# ryobi bt3000 band replacement



## adamstevens (Jul 2, 2017)

Hi. I have a Ryobi bt3000 and cannot get the motor off of a plate that prevents me from changing the belts. Any help is appreciated. It looks to me like the spindle that the blade sits on is the only thing holding me back from removing it from the plate.
thanks


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

It's a booger of a job. IIRC, you can do it without removing the motor from the mounts. I had to do mine back in 1994 and did it without removing anything except the melted belts (I stalled the blade and didn't think to shut the thing down before the motor simply spun and melted the belts). I think I have a write up somewhere that a user wrote on doing the belt change and it will take me a bit to find it after over twenty years. I seem to recall the technique involved a spoon to allow the belts to slide over the multiple Vees on the pulleys. If it's still online, I'll post the link. If not, I'll try to find the write up and work out getting it to you.

Update: I found the instructions on my PC. I had saved the PDF file from the old BT3K site. It's a page and a half. I don't know if I can put it in a post here or not due to length, but I'll give it a tryl


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

This text is from a post on the Ryobi Power Tool Forum by Ed Ellickson titled "belt replacement" 
dated 9/13/98. 

When I broke my belts installing a zero-clearance throat plate, the search engine was down. The 
tech place where I bought the replacement belts didn't provide much help or direction. 

For those who have the problem later on, here is the procedure I figured out, which is quite fast: 

1. Unplug the saw. 
2. Remove the six screws holding the angled cover onto the left side of the saw and remove the 
cover. 
3. Remove the seven screws holding the dust cover on, then remove the cover. 
4. Remove the saw blade, guard, arbor spacers and nut. 
5. Remove 4 screws holding the slides together. 
6. Remove the 2 screws holding the arbor bearing in place. Pull straight out on the bearing 
assembly, exposing the two shafts and belt area. 
7. Fabricate a "spoon" tool. I used a foot-long piece of regular electrical conduit and made a 1" cut 
lengthwise through the middle of the tubing, then cut off one of the halves, creating a hollow tube / 
spoon lever or prybar. 
8. Start the first belt with about 1/3 of its edge halfway onto the upper shaft (left side), and hold it 
with your left hand. Stick the spoon tool through the free end of the belt (hollow side toward the 
shaft) and using a right-handed circular motion, pry the bottom of the belt onto and around the 
lower shaft, while turning the upper pulley clockwise with the left hand. Once the belt is started on 
both shafts, prying with the tool in a circular motion on the lower shaft will stretch and work the 
belt back onto the shaft. Then, turn the upper shaft with a wrench or other tool. 
9. Repeat this process 3 or 4 times until the lower belt is seated. Remember, while you are turning 
the upper shaft with a wrench, as long as you hear a "snapping" sound, the belt is still moving back 
onto the upper shaft. 
10. When the first belt is all the way to the rear of both shafts, repeat the process with the second 
belt. When done, the second belt will be exactly flush with the outer edge of both shafts. 
11. If you haven't done so already, clean off all sawdust, etc from everything. 
12. Using a dab or two (small) of wheel bearing grease or Vaseline, align the two flat shims onto 
the motor. (You should be able to tell the correct orientation by the wear marks on the shims). The 
two shims with the 90-degree bend mount onto the arbor bearing housing; again their proper 
orientation can be determined by friction marks. 
13. Working carefully, just start the two screws holding the arbor bearing onto it's back plate. Then 
start the four screws holding the entire arbor bearing assembly. When all are started properly, 
tighten the two bearing screws alternatively, then tighten the other four screws last. 
14. If still needed and you are careful, mount the blade and the zero-clearance throat plate. After 
checking that the blade rotates freely, not binding on the throat plate or saw body, plug in the saw, 
turn it on, and by gradually raising the blade, cut the slot in the throat plate while you can see 
what's going on. (Wear glasses, because plastic bits will fly everywhere!) 
15. When done, re-install the dust catcher and the end panel and you are done! 
Total time 20-30 minutes, depending upon speed and dexterity.


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## mllombard (Feb 9, 2021)

Jim Frye said:


> This text is from a post on the Ryobi Power Tool Forum by Ed Ellickson titled "belt replacement"
> dated 9/13/98.
> 
> When I broke my belts installing a zero-clearance throat plate, the search engine was down. The
> ...


It may be that as I get older my hands have lost strength, but I could not get the belt on, so I came up with an alternat strategy.
I cut a strip the width of the pullies from a soft drink can. I then cut the strip into lengths that would wrap around the motor shaft and the arbor shaft. I used masking tape to secure these strips to the two pullies, creating “aluminum sleeves”. 
It took a little work, but once the V-belt was on the aluminum sleeve I was able to work the belt to the back of the pullies. Once it looked like the belt was in the correct place, I used an Exacto knife to through cut the aluminum. Grasping one end of the aluminum with needle nose pliers, I rotated the shaft while extracting the sleeve.
I then did the same procedure for the second belt, making the sleeves one belt wide.


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

Good work, I had to replace the belts on my BT3K shortly after I got mine in 1993. Later another user created a Tool to make belt changing easier. He took a piece of electrical conduit and flattened the end and cupped it to sort of wrap around the shaft. Fortunately, I've only had to do it once in the twenty five years I've owned the saw.


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