| Author | Message | ||
     Buellgrrrl |
Replacing the original belt on my 45,000 mile M2L I was careful to look for any obvious causes of failure. I found no misaligned pulleys or signs of rubbing anywhere the belt wasn't supposed to be. The belt parted ways with the bike in the middle of a six lane freeway, so it wasn't retrievable for post mortem examination. I inspected the belt though 200 miles before the failure and it looked fine. Installing the new belt, I moved the adjusters at most a millimeter forward, and it's so sloppy loose that I may move the adjusters back a hair. If belt stretching is a marker of wear, clearly the old belt had plenty of life left in it. The only other likely cause of failure I can think of was the couple miles of riding I did on gravel about 120 miles before the belt failed. This was nasty gravel- big inch across stones that slowed me down to 30 MPH. I'm theorizing that the failure was caused by one of those stones wedging between the belt and pulley, tearing the belt partly, leading to progressive failure as the overloaded remaining treads progressively gave way. What say ye, badwebbers? | ||
| Wile_ecoyote |
That is definately one possibility. I run my belt loose and when I sit on bike it does tighten up with the suspension action. It could have been its time also, if you believe in that kinda thing. | ||
| Ducxl |
I did replace the belt AND pulleys at the recommended interval of 15,000 miles.Mine didn't fail,i was just pro-active and did it as recommended on my '99 X1 Oh yeah,and,i tensioned the belt with the($10.) factory tension gage and mine is sloppy loose..As they should be (Message edited by Ducxl on September 20, 2007) (Message edited by Ducxl on September 20, 2007) | ||
| Ducxl |
WOW!!! So at 45,000 miles 'Grrrrll you got more than twice the expected lifespan of your belt! | ||
| Matty |
Close to 70k on my Sportster and it's still running the original belt, just about the same on my M2 -including a year of racing (switched to chain eventually). TLC seems to go a long way with the belts! Set the belt tension with the pulleys and swingarm pivot aligned to avoid the myriad of issues that have been documented here over the years  | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
45,000 is about as long as my first one lasted too. Both of my belt failures were in cold weather, going over a bump while accelerating in first gear. | ||
| Blake |
Duc, Tuber belts typically last better than 40K miles. Mine snapped at around 27K while speed shifting into 3rd gear. I chalk the short lifespan up to all the abuse at the track and dragstrip along with the enhanced power. Maybe Brian Nallin should buy me a new belt.  | ||
| Chasespeed |
55k+ here... And I ABUSE my belt... Chase | ||
| Zenfrogmaster |
What's the "official" replacement interval? I seem to recall 60k miles, but can't find that documented anywhere. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I got 45k out of the belt on my FLHP. Not a good life for that one - I bought the bike (a *training* bike of all things) from the city PD at 15k and run the pi$$ out of it regularly. 80" evo motor, 90 RWHP, 750lb bike. Broke the belt snapping a hard 1-2 merging on the highway....in 10 degree weather, only 1/2 mile from home. Can you say "plastic belt"? heheh...whoops. I think the 60k number is in the XB books, but I'd have to check. I don't recall seeing (or looking for, really) any specs in my tuber books. Hm. Maybe at 19k I should start carrying one, or one of the spiffy HD "repair kits", in the S2 saddlebag.... | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
If it breaks, you replace it. My second belt lasted about 15,000. It was a sporster belt. I am running an XB12x belt now. so far so good 20,000 miles on that. | ||
| Ducxl |
What's the "official" replacement interval? It's not in the service manual.When i quizzed my local service dept. they cited 15000 miles interval on my X1.That's what they said.And you replace them as a set. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
oh yeah and they say to replace the rear pulley if the chrome is chipped. Mine was flaking off before 15,000 miles. (no I didn't bother) | ||
| Yo_barry |
I don't know. I think replace it when it breaks might be the solution. I have 41K on the Buell and 82K on the Sportster, both original belts. But then I'm old and slow... | ||
| Skntpig |
Only chains for me. I broke one at 5K covered under warranty. Trying to clutch it up in 3rd. When I broke the second one at 11K racing from a stoplight against an R6, I quit messing with the rubber bands. Ran them loose and aligned the pulleys. | ||
| Buellistic |
If the DRIVE BELT is adjusted "CORRECTLY" which is not in the FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL, 50K is the replacement time ... If you want this "INFO", ping me so "i" can get your e-mail address and it will be sent to you ... In BUELLing LaFayette Ljenne73c@verizon.net | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
Buellistic, you're probably right- given how little my belt has stretched in 45K I suspect it would have lasted past 100K, had I not ridden that nasty gravel road. This of course assumes that the belt will show wear in a similar manner to a chain, enlongating with wear. If not, we may be relying on a component that may unpredictably fail at any time. Looking at the similar duty toothed belts perform driving camshafts, typically the manufacturer adds some sort of a tensioner, suggesting linear enlongation with wear. Most every manufacturer using these belts also states a replacement interval, 100K being typical. Whether that suggests that the belt will catastrophicly fail at some mileage beyond that or the tension adjuster runs out of adjustment range I don't know. None the less, camshaft drive belts live a much more sheltered life than our drive belts and transmit less power too- certainly it's unrealistic to expect them to last the same 100K or so. It's notable that BMW's belt on the new F800 is scheduled for replacement every 24K, even thought it's about the same width as the Buell twins and carries less torque... perhaps Harley is failing to set a replacement interval for their drive belts because they might loose sales if they were upfront about their expected life? Many other manufacturers are using belt drives now- what replacement interval are they recommending? | ||
| Phatkidwit1eye |
How many with premature failure have all their belt guards removed? | ||
| Richieg150 |
Had 47,000 miles on my 2000 M2 belt,just replaced it,because.........I was told.............the new belt was far superior to the original belt I had,But my old belt looked in great shape when I took it off.Had the motor out anyway changing out the cases so decide to do it then. | ||
| Jjjoutside |
On the timing belt comparison, I can tell you that in my experience, the VAST majority of timing belts don't fail due to natural lifespan of the belt. Most fail because a water pump, tensioner, guide, etc... failed and stressed the belt beyond its tolerance. However, as you correctly point out, we are not really comparing apples to apples. Given the exposed life of the final drive belts, I would certainly expect shorter service intervals. I live about a mile down a gravel road, so mine gets two miles of gravel every time I ride it... I guess I'll keep a closer eye on the belt myself. JJJ | ||
| Buellboyblue |
I just replaced my original belt (I think?) @ 42 k mi.(coulda been 30 k only on it) I ran the last couple thousand miles with 2 missing teeth (then 3). As per Murphy, I spotted it right before summer travel trip, but it got me there and back again. It was no fun staying off the gas  Any info on the new '04 belt being a "lifetime" warranty from Goodyear ? |
