Fan belt for E 6 cylinder, with the 5 blade fan.

[Morgan Wright]

Bob's doesn't sell them, nobody sells them. Can't get anything close at NAPA or the parts stores.

 

After much trial and tribulation I concluded that the best size fan belt is 285K7 which means 28.5 inches inside diam (29.25 outside) with K thickness and 7 ribs according to this:

 

 

[Morgan Wright]

This company sells 285K8 which is perfect but too wide,

 

285K8 Micro rib Poly V Belt K Section (gprindustrial.com)

 

so I took an exacto knife and trimmed off one of the ribs to make it K7, which was really easy, the knife was guided by the ribs exactly. It's the perfect width and this is the result:
 

 

 

[Morgan Wright]

The picture parts book for E, H, K 6 cylinder, with the E being one size and the H and K the other size for the 4 blade fan. You can see in the picture book the 5 blade fan was used for the E cars only, not the 1919 H and 1920 K. To change the fan belt, you have to remove a push rod to get the pully back, as well as loosen the bolt that holds the fan on, which is a pain but much easier than removing the radiator. The ring around the fan blades prevents you from slipping the belt around the fan blades.

 

In 1919 they enclosed the push rods and rocker arms, so it would be even harder to change the fan belt. So they went to the 4 blade fan without the ring on the blades, so you can slip the belt around the blades. That pulley and hub takes a different size fan belt.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Morgan Wright (see edit history)

[Morgan Wright]

Picture parts book for E,H,K 6 cylinder cars

 

[Morgan Wright]

This is when I first bought the car. It had not been touched in 80 years. It had a leather fan belt that was broken. It was the wrong length anyway because the hub of the fan was not in the middle of the radiator like it's supposed to be. The right edge of the fan was flush with the right edge of the radiator, the left side of the radiator had a 6 inch section with no fan blowing on it. That's no good.

 

[Terry Wiegand]

Here is a photo of the fan for our 1916 D-45.  This car was built in October of 1915.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

AACA Life Member #947918

[Brian_Heil]

One of the first issues I had with my 1923 Model 45 25 years ago was throwing the leather fan belt. I was on a rainy tour and the leather belt had stretched and was as slick as well, wet leather.  My guess was the belt was older than me. 
 

I went into a local auto parts store with the old belt and picked out a modern ‘rubber’ serpentine belt about an inch wide off the wall that was just a tad smaller. Put in on the car with the grooves out, set the tension spring and that was 25+ years and 40,000+ miles ago.  No idea the part number as I’ve worn the printing off the smooth side years ago. 
 

Don’t be hung up that you can’t find a modern belt as wide as the pulley.  The modern inch wide belt is strong enough to be used as a tow strap. 

[Morgan Wright]

Put mine on groove side in, which left the label side out with the glaring colorful letters. They wouldn't dissolve in acetone, sanding them off was futile. I got rid of them by taking a propane torch and heating the letters for a second or two, until they went from blue to light brown, and then wiping them off with a rag. It came off instantly without a trace.

 

Yeah, no leather for me. They are $75, the rubber one was $5 and 100 times better.

[Larry Schramm]

Years ago I put a serpentine belt on my "15 truck and never looked back.  I would not consider putting a leather belt on any of my vehicles.