[Sean Schuff]

Our team (93) used cog belts and cogs for our drive train last year and found that the drawbacks outweigh the benefits - at least for our application. We had a four-wheel tank-style drive using one CIM on each side and our modified variation of Andy Baker's two-speed transmission. We ran into three major issues with the belts.

First, the belts needed to be aligned precisely and captured enough that they don't wander side to side at all. Any wander will result in the belts walking off and the loss of one or both sides of the drive. Wander is also an issue with chain (although much more forgiving) but seemed amplified with the belt.

Second, the belts had to be extremely tight or they would skip over the teeth in the cog and not transfer any motion to the wheels. To remedy this meant to tighten the belts with a tensioner which led to our third problem.

Finally, the belts had to be tightened so much to prevent slippage that we created a ton of friction in the system which definitely translated to loss from the CIMs to the floor.

This year we are returning to chain and sprockets. It has worked well in the past and we know it will work well in the future. We've used #35 in the past but are going to test out #25 to save weight. Based on what many on these forums have to say, the smaller chain should be sufficient.

Our adventure into belt drive was definitely a learning experience and we would return to them if we could overcome some of the problems we encountered. At this point it is easier to return to the familiar and focus on improving that. If anyone has ideas on how to overcome these "opportunities", please share your insights!

Good luck!

Sean