| Author | Message | ||
     Thunderhead |
reading the manual on belt adjustment. in short says no weight on rear of bike then 1.5-1.75" of up movement on belt . my bike is lowered 2" or better. i just replaced rear tire and the belt moves up 1" and hits lower part of swingarm. does anyone have idea on another way to check? i am just putting the bike together from a blown engine and built the lowering bracket so rear wheel isnt in the same place as before. | ||
| Hippyjoe |
Adjust it as loose as you can, but so that with a 150-lb woman on the back it will not make noise. It's ok if it nudges the swingarm. | ||
| Thunderhead |
loose, how loose? any ideas where it should be with just me on it ? | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
I adjust my X1 so the belt will barely touch the swingarm when I apply a lot of pressure to the belt. Don't know how tight it is with me on the bike.. I've never checked. First belt lasted a little over 20k miles though which is ok with me. | ||
| Kyrocket |
I think you're a little too tight PK. It shouldn't take that much down pressure to touch the swingarm. Mine even has a little give while I'm sitting on it. I gotta go, I think we're about to be blown away. News just said they recorded a 67mph gust. | ||
| Thunderhead |
Pkforbes87 ... how far would you say the belt moves while the bike is on the kickstand? | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
I'm glad this came up.. just checked and mine is on tighter than it should be. Won't even touch the swingarm when it's on the kickstand. Thunder - I've always been told to adjust it sloppy loose. Might as well give it a shot then test it down the block and back. Worst case scenario you feel it jumping sprocket teeth so you'll know to immediately tighten. Running it too tight will wear out the belt and rear wheel bearings faster. I would guesstimate 4" play top to bottom while on a kickstand? Consider that your S3 probably has a different length swingarm than my X1, so figures will be different accordingly. | ||
| Jstfrfun |
The big concern is not the wheel bearings but the output shaft bearing and seal. And of course the belt. | ||
| Newbuellertoo |
I thought that I ran mine loose until the mechanic at the dealership adjusted mine after doing some work on the bike. I now understand "Sloppy loose". David is right , the output shaft bearing and seal get abused if the belt is too tight. Mine can be pushed down onto the top of the swingarm when I'm sitting on the bike with little effort. | ||
| Fasted |
do yourself a favor: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/476 23/429605.html | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
belt deflection while on the kickstand: not saying that's right or wrong.. it's simply how I did it. | ||
| Thunderhead |
ok i did the lean over the bike thing and got the belt "reasonably" loose i believe. thanks for all the help guys.not as loose as the youtube video though. i might go back out to the garage and redo. i will start a new post on "motorcycle alignment". -Thunder | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Loose is way better than a tad to tight. If you hit the throttle in first and it jumps a tooth, that's a bit too loose! | ||
| Thunderhead |
do you guys thing i should adjust the belt on my FXR (harley davidson) the same way? | ||
| Fasted |
a loose adjustment will not cause separation of sprocket and belt. there will be no "tooth jumping". | ||
| Hippyjoe |
do you guys thing i should adjust the belt on my FXR (harley davidson) the same way? You should run it looser than harley recommends but not as loose as a buell. Big twins tend to eat things like belts and chains if they get too loose. The big twin 5 speeds are tough trannies, but why take chances. Better to loosen it up a little to be safe... also for belt life. Those big twins really snatch the belt when you let out the clutch, jerking all that weight forward. | ||
| Kalali |
I think the discussion here only applies to the Tuber Buells. You will see what I mean when you push down on the belt on newer KB models. They are tight as a drum. As for Tubers, check the belt deflection next time after you ride the bike for a while and while sitting on the bike. You will be surprised how much tighter it gets when the bike warms up. Mine is almost like the way PK shows in his video and feels much tighter (with me sitting on it) after a good long ride. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Eddie, Yes it can. I've done it on my S2 and M2. On hard accelleration from a stop you feel a lurch and grab, almost like you flicked the clutch lever for a split second. A couple of turns on the adjusters and it goes away completely. | ||
| Fasted |
do yourself a favor: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/476 23/429605.html within this link, you will find: Here's how I set up the belt tension. I like about ZERO slack when the three points (Center of rear axle, swing arm pivot, and countershaft sprocket) are in a straight line. Get the rear wheel off the ground, remove the rear shock bolt and raise the rear axle with a small HYD.jack. This works out to about 2" of slack in the unloaded state. I'm sure that some of you are thinking that the belt will jump over the sprocket teeth (this will only happen if the rear sprocket pulley is in need of replacement) due to too much slack. A number of years ago, Jay Hawley (FIRST Grand Po Pa of American Thunderbike Club) was out at E. Troy riding with some BMC test riders. They were showing him some nice local roads. They were also testing the effects of too much slack in the rear dive belts. They had moved the rear wheel all the way forward for maximum slack. Then they rode the hell out of the bikes... Wheelies, hard riding and riding double. No matter what they did, they couldn't make the belt jump. So belt skipping is not a problem (this will only happen if the REAR PULLEY is WORN OUT). IF THE BELT SLIPS (JUMPS TEETH), THAT IS AN INDICATION THE REAR PULLEY IS WORN OUT (it wears out prematurely when the belt is adjusted too tight since it is aluminum alloy !!! | ||
| Easy_rider |
How loose? The best answer I've seen is "scary loose"! |
