| Author | Message | ||
     Hughlysses |
Well, I finally broke a belt on my Uly today. I have somewhere around 45,000 miles on the bike and I think about 37,000 miles in this belt, so I'm not complaining. When the bike was about a year old, the original "first generation" Goodyear belt was showing cracks between the teeth at ~8000 miles. Rather than wait for it to break and hopefully get it replaced under warranty, I bought a ~2nd generation Goodyear belt from American Sport Bike and I've run that belt for the last ~5 years. I still have the old belt as a spare (unfortunately I didn't have it on the bike today). This afternoon I was out cruising some local backroads about 20 miles from home, and I'd just pulled out onto a 2 lane highway and was accelerating "briskly" to stay in front of traffic. I'd guess when the RPM's hit about 4,000 in first gear, the belt snapped. I just knew what it was as soon as the engine revved. Looked in the rear view mirror and saw the belt bouncing in my lane. Luckily, I was able to coast about 1/4 mile to a wide paved driveway, and I was only about 20 miles from home. My wife showed up with the truck an hour later and there was even a convenient shallow, grassy ditch that allowed me to back the truck up to the driveway so that my ramp was almost level, making for very quick and easy loading. Here's what the belt looked like: I walked back ~1/4 mile to retrieve this off the road.  Front side of belt showing broken ends:  Back side of belt showing broken ends:  Face of belt, with fine cracks barely discernable:  Several people have noticed a reduction in belt tension shortly before their belt broke. I've been pretty good about routinely checking the belt tension by pushing up on the bottom between the belt guards in front of the rear sprocket. The last time I checked (maybe a week ago), there was no detectable loss of tension. Of course I did NOT check it before this afternoon's ride, so I may have missed a warning sign. The belt actually looks worse than I had thought it did. The cracks between the teeth are pretty noticeably. The fine cracking on the backside is much less noticeable but it's pretty uniform. It doesn't show up real well in the above photo but the cracks run across the belt from side. I guess that's another thing to watch for to check your belt condition. | ||
| Kag |
Well that sux. But thankfully you were not if busy rush hour traffic somewhere or many miles from home. This reminds me to put together a tool kit and keep on the bike with my spare belt. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Hugh, That must be what all broken drive belts look like. Kind of like dry rot. 37,000 is a pretty good life as I only got 25,000 out of my original. Good you weren't in the middle of a 5 lane interstate during rush hour. I'd better change over to the new belt I bought recently and have the stretched version as a spare. Though, installing a new belt is a bear in my experience and that is why I've put it off. Maybe I should open up the rear bolt hole on the idler wheel as others have done to facilitate installation and reduce tension. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Craig- Yea, as breakdowns go, this one happened in a fairly convenient location: ~20 miles from home, daylight, shade nearby, and good place to load the bike. I got my old original belt out and looked at it tonight; it appears to be in significantly better shape than the one that just broke. I'm just wondering what effect ~5 years of sitting on a shelf has had on the belt. I honestly wouldn't be too surprised if it snapped the first time I accelerate, but hopefully it'll last long enough for me to order another replacement from American Sport Bike. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Welcome to the club Hugh! I just replaced mine on my 06. Original belt, around 23,000 and change on it. Lots of cracking between the teeth and two very noticeable rock divots, one was between two teeth where the belt failed. Man, the new ones are really stiff and a bit of a pain to install! | ||
| Uly_man |
That is EXACTLY how two belts went on my 06 bike and one on the 10 bike. All at around 7500 miles. It is belt stress and it is just worn out. The Uly has a longer rear end travel than the other XBs so puts a lot more stress on the belt. The more humps, bumps, braking and gear changes you do the shorter the life of the belt will be. It is the same for a chain set up for the same reason. | ||
| Teeps |
I just put a new belt on my '06 Ulysses. A replacement I bought in 2010 from American Sport Bike. To say it was difficult to install is an understatement. There is no way it could have been done on the side of the road... Hugh, Prepare for a fight. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Like I said, I've replaced the belt once before, when the bike was about 1 year old. The belts do stretch a little bit with use, so a used belt is easier to install than a new one. If you carry a spare, it's best to run it on the bike for a few thousand miles to stretch it out so it's possible to install it on the side of the road without so much trouble. I installed my old belt yesterday that had ~8000 miles on it, and it's significantly tighter than the belt I just took off. I rode it around the neighborhood for about 15 minutes and then visually inspected the whole belt by watching the teeth as it rolled over the idler roller, then took it out for about a 5 mile ride, wacked the throttle WFO a few times when I got to my street, and inspected it again. I think it'll be OK until I can get another new belt. BTW, if anyone's interested, I made a note of the exact tools required to change the belt: T27 Torx * (belt guard and rear hugger) 3/8" socket or box end (luggage rack bolt to foot peg bracket) 3/16" allen (foot peg bracket to frame) 3/8" allen (axle clamp bolt) 7/8" hex (rear axle tool) and wrench to fit * 1/4" allen (swing arm brace section) The tools marked * are included in the bike's factory tool kit. The kit includes the axle tool and a wrench that'll fit it, but it'd be a bitch to break that axle loose with that short wrench. A better tool for removing the rear axle is a 1/2" drive, 13/16" (old style) spark plug socket. Mine has a 7/8" male hex on the upper end. You pull the rubber spark plug retainer out of it, and insert a 1/2" extension from the "wrong" side of the socket. Now, you have a handy, "one piece" tool for removing and re-installing the axle that won't fall out every time you look the other way. I added the "missing" tools to the tools I carry on the bike but I do need a better "portable" solution for loosening the axle. I've seen someone take a 7/8" combination wrench and saw the open end off of it. Then you get a piece of pipe that will just fit over the handle of the wrench, as long as you can fit under the seat, and you've got a fairly light-weight, compact rear axle wrench. I think I'll take the time to do that. | ||
| Steveford |
What helps a lot is a ratcheting tie down. The manual breezily makes mention of pinching the belt together at the countershaft sprocket to ease in installation. King Kong might be able to do it, I had to use an old Buell packing crate tie down going around the belt and a frame rail to give it a good pinch together. The original belts weren't like this at all. | ||
| Hughlysses |
BTW- I found a VERY good on-line price for a OEM belt. Since they're not a sponsor, I won't mention their name here, but PM me if you're interested. <$170 shipped. Ordered yesterday; shipped today. | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
Before going on my trans-lab trip I bought a spare belt and changed it in my garage to make sure that I could do it if need be by the side of the road. It is not a very hard job. Remove pulley cover and belt guards, remove tensioner pully, remove passenger footpeg braket, remove fender, remove swingarm bracket, instal new strap, bolt everything back on. Simple enough, but alot of bolting stuff on and off. | ||
| Motorbike |
I know this is an old post but I am just trying to get caught up after not being able to read BadWeb for a while. I'm not sure why so many are having trouble installing a new belt. The hardest part for me was paying for the new belt when my old one was not broken. If you have trouble getting the new belt on, I really believe it is because you are not doing it right. If you loosen the axle far enough that the tapered section is out past the wheel bearing, the wheel should move forward enough on the drive side that the belt will slip on with a couple fingers. Once the belt is on the pulleys, re-torque the axle (follow proper procedure) and reassemble the rest of the parts. I thought it was very simple on my 08XT. Thanks. | ||
| Desert_bird |
Right behind ya! Yesterday I had one of those feelings riding around town. You know, like something is going to happen with the bike but you don't know quite what? Well, woke up and got on this morning, put it in first, nothing. Shoot. Maybe something in the case . . . ? Nope. This was found on the ground. So lucky happened right in my yard.  Did someone write something about a cheaper source for belts? DB | ||
| Rwcfrank |
My 2 cents on the belts install, I think using the taper on the axle to "pull" the belt back puts a huge strain on the belt side rear bearing and may contribute to premature pulley side bearing failures. If you watch as you screw the axle back in (after the belts installed) you will see the taper of the axle hard up against the front internal race of the wheel bearing. I used a wooden shovel handle to pry the rear wheel back as I tightened the rear axle to ease the pressure on the rear bearing. This is my theory anyway, patent pending! | ||
| Krabykarl |
So Uly Man you are saying hitting a speed hump at 40mph shortens the life of my belt? Nope, not gonna stop me. I was coming home from work today and a UPS truck was stopped in the opposing lane straddling the speed hump. Car coming up behind the truck so I slowed to make sure she saw me. Once I saw her come to a stop I gassed on it and hit that hump diddie hump at my usual speed. Should have seen the look on that ladies face. "You are not supposed to be able to do that, I have to slow down to 15" | ||
| Uly_man |
"So Uly Man you are saying hitting a speed hump at 40mph shortens the life of my belt?" No I am saying that it is what I do, always have and STILL do. What I AM saying is that my belts only last 7500 miles because I ride roads that have them every 100 yards PLUS all the extra gear changes/braking on the type of roads I ride. All of this puts extra strain on the belt but you USA guys are fine as your roads are not the same as the ones in the UK or at least not like London. | ||
| Motorbike |
Rwcfrank, the way I see it, whether you use your shovel handle or the taper on the axle to pull the wheel back into place, you end up with the same result. The tension on the belt will be the same either way, when all is said and done. Thanks. | ||
| Rwcfrank |
Motorbike, its not the tension that I see as the issue. Its the taper of the axle applying pressure on the front side of the bearing as the axle taper moves the bearing back and to the center. Next time you r and r the back wheel watch the bearing on the pulley side as you tighten the axle and you will see what I mean. I agree, once tight it makes no difference. | ||
| Motorbike |
Oh, okay, now I see what you mean. Never thought about it that way and you may have a good point there. Thanks. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I agree. And it is supported by the FSM emphasis in coating the axle with anti-sieze. Good point indeed! | ||
| Rwcfrank |
I kept seeing a correlation between wheel removal/replacement and bearing failures even when the FSM technique was followed. I don't think its coincidence. | ||
| Uly_man |
"I kept seeing a correlation between wheel removal/replacement and bearing failures". The three belts that I had break all went within 1000 miles of removing the rear wheel for new rubber. One was a AKD belt and two were AKE belts. None had any damage and they all looked the same is in the post pictures. I also made a point of NOT bending or STRESSING the belts in ANY WAY at all but they still broke. Maybe the AKF belt will be better. |
