|  | Topic : Drive Belt Adjustment. |  |
| | | daz | | Zeus |  |  | | Reg. Date | : | 12/05/2009 | | Posts | : | 7,709 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 06 Aug 2010 - 21:36 Post title : Re: Drive Belt Adjustment. (Re: zolti) | | | Not sure i get what you're saying zolti. Can you clarify?
heres the only helpful reply so far at a HD forum i posted at...
There's always a happy medium to belt tightness. Too tight and then after it's ridden, it gets hotter and tighter. Causes issues with noise and excessive wear (belt and pulleys) not to mention another reason for the trans input shaft or primary seal (quads) to leak.
Too loose and it flaps and flops and can possibly even jump and strip belt cogs. Something flipping and flopping at highway speeds isn't good.
I set mine to just slightly less than recomendations. No noise, no flops and no leaks. |
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| 2010 Blue/White Thunderbird, "Brutus". 1700 kit, short tors, gutted cat, UNI filter, filter seal off, custom tune. Brutus in his native habitat: Link
| | Post edited by daz on 06 Aug 2010 - 22:03 |
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| | | zolti | | Thor | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 23/03/2010 | | Posts | : | 3,127 | | Location | : | newcastle , United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 06 Aug 2010 - 23:04 Post title : Re: Drive Belt Adjustment. (Re: daz) | | | Daz -
because of a wheel wobble ( diff thread) my bike was in the dealers (warrenty) and for one of their checks they needed to check the rear wheel and belt alignmnet. ( not tightness) in conversation they said that the bikes run 0.6% out. i didnt ask whether it was to the right or left ,sorry
next time im in ill ask more.
but i do like atadudes solution.
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| | | daz | | Zeus | | | | Reg. Date | : | 12/05/2009 | | Posts | : | 7,709 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 06 Aug 2010 - 23:31 Post title : Re: Drive Belt Adjustment. (Re: zolti) | | | I see.... you mean .6% out of alignment. I was more thinking about loose or tight after atadude's post. You gotta wonder about things that dealers tell you tho unless it's documented in the manual.you know how that goes.....if you mention that to 2 other dealers one will say "never heard of that" and the other will say " thats wrong". who do you believe? So if it's not in the manual i'd question it.
Anyways, here's another post from the harley forum. this guy menttions dry teflon lube, something i'd been wondering about.
Well, I never actually tighten my belt. I ride so much, whatever tension it is at when HD puts a new tire on it, is the same tension it has 8 months later when they put another tire on it. But I check it now and then cause I'm a little AR on maintenance. It is as HD specifies. Too loose, and it will squeek and wear funny, ditto too tight. So it is as specified. But I use a dry teflon lubricant monthly. HD's lube is silicone based, and I disregard that and use the teflon. Wears great, no noise, belt looks new at change time of 100k. Try is and see before you do anything funny.
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| 2010 Blue/White Thunderbird, "Brutus". 1700 kit, short tors, gutted cat, UNI filter, filter seal off, custom tune. Brutus in his native habitat: Link
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| | | DizzE | | Thor | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 12/07/2010 | | Posts | : | 3,141 | | Location | : | Sunnyvale, CA, United States |
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| | Posted : 07 Aug 2010 - 04:35 Post title : Re: Drive Belt Adjustment. (Re: daz) | | | daz wrote:
I see.... you mean .6% out of alignment
A... dry teflon lube, something i'd been wondering about.
... Try it and see before you do anything funny.
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The outside aligned sounds right. My belt, like many owners report, runs next to the outer rim. But, as to the stated accuracy, it seems these days, 98.23% of all facts are just made up. I don't think Lupo mentioned flapping, but I suppose, at certain harmonics, with way too much slack, it's possible.
| | Post edited by DizzE on 07 Aug 2010 - 04:36 |
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| | | zolti | | Thor | | | | Reg. Date | : | 23/03/2010 | | Posts | : | 3,127 | | Location | : | newcastle , United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 07 Aug 2010 - 13:17 Post title : Re: Drive Belt Adjustment. (Re: daz) | | |
daz wrote:
if it's not in the manual i'd question it.
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good point but to date i dont hav a manual, is there a section on alignment in the manual?
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| | | daz | | Zeus | | | | Reg. Date | : | 12/05/2009 | | Posts | : | 7,709 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 07 Aug 2010 - 13:52 Post title : Re: Drive Belt Adjustment. (Re: zolti) | | | I can't recall if i looked at wheel alignment because i don't believe i thought about that when looking for belt details. But good idea. I will have to do that today.
| 2010 Blue/White Thunderbird, "Brutus". 1700 kit, short tors, gutted cat, UNI filter, filter seal off, custom tune. Brutus in his native habitat: Link
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| | | daz | | Zeus | | | | Reg. Date | : | 12/05/2009 | | Posts | : | 7,709 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 07 Aug 2010 - 14:00 Post title : Re: Drive Belt Adjustment. (Re: daz) | | | More interesting words for those who have run belts for years....
| after bringing in my last bike for complaints of belt noise (3rd time) I watched the HD wrench squirt on dry lube teflon instead of HD belt lube (silicone). It worked so well I now spread the word. |
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| A belt is a belt no matter what it is run on.Running loose will increase the chances of breakage and is very hard on the pulleys.Belts will not hurt the bearings,they are actually gentle on them compared against a chain |
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Usually a squeaky belt (that I've seen over the years) is due to glazing of the inboard side of the belt. This could be due to overtightening or running too loose. The glaze can be removed quickly with sand paper and corrections made to alleviate the condition causing it to occur.
When the bike rolls forward, the belts edge closest to the wheel will ride towards the wheel. When rolled backwards, away from the wheel. Also, the ones that I've heard squeaking are the hot belts, after they have been ridden and warmed up (which also makes them tighter).
It can also be due to poor alignment of the rear wheel but this should be an obvious problem to correct.
I've seen oil leaks from a quad seal stop leaking, after a banjo tight belt was properly adjusted, having been previously overtightened.
I've seen nightmares from the hands of "experienced" dealer techs and non dealer techs.
Spraying a substance on the belt, at least in my opinion, is simply masking the condition that is causing it. |
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Kinda wonder about that statement about the belt getting tighter when hot. But maybe he is right and the pulleys expand more than the belt making it tighter?
| 2010 Blue/White Thunderbird, "Brutus". 1700 kit, short tors, gutted cat, UNI filter, filter seal off, custom tune. Brutus in his native habitat: Link
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| | | daz | | Zeus | | | | Reg. Date | : | 12/05/2009 | | Posts | : | 7,709 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 07 Aug 2010 - 14:33 Post title : Re: Drive Belt Adjustment. (Re: daz) | | | A thread mostly advising AGAINST the use of lube...
Link
| 2010 Blue/White Thunderbird, "Brutus". 1700 kit, short tors, gutted cat, UNI filter, filter seal off, custom tune. Brutus in his native habitat: Link
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| | | bigbikelupo | | Set | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 13/05/2010 | | Posts | : | 185 | | Location | : | Frankfurt, Germany |
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| | Posted : 07 Aug 2010 - 15:22 Post title : Re: Drive Belt Adjustment. (Re: daz) | | |
Kinda wonder about that statement about the belt getting tighter when hot. But maybe he is right and the pulleys expand more than the belt making it tighter? |
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Its a lot tighter when hot, move it up and down when cold and when hot, you'll see
| Is there an afterlife ?
Touch my bike and figure it out.
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| | | DizzE | | Thor | | | | Reg. Date | : | 12/07/2010 | | Posts | : | 3,141 | | Location | : | Sunnyvale, CA, United States |
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| | Posted : 07 Aug 2010 - 15:27 Post title : Re: Drive Belt Adjustment. (Re: bigbikelupo) | | | AH...1/2" slack cold, = cooler running belt. I can see that.
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