FYI Karata

[Bailey]

I've had my Karata belt drive on for about 11000 miles I was cleaning the bike and noticed the two front bolts snapped. One broke off at the head and the other broke off at the base

 

[Brew]

Wow, haven't heard of this happening to anyone else. Did you torque them to specs?

 

[Trainguy]

Thanks for the info. Will keep a eye on mine:2thumbs:

 

[justftw]

Very interesting. What did Jim have to say about it?

 

[Bailey]

Very interesting. What did Jim have to say about it?

Just found it today. They were definitley torqued correctly. It has given me 11,000 trouble free miles. I just came back from a 340 mile run, dont know if it just happened or if its been that way for a while

 

[Brew]

Wow, that's scary. I want to get a belt drive for mine also but don't want that happening. Glad that no incident happened to you and you noticed it...

 

[justftw]

Saw a 4" Karata on ebay this morning, 2K

 

[bdmridgeback]

That is a sign that the trans and motor were not aligned correctly when it was installed.

When I installed mine I remember the instuctions saying that the trans must be loosened before installing the motor/trans plate and after all installed torque the trans bolts.

The trans was pushed a bit too far to the right and it had a bind on the motor plate making the front of the plate not sit flat on the crankcase. The vibration will stress the bolts and pop the heads off.

 

[RubWhore]

That is a sign that the trans and motor were not aligned correctly when it was installed.

When I installed mine I remember the instuctions saying that the trans must be loosened before installing the motor/trans plate and after all installed torque the trans bolts.

The trans was pushed a bit too far to the right and it had a bind on the motor plate making the front of the plate not sit flat on the crankcase. The vibration will stress the bolts and pop the heads off.

.


Yup thats what I thought to it haint the drives fault niether just one of those things

:up::up::up:

 

[karata]

I've had my Karata belt drive on for about 11000 miles I was cleaning the bike and noticed the two front bolts snapped. One broke off at the head and the other broke off at the base

Bailey glad to hear you have had 11,000 trouble free miles on the belt drive.We could use some more info on the problem of the bolts shearing,seems almost impossible for a 5/16X18 SCB to snap as they have 120,000 LBS.Tensile Strength and 4700 LBS Clamp Load.We supplied the 5/16X18X1.500" SCB in a unplated condition,have these SCB been chrome plated or have they been replaced with Stainless Steel after the original install,If so please advise as this may have caused the problem.
Jim

 

[Bailey]

Bailey glad to hear you have had 11,000 trouble free miles on the belt drive.We could use some more info on the problem of the bolts shearing,seems almost impossible for a 5/16X18 SCB to snap as they have 120,000 LBS.Tensile Strength and 4700 LBS Clamp Load.We supplied the 5/16X18X1.500" SCB in a unplated condition,have these SCB been chrome plated or have they been replaced with Stainless Steel after the original install,If so please advise as this may have caused the problem.
Jim

Jim,
Kinda ironic. I had called you when the belt drive was first installed, I did not like the black finish on the bolts. You warned me they were stronger than, chrome or stainless so I left them in. I am bringing the bike in for service and will update once Doug takes a lok and see what happened

 

[Moespeeds]

I'm with Jake, snapping motor plate bolts that were torqued correctly is a sign of a misalignment. Remove the motor plate, and remove the nuts from the trans mounting bolts. The motor plate should slide right off with little effort. Now fit the motor plate back up, it should fit perfectly all around. Hand tighten the motor plate to motor bolts, then check the fit again. I will usually push the trans back a bit, then fit it back up to the motor plate. Now hand tighten the trans to motor plate bolts, and check under the trans mounting points with a feeler gauge. If clearance is more than .005 than shim it. Once everything is shimmed and fitting perfectly, torque motor to motor plate, check trans again, then torque trans to motor plate, then trans to frame. Even a small misalignment or twist in the system with cause broken bolts, leaking trans seals, and irregular belt wear. Don't assume they did it right from the factory, I've seen some pretty bad ones.