Slipping belt trick to get home.

[dmiller@iea.com (Doug Miller)]

>Pardon me for jumping in, but....I can top that! Did it in the rain, at
>night, in the parking lot of a parts store, in a section of Cleveland that
>people should avoid. Mark it down to bad judgement. Should have driven with
>one light out. So, your day could have been worse. Count your blessings?
>Doyt
>............................................................................
>............

In the rain?...  Wow, that was devotion to things mechanical.  Reminds me
of the time I had to tighten a badly slipping alternator belt on my X1/9 in
a full on gale. Drove one side up on the curb in front of a Kmart to get
room under to work.  Before I even got my wrenches out, an old man standing
under the awning asked me what I was doing.  After telling him, he said
that in the old days when belts slipped all the time they'd use a little
trick to get home with.  He directed me to get some shampoo or bar soap out
of my luggage and then get a cup of water.  Following his instructions
shouted to me from the safety of the awning, I smeared the shampoo
liberally all over the belt, then started the car. The belt slipped
horribly now.  Then he shouted to pour the glass of water slowly onto the
running belt, aiming for a pulley.  I did so and as the glass emptied, the
belt made a "zzzzzzzzICK!" sound and grabbed the pulley tightly.

He explained that the shampoo cleaned off all the accumulated oil and road
grime that commonly causes slippage in the rain, and the water was simply
to give it a good rinse.  I made it the remaining 300 miles home with
bright lights and no trouble and changed the belt later in the comfort of
my own garage.  Pretty neat, eh?


Doug Miller
dmiller@iea.com
97A6Q Wagon, 93 LandCruiser w/diff locks (and well used skidplates), 71
LeMans Sport V8 Convertible. Cannondale Super V 900 Comp.