Yes. Polyurethane MXL, XL, L, H, and XH belts use identical tooth profile dimensions to standard rubber imperial belts per ANSI/RMA standards. They fit directly onto existing pulleys with no modifications, providing an immediate upgrade in belt life and performance. However, polyurethane belts are slightly thinner than rubber belts at the same pitch, so check for adequate tooth engagement on heavily worn pulleys before switching.

Polyurethane imperial belts last 3 to 5 times longer than rubber, resist oils, chemicals, and ozone degradation, maintain tighter dimensional tolerances with steel cord reinforcement, and operate across a wider temperature range (-30°C to +80°C). They also support custom lengths (open-ended and welded), FDA-compliant materials, and specialized backings that are not available in rubber. The higher initial cost is typically recovered multiple times over through reduced downtime and replacement frequency.

Polyurethane imperial timing belts are available in MXL (0.080" pitch), XL (1/5" or 0.200"), L (3/8" or 0.375"), H (1/2" or 0.500"), and XH (7/8" or 0.875"). All five pitches match standard ANSI/RMA tooth profiles and run on standard imperial pulleys.

XL (1/5" pitch) is the most widely used imperial timing belt size for general-purpose power transmission, office equipment, and light industrial drives. L (3/8" pitch) is the second most common, serving medium-duty industrial applications. Both are available in rubber and polyurethane from Texas Belting.

Yes. Truly endless (molded continuous loop, no splice joint) polyurethane belts are available in all five imperial pitches. XL belts are available from 60 to 390 teeth, and L belts from 38 to 420 teeth. Open-ended and welded configurations are also available for custom lengths. Contact Texas Belting at 888-203-2358 for truly endless availability in your required tooth count.

Yes. Open-ended imperial belts are sold by the foot and can be cut to any length. Welded endless belts can be produced at any pitch circumference. These custom length options are a significant advantage of polyurethane over rubber, where only fixed stock sizes are typically available. For field joining methods, see the connecting and joining belts page.

Yes. Imperial pitch belts are available in FDA 21 CFR 177.2600 compliant polyurethane with stainless steel tension members. These belts are suitable for direct food contact and washdown environments. See the food-grade polyurethane timing belts page for details.

For new machine designs, metric AT-Series belts are generally recommended over imperial profiles because the AT curvilinear tooth provides higher power capacity and lower backlash than the imperial trapezoidal tooth. Imperial polyurethane belts are the right choice when replacing rubber belts on existing imperial-profile pulleys, when the equipment specification requires ANSI/RMA profiles, or when compatibility with imperial replacement parts is important.