| Author | Message | ||
     Motorbike |
I just replaced the belt on my bike today with plans to carry the old one as a spare, as many on here have recommended. I've never had the belt off before and was quite interested to see what kind of job this would be. It ended up being one of the easiest jobs I have ever done on any bike. I have read about people having an awful time getting the new belt on as it is tight. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not bragging, just trying to give a couple of pointers so others do not struggle with this job when the time comes. I followed the Service Manual with the exception of removing the idler assembly. I never even loosened that. If anyone has trouble with getting the new belt on, I can only guess that they are not loosening the axle far enough to let the right side wheel bearing drop down onto the small diameter of the axle. The axle needs to be backed out far enough so the wheel moves forward on the sprocket side enough to allow plenty of slack to get the new belt onto the sprocket. The Service Manual says to loosen the axle 15 turns. I have the '10 wheel setup on my 08 XT and I needed to loosen the axle about 20 turns to get the wheel to drop down on the axle. Slid the new belt on, torqued everything down and the whole job took about an hour, and I was just taking my time. (Message edited by motorbike on March 10, 2013) | ||
| Buellerxt |
Cool. Thanks, Motorbike. How many miles on your first belt? | ||
| Motorbike |
Buellerxt, 12,636 miles on original belt and it still looks like new. It may be a waste of money for the new belt, but I will have the added security of knowing I have a spare belt along on any longer trips. I hope I never need it! Thanks. | ||
| Buellerxt |
Thanks, Motorbike. I understand. I have 21,000+ and the belt looks great but . . . anything can happen. I carry a spare with me on longer trips but plan to get 50,000+  Time will tell. (Message edited by buellerxt on March 11, 2013) | ||
| Pontlee77 |
i'm 56k kilometers and still on the original belt it has some cracks on the out side, but thats been like that for ages. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Pontlee77, I'm sure you probably have a new one already waiting, but if not, you're well advised to have one around for when that one goes. Those babies rot and then eventually give up the ghost. Mine went for 25,000 miles and then broke less than 2 miles from home. Knew what happened the second it went and coasted into a car dealership and looked down to see it dragging on the cement. |
