Hi guys! I've been reading this forum for years but this is my first post. I would really appreciate any advice for my problem. I went out last Sunday morning to duck hunt near my house. About half a mile into my trek, The belt on my Dixie mud motor surface drive with a Briggs and Stratton 23 hp engine snapped. Luckily, a friend of mine was able to tow me back to the ramp. I had a spare belt, so I placed it on the motor and launched the boat again. This time, only about a quarter of a mile into my trek, the second belt snapped. I got back home and put a third belt on. I started the engine (out of the water) and it runs fine at idle. However, I noticed that the belt slightly rubs against the pulley. It looks like the pulleys are slightly out of alignment. If the belt rubs against the pulley, could that cause it to snap so easily? Or is it possible that the bearings are worn out inside the pulleys? If the bearings are worn out, will the heat and friction and wobbling cause a belt to snap this easily? If anybody has had this happen to their engine please let me know. Thank you so much for your help!

Roger



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How long have you had your Dixie? I ask because I got mine before the original owner went bottoms up and I chewed through 2 belts on my 10hp in the first year with less than 10 hrs on the motor. I called them back up and talked to the new owner and he told me the gears and belts the first owner was using were not strong enough for the lower HP motors and everyone's was stripping, shredding or breaking. He gave me the part numbers and vendor contact to get the gears and belt that was used on the 35hp and I haven't had any issues since then. That was in 2013, my only problem now is I'm trying to haul too much stuff in my little boat to get up on plane

How many hours on the original belt? Is the motor new to you?

1744 Phowler Prowler, 23 Dixie

Thanks guys. I bought the motor in 2012. I had a belt snap in 2013, but I replaced it and didn't think much of the situation besides bad luck. The first belt that broke last week had been on the boat since 2013 (only about 20 hours of use). All of the pulleys/bearings, etc are the original ones


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I had my mechanic adjust the pulley. The pulley needed to come back .5" !!!!
I can't believe it was so far out of alignment. He told me it's the worst engine he's ever seen haha. He's not a fan of Dixie [FACE WITH TEARS OF JOY]


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The shiny portion in the front illustrates how far out the pulley had to come in order to achieve proper alignment. It was over half an inch


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Did it move? Seems weird that the first belt had a couple years of wear on it and then the replacement broke almost immediately.

1744 Phowler Prowler, 23 Dixie

I ran the boat for an hour today....it did great. It looks the misalignment was the culprit! I'll be chasing ducks tomorrow morning


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Glad you figured it out

Thanks mud


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Roger I noticed you mentioned that you were able to replace your belt fairly easily after it broke. I have a 23hp vanguard dixie motor and I cannot figure out how to replace the belt without completely disassembling the lower unit. Any advice is much appreciated. Not much info out there about Dixie Motors.

It looks like it would cause a lot of tension on that crank with the pulley that far out. Can the bottom pulley be moved a little to split the difference?

I doubt he answers, but good luck. This thread is from Dec 2015

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