SCFD rtrd. Posted June 14, 2019 Report Share Posted June 14, 2019 I replaced both gear plates and motors on my boat lift about a year ago. The gear plate has a drive belt (fan belt) from the elect. motor to a pully that turns the gears. The belt squeals like crazy. It's especially bad in the early mornings when going fishing. I've tried everything to stop the squealing. The pulleys are perfectly aligned, I've tried belt dressing and also used a file to dress the belt while it was moving. I bought a new belt, then tried an old used belt, still squealing. Has anyone have any idea what else it could do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROZEN Posted June 14, 2019 Report Share Posted June 14, 2019 SCFD, Three years ago, when my lift was new, I had a similar(not exactly the same) problem. After about 10 up/down cycles, the belts started screaming and eventually one shredded. Called the installing dealer who said, “......we see that a lot. DECO ships units with sh**y belts.” He came out and replaced both belts with another brand, Firestone or Goodyear, it think. He made no other adjustments I know of and that solved the problem for me. Still on the lift. i was very skeptical with his fix, and I didn’t compare old part number with the new ( maybe wider, deeper, or narrower?), but it worked. M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted June 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2019 Frozen, thanks for the help. I just got off the phone with Fix Marine. That's who I bought from in Cape Coral, Fl. The tech gave me a couple of things to try. I was assuming that the noise (squeal) was coming from the belt, but he says usually that's not the case. I'm going to make a couple of adjustments that he suggested and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROZEN Posted June 15, 2019 Report Share Posted June 15, 2019 Let us know what works! Good luck! M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce J Posted June 15, 2019 Report Share Posted June 15, 2019 Are you sure the noise is coming from the belts? Mine gets screechy every now and then, but when I hit the zerk fittings with some grease it goes away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Headhunter Posted June 15, 2019 Report Share Posted June 15, 2019 I have had that on both of my lifts. Mine was the bearing behind the main gear needing grease. Depending how old the lift is the zerk fitting can either be right at the bearing behind the gear at about the 10 o’clock position or on an extension at about 9 o’clock. you don’t want that one to go bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted June 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2019 Well, I initially thought the noise was coming from the belt. Now, I'm not so sure. The gear plates, gears, motors, pullies and belts are about one year old and one side has squealed from day one. It only squeals on the way down (not up) and squeals for about 10 seconds then stops, but starts squealing again in about 1 minute. The tech I talked with says to loosen the two bolts that hold the gear plate and try to lift the whole gear plate assemble up slightly and retighten the bolts. When I assembled the new gear plates, I lifted that heavy thing and hung it on the galvanized pipe that the cables wind around. Than just bolted it up. The tech says the gear plate is in a blind because I allowed the weight of the gear plate to hang on the pipe while bolting everything together. I'll be back in Englewood in about two weeks and will try his suggestion. I tried U-Tube but could not find any information that related to the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East Coast Dave Posted June 15, 2019 Report Share Posted June 15, 2019 When mine does this I hit the grease fittings with couple pumps of grease and I’m good to go. Always trying to be a good neighbor. Seems like it always starts to happen that early morning on the weekend.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted June 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 Yep, that squealing noise at daybreak is embarrassing to say the least. Our marina is surrounded on three sides by condos. They all know when I'm leaving the dock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subverb Posted December 30, 2020 Report Share Posted December 30, 2020 I also had a loud squeal on the down motion of my Deco lift. I greased all the zerk fittings I could find and still had a faint squeal. So I opened the box for the gear that turns the "big wheel"/pulley and gave it a good coating of grease. The squeal is gone. That side of the lift had been open to salt-air and rain for several months after Hurricane Michael blew the cover off. I suspect that contributed to the noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 woke my neighbors young kids up... I was not the cool old guy in the neighborhood after that. Grease the zerk fittings.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted January 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 Yep!!! I have determined that the problem is in the worm-gear that turns the big gear that is attached to the galvanized pipe. A squirt of grease solves the problem for about a week, then I have to repeat the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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