| Author | Message | ||
     Trevd |
I'm heading out for a week long ride in a week and a half, and have a brand new spare belt sitting on my shelf in the garage. I've only got about 7,000 miles on my '08 XT, but I'm wondering if I should replace my belt as a preventative maintenance thing, and keep the original belt with the bike in case I need to replace it on the road at some point. Another reason to maybe replace it now, is because of this:  I don't know if the picture shows it clearly, but pretty well since the beginning, I've noticed that the outside edge of the belt seems to be wearing - I can see the edge of the threads inside the belt. I don't know if that's normal or not. I guess there might be an alignment issue... So, what's the consensus - Change the belt now in the comfort of my garage, or carry the new belt with me and risk having to change it (for the first time) on the side of the road somewhere? | ||
| Hughlysses |
Getting a little wear on the edge like that seems to be normal in my experience. I think it's probably OK. If you've got the belt and have time to change it, it's not a bad idea to go ahead and install the new belt. Or if you're going to have to change the rear tire in the near future, hold off a while and do it during the tire change. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I'd change the belt and at the same time I'd pop the bearing seals and grease the bearings and thereby kill tow birds with one stone. Then I'd coat the outside of the bearings with Permatex anti-seize for extra water protection. Also, it's certainly easier to change the belt in your garage than on the side of the road. And then you'll have an already stretched spare that is easy to change on the side of the road. A new belt install on the road side would be a beeyatch in comparison. Besides, if you've never changed a belt before it is a nice learning experience in the comfort of your garage and not so much in the middle of nowhere. | ||
| Union_man |
I would change the bearings to the "new" black ones when you change the belt. There are MANY treads of the "orange bearings failing. I changed my belt and this happened about 100 miles later.  | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
That's why I grease my orange sealed bearings. No problems so far in 27,000 miles. Wish I didn't have to pm them but it's easy to do and you have other lube pm so it's no big deal. If I had black seal bearings I'd do the same thing. | ||
| Dfishman |
Me too Eglider.27000 miles on orange bearings.Pop the seals,clean out the old grease,& press some new grease in with my finger & pop the seal back on.I just put a new belt on 1200 miles ago too.My old one was OK.Just seemed like a lot of failures at 25000 miles or so. | ||
| Trevd |
I do have some new black bearing sitting and waiting in my garage... I was planning to bring them with me on my trip as well. I jacked up the bike a couple of weeks ago and the rear wheel seems to roll really nicely, very smooth, no roughness or anything. I was planning to replace the bearings at the next tire change, which will be when I get back from my trip. But maybe I should do it now, if I have the time. I've never done it though, and don't really know what it entails. I guess I'd have to buy a bearing removal tool... | ||
| Union_man |
Do it now. Before your trip. | ||
| Ratbuell |
The cords on the side of the belt are NORMAL. They don't make the belts in 1.25" wide strips. They make them in sheets, then cut them to the right width for the bike. The cords you see are the weave that is consistent throughout the sheet...but cut to the width of a single belt. | ||
| Idaho_buelly |
"But maybe I should do it now, if I have the time. I've never done it though, and don't really know what it entails. I guess I'd have to buy a bearing removal tool"... Trevd,it's called a"Blind Hole Bearing Puller" found at Harbor Freight Item#95987-2VGA $39.99...I bought one and it works great!!  ..........Tim | ||
| Jphish |
What Electra' said. j | ||
| Swampy |
I was reading this today and I went out and checked my bearings, they look OK, a little rust on the outside, I checked my tire and thought to myself, I wonder how long that Pirrelli is going to last, 9800 so far, so tonight I leave to go to my mothers house to take her for a surgery tomorrow, and when I stopped for gas.....I got cords showing, so now I can stop wondering, another hundred miles to go home and I will change out the tires and change out the bearings. I will post pictures of the bearing R&R if anybody is interested. | ||
| Brijasher |
 2 week old belt, waiting for my 10k service. So the cords showing is normal. | ||
| Jphish |
Swampy - they all have a little rust on the outside. Just dont want it migrating inside. Antiseize is the answer. Happy trails. j | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
It's always good on REALLY long trips to have a spare belt. I suggest replacing the belt and keeping the old belt as a spare. Since the old belt is "pre-stretched" it'll go on easier on the side of the road. | ||
| Ourdee |
I'm looking for a nice used Uly belt for a spare. I have a Buell GUERRILLA GEAR CHECK to trade for it. | ||
| Discochris |
Do it. Mine went at around 8000, so it's just good insurance. And the brand new spare belt I have hanging in the garage shows cords on the side - it's normal. | ||
| Pso |
+1 Ft Bstrd | ||
| Trevd |
Well, I haven't had the chance to replace the belt, so I'm going to be heading out for my trip on Saturday morning with my existing belt. I checked it closely the other day - took off the belt guard and gave it a good look - and couldn't see any imperfections in it. So I'm going to bring my new belt with me, my service manual, and a good selection of tools. If my belt should happen to break, the worse case scenario is that I'll be changing it on the side of the road, during a violent thunderstorm, in the dark. I can deal with that risk. Hopefully it doesn't break though, and all goes well. Wish me luck! | ||
| Metaldude |
Good luck, and have fun! | ||
| Pso |
Good luck have fun and don't worry about it till and if you need to. |
