Belt replacement 05 Chopper

[Relic]

I've been doing some winter upgrades on my bikes (Wife's 05 Chop & My K-9).

Put the top end on the chopper back together yesterday (Went all S&S and yes the exhaust guides were shot). I've still got to PDM the chopper & do front end work on the K-9 (Seals, bushings & neck bearings).

Not looking for more work but the Chop had belt squeel that was diving me nuts. I've aligned it several times and tried several dressings, etc. I can get it to stop for awhile but I'm thinking about trying a new belt. I've replaced the K-9 belt but the chopper belt is a little different (swingarm shaft goes through belt).

The question is, any advise on dealing with the swingarm pivot shaft & getting it adjusted right when reasembleing ?

Thanks for your in-put.

 

[RRRUFF]

Your best bet is to pull the starter to access the swing arm pivot tube so you can adjust the clearance. Also the belt squeal probably won't go away with a new belt, maybe temporarly but will probably come back. You can replace the belt and the rear sprocket and it will go away but its gonna come back eventually. I cured my belt squeek permantly with a SuperMax pulley insert. Super Max. Phil Ross, SMP 928-649-2836 supermaxbeltdrives@yahoo.com

 

[woodbutcher]

make sure you inspect the rear pulley really well before putting the new belt on it. if it had it on it to start with, the teflon may be worn off causing the squeal.

 

[Relic]

Bike only has 4,500 miles on it and the teflon looks good. Can't figure out why I can't get the squeel to go away on this chopper. I have never had issues with the K-9 even when the front drive pulley on the trans backed off and eat the edge of the belt (no squeel even though the belt was running severly to the outside).

I thought about supermax but between top end rebuild & PDM etc, can't see spending that much $.

Did you change the belt when you supermaxed your bike ?

 

[RRRUFF]

I understand the money thing. I put a new bdm belt and sprocket on mine and a several thousand miles later squeal was back. So I decided to quit throwing good money away and put it towards the supermax. Another thing you might try is running your belt looser than bdm specs. I think and the guy at supermax says thats to tight. I am running mine so loose you would think it would slip. But I have hit it pretty hard even with two up and it won't slip.

 

[Relic]

I agree with you that the BD manual calls for running the belt to tight.

I was running my K-9 fairly loose and my cousin "moedog" had his as speced (both K-9's). I adjusted my tighter and then had the trans drive nut back off (not to mention Moedog went through 2 trans seals & bearings in the first 5,000 miles).

I'm running the belts tighter than I originally did but not as tight as BD manual calls for. I may try loosening it up some more along with more belt dressing for the upcoming season (supermax is a stretch right now).

 

[Bobby Schulz]

Guys Relic has it dead on....Get the belt too tight and you WILL have bearings go south in the trans. BTW while you are working on the bike change out the transmission fluid!!! Go with at least a 75w140 in the trans.

 

[kickstart]

BD calls for a 3/16 deflection using a belt tensioning tool, so how much have you loosened from 3/16?

I run mine at about 1/4"

 

[Relic]

I don't use a tool, but I'm probably at about 3/8" using my highly technical "feel method". I'm going to loosen the chop up more to see if it will help the belt squeel (had my K-9 looser at one time and it worked fine).

 

[Raywood]

It's probably to loose as some have pointed out