Help with a HF lathe

[John Torchick]

I bought a used Harbor Freight lathe, #34706. How do you change the belt? The only way I see is to unscrew one side of the Reeves pulley (which looks like a chore in itself) as the belt won't fit between the housing and the pulley. Instructions have no info in this. Any help is appreciated.

 

[ray hampton]

I not sure if the owner manual will go into details but you may be able to down load the manual from H F web site if your lathe did not come with one

 

[Dave W]

John,

I've seen this topic come up a few time on other forums. Your not the only one that has had trouble with the change out. Not having a HF I tried google for you, these may help:

http://gerd.knops.org/shopnotes/?p=42

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?20184-HF-34706-q-s-Changing-Belt-Adjusting-Pulley

 

[Larry Komroff]

I did it on mine a long time ago and I no longer have that lathe. I cant remember the exact steps but be very careful, the pullys break VERY easily. That said, google bltrplcjwl1236.html and select the cached version. The original appears to be deleted. This is for a Jet lathe but the HF 34706 is a clone of the Jet. I followed this when I changed mine. If I remember, I used the 3L240W instead of the 3L240. I am not sure of the difference but they are the same size. Hope this helps. And remember, the pullys break VERY easily.

Larry

 

[John Torchick]

Got it!

First, thanks for the replies. The instruction manual doesn't have anything about changing the belt! I find a lot of manuals from across the Big Pond are like this-lacking detail or bad grammar.
Dave W.- sawmillcreek.org was a great tutorial. Thanks! I got the set screws out and the C-clip off the shaft. I found that by rocking the edges back and forth while pulling got the pulley off. It took a while but it worked. I'm going to clean the shaft and the inside of the pulley and put a very light coat of Never-Seize on the shaft. My father had said they used this gray stuff on sparkplugs on C-47s in WWII. Must have helped as we won the war!
Larry, I'm glad I went back and reviewed the posts. I was about to take the 3L240W back to NAPA and exchange it for a 3L230, which was on it when I bought it. Thanks!