| Author | Message | ||
     Jon_webb |
My front top motor mount broke and after replacing it the drive belt is too loose, how do I adjust the belt? | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
There isnt any belt adjustment and a broken engine mount wont affect drive belt tension. If the belt has 15,000 miles, replace it. If it is indeed too loose, replace it, but be sure to check for bad swingarm bearings,bad wheel bearings,bad trans sprocket bearings or loose sprockets (all of which are very rare). Or was the bike in a severe rear end accident? My guess is the belt is fine. They are loose. | ||
| Jon_webb |
Thanks I was afraid of that. I drove the bike about a week with the broken mount so maybe that stretched out the belt. Anyone know where I can find a less expensive belt? Jon | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
No. A broken mount can not stretch the belt, ever. Only the items I've listed if can cause a belt to be loose. Generally they don't stretch much without serious abuse and at that point they break. I'm still guessing there is nothing wrong with your belt. Have you checked it against the specs in the manual? Or: does it have close to 15,000 miles on it ? | ||
| Buellistic |
Check your rear wheel bearings ??? | ||
| Jon_webb |
I'll check into things a little closer, by the time I noticed the the broken mount the eng. had twisted to the right and the muffler pipe was almost dragging the ground, at that point the belt was very tight(maybe from the twisting) I also just noticed the bottom of the caliper on my rear brake is rubbing against the disc. I don't see anyway to adjust it accept to add a spacer and shim it apart.I guess it's time to clean her up and give her good going over. Any advise is always welcome, Thanks Jon | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Yeah, sounds like a bad bearing or something is amiss. It's virtually impossible to alter belt tension without having a damaged component somewhere. Was anything else taken apart or was the wheel removed? Over torquing the rear axle nut can cause damage. | ||
| Jon_webb |
You were right I replaced the swing arm bearings and made a new front eng. mount also had to replace 2 bolts that had broken on the rear eng mount, now the new belt is nice and tight. Thanks for the advise, Jon PS One of the side covers on the new bearings was off the bearing and I noticed it was lacking in grease(it had a little) so after I packed the new bearings with grease I pulled the side covers off all the bearings and found them all poorly greased I think this should extend their life. | ||
| Buellistic |
(Message edited by buellistic on November 25, 2013) | ||
| Ezblast |
No do'nt - those bearings where supposed to be permanently sealed - sigh... EZ | ||
| Buellistic |
Been re-greaseing sealed bearings for years ??? Works for me !!! | ||
| Ezblast |
Yeah, but your the kind who checks his most every ride, most Blastards don't. I always inspect them before long rides, some folks just trust in them till they fail - usually from being not tightened to spec. in tire changes. EZ | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Concur, it does concern me that you've broken the seal on a sealed unit, turning a maintenance free unit into a constant maintenance unit. I used to be overly concerned about wheel bearings too. But then I put thousands upon thousands upon thousands of miles on them and ceased to worry about them as its unneeded. Things fail. Unless you have nothing better to do, you learn to watch the stuff that will most likely to cause you a problem and leave the rest to regular maintenance. You'll also find the more you ride your bike, you'll know when something is going wrong, often exactly what is wrong when it goes wrong! | ||
| Ezblast |
lol - especially wheel bearings! EZ | ||
| Jon_webb |
We're not talking rocket science here a sealed bearing seal is only a thin metal washer covered in plastic that pops in and out with hardly any effort, it didn't turn them into anything other than sealed bearings with a proper amount of grease in them. If this gets me some more miles out of them it is totaly worth the effort. Thanks Jon | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Considering what I've read over the years here, my experiences and that the Blast is marketed as an entry level bike, I would not recommend the practice. If its something you're comfortable with, then by all means do it. Putting it out there does foster the paranoia that sealed bearings aren't any good. Just like when HD stopped putting kickstarters on their bikes and people thought they would get stranded. Neither are true. | ||
| Jon_webb |
You're 100% right, although I have had to push start my bike twice(my fault I turned the key switch too far and left the tail light on)I don't recommend that either,but almost anyone could have used a kick starter. Thanks Jon | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Push starting is definitely a good skill to learn. I've pushed started my Sportster many times (batteries don't last forever and my pockets were never very deep!), but never the Blast. They're both high torque engines so it takes a little nerve to do either. The only HD product I've ever had an actual starter problem with is a big twin that was once a basket case, so who knows how old or how many miles the starter actually has on it. It still works, but I have a kickstarter, so I don't worry!  Sportsters and I imagine Blasts are both in the same level of difficulty to kickstart: not for the squeamish! | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Since you're obviously going to re-grease your sealed bearings, how about posting some pics and a short write up of how you do it. It would at least be informative, even though most won't do it. It may also come in handy for those "barn finds" that will undoubtedly start showing up in the years to come! it should be noted that not all sealed bearings have the same type of seal. One type has only a metal cover, so it would be darn near impossible to remove the cover on this type without deforming it. | ||
| Jon_webb |
I can't get pics to post, so here is a narritive. You stick a small screw driver(like the size used for eye glasses) between the rubber lip on the seal and the bearing and with a little pressure pop out the rubber coated metal seal, feel up the bearing with grease and press the seal back into place just using your thumb it's easy to feel when it slips back into place. No damage done and you have the peace of mind that your bearings are lubed. To be fair the bearing I opened (a new on for the front)seemed to be properly lubed however the ones I just replaced in the rear and the swing arm were not. Thanks Jon if anyone wants the pics send me your email add. kix428_2000@yahoo.com | ||
| Ezblast |
     This should help for reference. Thank you JW. Please be careful not to pierce/deform the seal. EZ (Message edited by ezblast on December 15, 2013) | ||
| Blueblast |
Thanks to JW and EZ  | ||
| Ronbob43 |
+1 to Blueblast's comment |
