| Author | Message | ||
     Volume_eight |
Wow, it's been a WHILE since I've typed here. Kinda feels good. Where's Froggy?! So anyways, I snapped my belt last week. Bought the replacement from St. Paul and just installed it. It feels a bit loose and measured slack on top to be just under 3/4" from at rest and then pushing pressure down. I thought it was supposed to be tight. Should I be concerned? Tensioner pulley bearings seem fine and axle bearings too. Only thing that I messed up on was overtightening the axle when torque wrench didn't "click." After I realized, i backed it off again, then went to 23, then off then back to around 45. | ||
| Tootal |
Mine have always been tight and a pain to get on. It sounds like it's pre-stretched! Is there a lot of wear on the pulley? My concern would be the axle torque. The spacer between the bearings is aluminum and too much torque can crush it. If the wheel still spins free then you're still okay. | ||
| Volume_eight |
Thanks Tootal for chiming in! Regarding the axle, I'll jack the bike and check again, but I think it was fine and spun freely. I literally realized I had over-torqued while doing it, and backed it off immediately after. Didn't move the bike or anything, so hoping no damage was done to the spacer. Is there a way to check visually? The tensioner pulley seems fine too, zero wiggle and is tight as can be, yet it still spins freely. I'm pretty stumped as to why the belt has so much slack. Everything I've read is that the belts are tight, so I just want to make sure I go over every possible cause for slack before buttoning it back up and riding again. | ||
| Tootal |
I was talking about the rear wheel pulley. How is the wear on it? | ||
| Volume_eight |
Ahhh, well the guards are on so I can't get a shot of in-between the teeth, but here is a pic of it with the new belt. The top outside edges were a little worn, but nothing sharp. The insides still had some of the blue coating IIRC. We took the bike out for 15-20 test run and it performed well, so I'm thinking it will be OK.  | ||
| Hughlysses |
Just curious- did you get the Buell branded belt or the aftermarket one? The Buell belts seem to have gotten tighter with each update. | ||
| Brother_in_buells |
Is the tensioner bracket still original? It could be that the holes are modified for less tension on the belt and so the output bearing what is a good thing! | ||
| Mark_weiss |
Is it actual slack, as in freeplay? Or is the 3/4" the farthest that you are able to easily press the belt and it returns to rest as soon as you ease off the pressure? | ||
| Teeps |
I suggest comparing the tooth count on the old vs new. I've not heard of any Buell XB model with a slack drive belt. From St. Paul H/D web site. Genuine Buell drive belt. Please double check the fitments before ordering. Works with a 65 tooth rear sprocket and a 27 tooth front sprocket with long swing arm. Tooth count is 135 -------------------- | ||
| Cvc |
Is the ride hight altered? I have an early SS shock on my XT and with the lower hight I can just unbolt the idler and covers and remove the belt without having to touch the axle. | ||
| Volume_eight |
Hugh - It's the aftermarket belt from St. Paul. Brother - The bracket is original. Mark - It travels around 3/4" pushing down, but does return to original position, not sure if it could truly be considered "slack," but it doesn't take much pressure to push it down. Teeps - I didn't count the teeth. That seems teethious. I mean, tedious. Cvc - No it is not altered. For all, just to update the thread... It's been riding fine. I'm kind of in the camp that the replacement belt simply had a bit of slack to it, but that it hasn't bothered performance at all. Same amount of travel is still there in the belt after several hours of riding... | ||
| Motorbike |
Volume Eight, I replaced the belt on my 08 XT 22,500 miles ago with a factory belt. I don't remember exactly how tight it was after installing it but I remember being surprised I was able to spin the stock idler with my fingers. I just checked it tonight and it definitely has at least 3/4" of slack in the center without pulling very hard with one finger. It works just fine and I will run it until it has issues. I do carry my old belt and a tool bag in case it ever breaks on me. I would leave yours as it is and just enjoy the ride. | ||
| Volume_eight |
Thanks Motorbike. That was my final assessment. It's been riding great. Going to live with the slack. Thanks all for the feedback. Good to see this forum is still alive and kicking. Along with our antiques. |
