Last weekend I noticed the Polaris 360 going in wide circles on the bottom of the swimming pool. At first I thought one of the swivel joints was jamming preventing the 360 from moving in its normal random cleaning pattern. The joints turned out to be fine.
What it turned out to be was a broken rear belt so only the left single wheel and the right front wheel were turning pulling the Polaris around in circles. The rear wheel was just turning freely offering no resistance.
You can see in the picture that the belt is off of the rear pulley. Also, notice how the front wheel is not inline with the back wheel, the reason for that turned out to be bad wheel bearings. There are two wheel bearings on both right hand wheels and two per gear axle inside of the impeller cage. All of the bearings seemed to wear at the same rate so if you have to replace one or two you may as well replace them all while you are at it. There are a total of eight bearings in the Polaris 360 at around $8 each. The belts cost $25. While I was inside of the Polaris 360 I found that the bearings inside of the impeller were bad and needed replacing. That required replacing the whole impeller along with both gears, a new axle and c-clips, all for $19! I thought that would have been a lot more.
Ultimate Swimming Pool Maintenance Guide!
When you install the new belts make sure you line up the pulleys so the belt tracks squarely on the pulley to prevent premature wear.
