Walk most conveyor catwalks and you'll find the same arrangement at the head pulley: a motor on a base, a set of sheaves, V-belts, a guard, and a shaft-mount reducer. It works. It also gives your maintenance crew one more thing to align, tension, inspect and replace. The Dodge Motorized Torque-Arm II takes that whole belt drive out of the picture.

That doesn't make it the right answer for every conveyor. Here's what it is, where it earns its spot, and where we'd still point you to a belt-driven reducer.

What it is

Dodge introduced the Motorized Torque-Arm II in 2007. It's built on the Torque-Arm II shaft-mount reducer, with a bevel gear set added to the input. That turns it into a right-angle reducer, and the motor bolts directly to it. The reducer still mounts on the driven shaft with a taper bushing and is held by a torque arm, the same way your existing shaft-mount units are.

Because it's built from the Torque-Arm II, it shares accessories with that line. Ten case sizes support drive packages up to 329,000 lb-in of torque. It's designed to AGMA standards for a 5,000-hour L10 bearing life, and Dodge describes it as the only AGMA-rated direct-drive reducer on the market.

What goes away with the V-belts

When the motor mounts straight to the reducer, several maintenance items leave with the belts:

• Alignment. No sheaves to line up after a motor swap or a reducer change.
• Tension. No belts stretching in and needing re-tensioning on a schedule.
• Belt replacement. No spare belt sets on the shelf and no changeouts.
• Guarding. No large belt guard to remove, inspect and reinstall.
• Belt pull. A belt drive pulls sideways on the reducer's input shaft, and the tighter and smaller the sheaves, the harder it pulls. Direct drive removes that overhung load.

The drive package is also more compact, which matters on a crowded head end or a narrow walkway.

Where it fits best

Fixed-speed conveyors. If the belt runs at one speed and nobody has touched the sheaves in years, you're maintaining a belt drive you don't need.

High-traffic catwalks and safety programs. Fewer exposed rotating parts and a smaller guard footprint are welcome on walkways your crew uses every shift.

Screw conveyors. With a screw conveyor adapter, the Motorized Torque-Arm II drives through a CEMA-standard trough end.

Recycling and newer plants. Operations that are designing for lower routine maintenance from the start are a natural fit.

Motor options got broader in 2024

Dodge expanded the line in 2024. Sizes 9, 10 and 12 were added, extending direct drive further up the torque range. The new Atlas adapter lets sizes 7 through 12 take a standard foot-mount motor in 364T to 447T frames, up to 200 HP. That matters at 2 AM: a foot-mount motor is easier to find on short notice than a specialty motor.

Dodge also added a C-face safety adapter. The coupling can be reached through a split cover for inspection without pulling the motor. Standard C-face and IEC motor adapters remain available as well.

When it doesn't fit

Direct drive is a trade, and it's worth being honest about the other side of it.

Speed changes need a VFD. With a belt drive, you can change conveyor speed by swapping sheaves. With the Motorized Torque-Arm II, the ratio is fixed. If production needs the speed to move, plan on a variable frequency drive, or stay with a belt-driven TXT-E or Torque-Arm II.

Bushing choices are narrower. Direct drive puts different loads on the driven shaft, so not every bushing offered on the Torque-Arm II is offered here. If the bore you need isn't available, the reducer is probably too big for that shaft. That's the moment to bring in Dodge's application engineers, not to force a fit.

Mounting position matters. On screw conveyors mounted in position D, a closed cover over the bushing is required.

Check the motor frame. Confirm the motor frame and adapter combination before ordering, especially if you plan to reuse an existing motor.

Sizing it right

The Motorized Torque-Arm II is sized the same way as the rest of the Torque-Arm family: motor horsepower and the RPM you need at the driven shaft, with a 1.4 service factor for standard bulk-handling conveyors and 2.0 for severe or critical duty. Like every Torque-Arm, it ships without oil. Fill it for the mounting position before startup.

Let's look at your drive

Davis Industrial is an authorized Dodge distributor, and our solutions specialists work directly with Dodge's application engineering team. Send us photos of the drive, the motor nameplate and the reducer nameplate, and we'll tell you whether direct drive makes sense for that conveyor, or whether a belt-driven reducer is still the better call.

Schedule a free site walk, or call 813-247-3620.