1955 RJ-35 Drive Belt Question?

[fireman 1,021]

The manual for the RJ-35 lists the two belts as 37-A and 20-A. I bought these two and the drive won't work properly. The variator pulley actually hits the bottom side of the belt guard when I start to move the lever forward. After stopping at SteveBo's house I noticed that his early 55 has a smaller rear pulley than mine. He said he thinks there may have been 3 different sizes of the large rear pulley. Mine is 7" across. Does anyone know what the appropriate belts should be so it works as it should?

Thanks!

[rj35hunter 283]

Jeff, the belt length's you got is correct for the 7" rear pulley. I have seen 6, 6.5, & 7" pulleys on these tractors. Different brands & styles of belts will fit the pulleys differently making them actually longer or shorter.......been there If the style belt you got is too skinny it will fit tighter in the pulleys causing the belts to act longer. What I find to work the best is the gates brand tru flex style belts 20" & 37" long. If still having the same problem you can shorten the main longer belt from the variable speed pulley to the drive pulley. That will pull your variable speed pulley back away from the guard. This area is trial & error since no two of these tractors are the same. Hope this helps. Just my .

Clay

[droptopcop 11]

jeff, i went though the same thing, save yourself some trips buy a few belts and take back the ones you don't use, clay is right a shorter rear belt will pull the varible speed pulley away from the guard. squeeze the rear belt with your hand while its on and you will see whats going on, they did have some serious thinkin going on with that pulley system. bought my belts from the local tractor store 1/2 inch wide hev brand. you'll get it good luck. bob

[fireman 1,021]

Thanks for the tips guys. I will have a go at it tomorrow and see if I can figure it out.

[fireman 1,021]

Stopped over at SteveBo's house to give a hand with some things today. While I was there I borrowed the drive belts from his 55' and brought them home to try em on mine. When I got home I compared them to the ones I bought and both of his were a little shorter then the recommended ones. Turns out the A37 (4L390) I bought actually measures 39" and really needs to be 37". The A20 (4L220) I bought is 22" long and needs to be 20" long. There's no way that the A37 and A20 would work because it let the variable pulley ride against the belt guard. Both his belts (4L200 and 4L370) worked perfectly and the tractor drove great. Here's a video of it:

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,086]

Tractor looks great Jeff. Is that all they have for ground speed? I've never owned a nut-roaster and only have driven one at the Enfield meet-n-greet. It was Steve's and I remember it being slow also.

Mike..........

[fireman 1,021]

I only had the idle screw to adjust the throttle so it wasn't turned up that far. Not sure how fast it will go once I get the throttle lever attached. I need to get the hood welded back together first then I can mount the throttle.

[VinsRJ 721]

Oh..... you watch out, pour in the fuel and hang on my friend.....

RJ35s couldn't hit 2.5mph falling straight off the top off the Empire State Biulding.

[fireman 1,021]

Oh..... you watch out, pour in the fuel and hang on my friend.....

RJ35s couldn't hit 2.5mph falling straight off the top off the Empire State Biulding.

NOW THAT'S FUNNY RIGHT THERE!!!

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,264]

It was painful driving mine back and forth to the camp site at the show last year however they are perfect for crusing the vendor section :)

[AMC RULES 37,102]

Such a cool little tractor, glad to see you got that project going again Jeff. :handgestures-thumbup:

[rj35hunter 283]

Jeff, glad you got the belts straightened out. Those part #'s you used match to what I use too for the larger 7" rear drive pulley.

Clay