[Guest]

Al wrote a thorough 56 step procedure on replacing your balance belt and rollers. You do not want to have a catastrophe happen due to old belts.

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[top_gun92]

[quote name='forum968' date='Jan 31 2005, 09:10 PM']Al wrote a thorough 56 step procedure on replacing your balance belt and rollers. You do not want to have a catastrophe happen due to old belts.

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Does this only apply to tips or also to manuals?

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[RWodabek]

I was wondering the same thing.



[quote name='top_gun92' date='Feb 1 2005, 09:47 PM']Does this only apply to tips or also to manuals?

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[Husky1]

Is the procedure the same for 6 speeds?

 

Jeff

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[MCL968]

The tool used to hold the flywheel is different, and consequently the timing marks may be different.

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[P38Light]

I just received my box of parts from Pelican re timing/balance belt replacement. The Gates timing belt shows code 4353DS. Balance belt code is 3813DS. Gates rep said these are both 2013 date of manufacture codes.

 

I'd much rather find newer belts. Does anyone know a supplier that might process more 968 belts than Pelican?

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[ds968]

Here's some info from Gates from an old post ( and an old poster , lol ) :

http://www.968forums.com/topic/12856-tim...re+%2Bdate

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[P38Light]

Thanks DS968. I had read your old post ... motivated me to prioritize a recent date code, so thanks for the tip.

 

Talking to Pelican before placing the order, they said "we sell so many of those belts, i'm sure it will be fairly recent." SoIi was surprised to see the 2013 code. Yesterday I found the belts (Gates T152 and T293) on Amazon where they were listed for 968's and several others (VW's I believe), so i ordered them (significantly cheaper than Pelican), planning to return the Pelican belts. Guess I'll continue this game until i get some that are no older than 1 year (hopefully less).

 

The Gates automitive rep said their highest volume customer for timing belts is NAPA, so I'll try them as well.

 

Do you know a supplier who will check the date codes before shipping?

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[ds968]

I bought mine from Rennbay - the kit was significantly less than the local Porsche dealer price , but I did not check what Sunset's price was at the time, they tend to be very competitive . Anyway, the rep at Rennsport ( Jason ? or Travis ? my memory is shot, lol.. ) was extremely helpful and did check the date codes for me before shipping. But I don't know if they still carry Gates or what the latest supply of choice may be.. NAPA, eh ? I'll have to look into that also, I'm approaching belts changing time in the not too distant future.


Thinking it may be best if these drive belts were made of leather, because in MY experience , those seem to have an uncanny ability to keep stretching and stretching under the heavy pressure of an ever-expanding waist and somehow still don't snap ..

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[mo30dave]

After joining I was reading a post about the life span of timing/balance belt ( thank the gods of the black forrest) 60k and I think origanal never changed 1993. So I think I have found belts but what I'm looking for are the spaner  wrench and flywheel lock . Any Ideas? P.S.  No I'm not even going to start it.

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[94SilverCab]

The mere mention of starting a 968 on 22 year old belts sent shivers down my spine...if you never believed in God before, you might consider it now (said as a true agnostic).

Jay

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[Waylander]

The mere mention of starting a 968 on 22 year old belts sent shivers down my spine...if you never believed in God before, you might consider it now (said as a true agnostic).Jay

With that thought, I just signed up

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[SamSparks]

Thanks DS968. I had read your old post ... motivated me to prioritize a recent date code, so thanks for the tip.

 

Talking to Pelican before placing the order, they said "we sell so many of those belts, i'm sure it will be fairly recent." SoIi was surprised to see the 2013 code. Yesterday I found the belts (Gates T152 and T293) on Amazon where they were listed for 968's and several others (VW's I believe), so i ordered them (significantly cheaper than Pelican), planning to return the Pelican belts. Guess I'll continue this game until i get some that are no older than 1 year (hopefully less).

 

The Gates automitive rep said their highest volume customer for timing belts is NAPA, so I'll try them as well.

 

Do you know a supplier who will check the date codes before shipping?

 

I had to email and phone around a lot. Most suppliers wouldn't or couldn't check the codes. Most wouldn't know how to decipher the Gates codes. I got Gates to send me their code sheet - that was useful. Eventually found a small specialist supplier willing to check the codes prior to shipping. A frustrating but ultimately worthwhile process in terms of the resulting peace of mind.

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[Bulti]

Some interesting belt (and hose) stuff, explained in a way mere mortals (like me) can understand:  :clap:

 

http://www.aa1car.com/library/belthose.htm

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[P38Light]

The belts I ordered from Amazon were 2012, so I returned them. Jason at Paragon was helpful enough to check the codes and they had a 2014 balance shaft belt, but their latest timing belt was also 2013. I did order the balance shaft belt from Paragon along with some other parts i needed, but at least found a major supplier who will go to the trouble to look.

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[P38Light]

Just received NEW information from Gates regarding date codes!! The first Gates Tech rep said two weeks ago that my belt (purchased from Pelican) stamped 4353DS was made in 2013, fourth digit indicating year of manufacture. I then ordered three additional belts from two other sources looking for a newer code.

 

Today, after pushing a bit on the 435 part of the number (having read in an earlier post that the first three digits indicated day of the year, so how come "435"?) today's Gates rep paused, then checked with higher authority and came back to say that for timing belts, the code is  different ... the FIRST digit is the year and the next three indicate the day, so my first belt was made in December 2014! Their serpentine belts use the former code however, thus their confusion.

 

BTW, another wierdism in this story, one of the belts was noticeably thinner between the teeth than the others. My crude calipers indicated 2 mm thich vs ~ 2.6+ mm for the others (less rubber on the smooth side). A bit of a QC problem here (and i did mention this to the Gates rep.

 

All's well that ends well I guess, but what a mess getting there.

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[Bulti]

Thanks for the info!

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[P38Light]

Another little tidbit from Gates Tech Rep: Belts should lose no more than 5% life per year on the shelf, provided temp and humidity are controlled.

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[Bulti]

They better had mentioned how many % they lose if not conserved under those ideal conditions. I bet most suppliers just put them on a shelf somewhere where there might be aircon at best, but no humidity control.

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[ds968]

When I spoke to their rep they also maintained ( and with great conviction ) that the mileage / years wear ratio on a belt is easily 90 / 10. So if I drive a car only 2 k or 3 k annually, I should not have any concerns for a solid 15 - 20 years with the same belt. My mechanic tends to agree and they may be right, but I am not really willing to test that notion unless either one or both of them offer me a full and unconditional engine rebuild guarantee .. :-) :-)

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