I'd worry less about side loads on the bearing and more about the loose belt
causing chatter under load. Torque the belt up to the manufacturer's
recommendations and see if you don't get better life out of your device.

"Fretting" and "case crack" just jump out at me as some sort of vibration
caused by something "loose", in this case the drive belt.

Jim




"a" wrote in message ...


The belt has always been fairly
loose, so as to not put excessive side loads on the bearing.