| Author | Message | ||
     Ourdee |
Yep, Lil Red broke a belt on the way home from work tonight. GO500.1AAE I had been on it a little. Stopped at a light. Let clutch out slow, opening throttle and engine just got louder, no motion. Tried shifter for first, no shift, tried 2nd, still no go. Looked at right side and saw belt coiled around the swing arm. Thought...OK. I now know my belt's lifetime. Called my neighbor and had him get my wifes Jeep and tow rack with a crate of straps. He picked it up and drove about a half hour to where I was. Brought his son for extra help. Mean while I called Al at American Sport Bike and got info on belt in stock and shipping times along with UPS driver will be here in an hour or so. I got online and placed an order. Checked with Tracey to insure we had funds in the account. Declined help from a lot of pretty women and waited for Andy. I'm stuck in the cage for 2 days. The belt will be here Friday. I'll wear the belt in then order another belt to use and the worn in one will be my backup. I wanted to check the rear bearings. I get my wish. I have to teach Andy how to change a belt while I put the new one on. | ||
| Ourdee |
Oh yea, pic.  | ||
| Tombo |
How many miles on the belt? | ||
| Ourdee |
13k if it was the original. I've lost teeth on them but this is the first one to break. | ||
| Buellerxt |
Sorry about that Ourdee. Bummer, except for those pretty girls.  I have around 32,000 miles on my Uly and still have the original belt, which looks great. I've had a new spare for several years, they I keep in a cool, dark environment to preserve it. . I know what you are thinking. . There is something in me that wants to see if I can get at least 50,000 miles on this belt. | ||
| Nillaice |
are you running a muffler with dual outlets? ... I have a theory about broken belts and mufflers ... | ||
| Ourdee |
Yes, I am running dual outlets on the Scg. OEM on the XT. | ||
| Ourdee |
I think it has to do with down shifting. | ||
| Nillaice |
I agree that riding behaviors/drive train abuse the biggest factor in the drive belt service life, but I feel that hot exhaust gasses being directed at the drive belt are a contributing factor | ||
| Pwnzor |
52K on my belt when I sold my xbr. Factory race exhaust for the last 48k of it. Track days, road trips, commuting, etc. | ||
| Gschuette |
I broke my belt a little after 30,000 miles and third gear followed within 500 miles. I wonder if the belt breaking affected the transmission. | ||
| Azxb9r |
I had 25,000 miles on the original belt on my xb when I sold it. 13,000 sounds a bit pre-mature. | ||
| Doz |
WAIT! you broke a belt and chicks started showing up??? I gotta try that. | ||
| Cycleaddict |
would'nt the free spirits belt tensioner help with premature belt breakage and rear wheel bearing failure ? as i have observed the belt tension (stock) is not as consistant as you think it is. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
2004 race bike, belt shredded some teeth in a race due to and extra down shift. Didn't know it until after the race!! 2008 street bike. Belt let loose for no reason while cruising... Go figure. | ||
| Ourdee |
Doz, Guy at work said the womenz are like that around here for bikerz. I didn't know. Paint shaker, Uh, calling it cruising may not be exactly honest. Front wheel had been a little light in the previous mile and I will not quote speedo readings here from the mile prior to that. | ||
| Ourdee |
So, to be proactive in my next belt's length of life I have elongated the hole in my idler pulley's bracket. I was looking at this thread: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142838/760262.html And Glenn's picture in particular:  To accomplish the task I drilled two holes in a 2X6. One hole was for a pin that fit the bolt hole to pivot on. The other was to drop a sealed bearing into. I then tapered the end of my drill bit to sit inside the sealed bearing after passing through the hole to be elongated. The pin was placed through the other holes. The drill fired up and the work was rotated till .050" of material was cut out of the side of the hole. Then the holes were then chamfered. The belt should be here on Friday. =] | ||
| Alfau |
wifes Jeep and tow rack with a crate of straps now there is an experienced buell owner | ||
| Reepicheep |
Ourdee did it "fancier" than I did. I threw the harbor freight step drill bit in the drill (the one with the long steps, not the one with the short steps) and drilled both holes two sizes bigger. I did it on the 9sx just to make it easier to remove the rear wheel for tire changes without removing the tensioner. I did it for the same reason on the Uly, and was surprised to notice the suspension was no longer binding up on "big bumps with a fat guy on the bike". | ||
| Ourdee |
Without a recall for this modification, it makes me think the belts gravitated to the tight side of the tolerances over the years. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I think they got thicker. With the tensioner, that would make them tighter. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
The belt sucks. That's why Real Men Run Chain. I thought everybody knew that by now! Check it out. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/327 77/279678.html#POST891904 | ||
| Reepicheep |
100k+ miles on Buell's without a single broken belt. I get that others have had bad experiences, but I can't even get 10k miles out of a 25 HP dirt bike chain without bad stretching. I can't imagine trying to run one on a big bike. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Chain "stretch" is actually due to wear and not the massive powah of a 25HP dirtbike. If they enclosed the chain in a rubber boot like the old shovelhead setup:  I'd wager the chain would last a crazy long time. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Well, it *does* wheelie. | ||
| Ourdee |
Yes it *does*. It is waiting for the belt now.  And the rear bearings are buttery.  | ||
| Reepicheep |
I covet your oil pump. | ||
| Hughlysses |
^ Not to mention his beefed up crankshaft. Hmmm, that doesn't sound quite right.  | ||
| Sifo |
Declined help from pretty women. That doesn't sound quite right either.  My broken belt happened on a normal 1 > 2 shift. I thought I had hit neutral instead. | ||
| Ourdee |
I was bored last night. I cleaned the rear wheel up a bit. Laid under the bike with a flashlight looking inside the Hawk muffler trying to figure out why it sounds nice. Found a new place for a sticker inside the left side of the swing arm.   | ||
| Ourdee |
Now Brothers, Having owned a Uly, I understand the uneasy feeling about cleaning a bike. I can not remember reading on BadWeb of any good reason for cleaning the bike. So I thought we could visit the subject for a minute.  Sooner or later everyone where I work cleans. I always had this opinion that you cleaned to make things and places look nice. Well that happens. But, the real reason we clean is to save money. A clean machine allows one to see potential causes of breakdowns and wear on equipment. It allows you to find cracks and leaks. Cleaning equals inspection. While cleaning Lil Red last night I found a strange streak.  Having not owned Lil Red for the first 10k miles I would like to know why the tire rubbed against the lower belt guard. Too large a tire choice, bad bearings, poor maintenance, or freak mishap? I will probably never know. Now when cleaning I do it slow. I'll second guess myself for a while about weather or not I could have found a crack in the belt, if I had taken more time.  Another thing to learn from. What could else could be lurking in the fog just waiting to give up the ghost.  I'll be looking a little harder. They pre-check planes you know. | ||
| 86129squids |
Spooky... | ||
| Ourdee |
Fixed. Wow, even with the .050" elongated slot in the idle pulley bracket that belt was tight compared to the last one I put on the Uly. I went for a ride. WooHoo! | ||
| 86129squids |
Awesome song, didn't even need to play the vid, popped into my hed. |
