How do I Install Belts on a Vermeer Baler?

Square off the belt ends with the belt cutter. Remove any raised texture from the ends of the belts where the belt hooks will be inserted, using the belt skiver. Do not hook belts within a quarter inch from the edge of the belt. This quarter inch outside margin will keep the Vermeer belt guides from tearing out the hooks as the belt passes through.

Put one more hook into the leading or pulling end of the belt, at the splice protector, than at the trailing end. Place the first hook of the trailing end on the inside edge of the outside hook on the leading or pulling end. This will place the outside hook on the leading or pulling end and not on the trailing end of the belt at the splice protector. Use only the hook that Vermeer recommends for your particular baler.

Check to see that the hook legs are exactly parallel. The legs are the shortest side of the hook. Make sure the hooks are completely through the belt and actually fold onto and into the underside of it, and that half of the diameter of the hook is piercing the belt’s underside.

Finish off the belt hook clinches with the pressure plate that came with the vise lacer. Avoid using a hammer to finish the clinch on the belt hooks, as a hammer will tear the belt fabric just enough to start a belt splice that will unravel and cause the belt to fail.

Install the belts on the Vermeer baler in the direction the belt will move or travel. The direction of travel refers to how the belt is spliced, which direction it is cut, not the movement direction of the belt itself. Use shears to cut off the corners of the trailing belt once they are installed. This will keep the belt guide from grabbing the sharp corner of the trailing belt as it is pulled toward and by them.