on, and then it snapped 30 seconds into running. What I did discover, is that 10 year old Eureka belts will work great on the Convertible, since they've had a decade to dry out and shrink.

I never throw away a used Eureka F & G belt with no cuts. Old, stretched out Eureka belts are PERFECT for coffee can motor Hoovers.

 

[dustin]

They do harden, sometimes it doesn't take long. I used to clean my church and we had a Sanitaire upright that took Eureka round belts- there was a lot of carpet so I could burn through a good belt in a few weeks. I was using Hoover convertible belts becuse they fit a little tighter, but for a while I was replacing them just about weekly, the belts were old and cracked as soon as they got heated up, I had a few that just snapped while vacuuming for no apparent reason. After I used up the supply that the local hardware store had, and they had to order more, I never had another problem.

 

[vacuumlad1650]

A ziplock bag in the refrigerator will make them lest several times longer...

 

[broomvac]

Thank you all for the advice. The consensus seems to be that my belts are likely expired. The warm water trick may work temporarily for the purposes of installing these old belts, but I'm not sure I want to find out what could happen once they cool back down. As such, I have three brand new genuine belts on the way. They seem to be a relatively "hot" item on Amazon, so they should be fresh enough.

Incidentally, I keep all of my stored belts sealed in zip lock bags in a cool closet. Of all my belts, these are the only ones to "go stale," but I wasn't their original owner.

 

[rivstg1]

Reading this thread made me remember a video on YouTube about how to make a belt and many rubber products, last very long time by coating them in silicone spray, The video showed that saturating the timing belt for a car in the fluid made the belt last 300,000 miles instead of normal 70,000 mile interval, so now I think I may spray my belts( new ones) and put them in a baggie to possibly ward off drying out prematurely ,food for certain.

 

[lesinutah]

Hey

I have belt over 50 years old. I spray extra virgin olive oil on mine keeps em stretchy. I'm kidding. I have got a rag with armor all or car interior cleaner spray put on belts. Some belts are cracking I Chuck them. I have an a lifetime supply of belts so if I see cracks there garbage. I do use like armor all as interior is rubber and it keeps belts clean and not drying and cracking. I store them in coffee can in basement not a huge temp change.
Les