frickin' belt squeak

6411 Views 45 Replies 8 Participants Last post by davidr, Feb 16, 2015

boeingav8r

Discussion Starter · Feb 12, 2015

my friggin' drive belt is squeaking louder and louder again. When I first bought the bike in Sept it was fine. Then it started squeaking louder and louder. Took it in and they adjusted the tension. It was fine until now. Now it's friggin' starting to squeal loudly again. I'm gonna sell the darn bike.

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davidr

· #2 · Feb 12, 2015 (Edited)

You've had it up for sale for weeks.

The belt issue is a dead horse around here. Everything has already been posted multiple times, do some searching and get out the wrenches.

wrenchjockey

· #3 · Feb 12, 2015

hi, assuming the shop has the tension and the alignment correct get some coarse sandpaper and scuff the edges of the belt(both sides) that may be enough but i also use a Wurth product. PTFE DRY LUBE i use this on our own vn and also on the harleys i service. works brilliantly. its not cheap but goes a long way.as the belt gets older i find i have to apply this every few months. completely gets rid of all noise.

boeingav8r

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 12, 2015 (Edited)

belt squeak

yeah, a guy will give me 6800 for it and i'm darn tempted. I told him I was going to keep it. How bout help me out here. i'm taking it to the dealer after work today. what's the answer to it. I've read a lot but there seems to be no real answer. Alignment?? sprocket run out?? center the belt?? tension? what?
I'm not set up to work on it myself. Just not something I do. Bad back, etc. Can you help me to know what to ask the shop to do?? You say it's a dead horse. What's the answer??

davidr

· #5 · Feb 12, 2015 (Edited)

That's the thing.....there is no 'ONE' fix for it. Different things work for different people. What works for mine may not work for you. I have a little squeak in mine that I can't get rid of but it's not too bad. Try some belt dressing but don't go crazy with it.

boeingav8r

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 12, 2015 (Edited)

belt squeak for sale

so the thing is: I was going to sell it because my wife is so scared of my riding it. I bought it without her blessing and she's always been pissed off on top of scared to death I'll die on it. But the thing is: when I sell one, I end up wanting one so badly again I buy another and the scenario repeats itself. I just don't think I'm done with them yet and this machine is so sweet. I don't want to sell it and then want another one. So I'm indecisive about it. I really like riding a bike. Gives me great peace and serenity not to mention some excitement. But concerns about safety and my family lead me to selling it. I'm just torn. Do I go with what I want or do I go with what my family wants?? The wife has my kids afraid of it too.
Alot of people seem to have issues with them too. I've got a 16, 14 and 9 year old heading for college so I can't go dumpin' a bunch of money into a bike. I was hoping this one was a reliable one. It's been very well cared for.
Mostly it's the wife's fear of it and hatred of my having it that bother me.

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davidr

· #7 · Feb 12, 2015

Happy wife=happy life.

I know what you are going through, my dad pulled that stunt in '81 w/ a new CB900C. Mom never made it enjoyable for him to go ride. He sold it in '87 w/ less than 3000 miles on it.

I got lucky, my wife gets nervous, but also enjoys it. I had a couple of bikes when I met her.

From your screen name, are you an airline pilot?

boeingav8r

Discussion Starter · #8 · Feb 12, 2015

ok, so aviator might be a bit misleading although I have actually flown a small plane before.

I'm an A&P mechanic / Inspector. Started at NWA for 17 years, went on strike, never went back. Currently am an inspector at Boeing in Everett, WA on the 787. Awesome airplane.

RedDogDarren

· #9 · Feb 12, 2015

Sad story for you.
My wife would not let me sell my bike when I suggested it in the past due to money issues. And that was even long after my head-on with a car. Her reason was I love them too much and I would be miserable and unbearable without one.

davidr

· #10 · Feb 12, 2015

Have you sat down with her and had a real heart to heart about what riding means to you?

boeingav8r

Discussion Starter · #11 · Feb 12, 2015

by the way Wrench Jockey, thank you for your response. I will do as you said. I'm called the shop, he wants to look at it again, I'm hoping free of charge, just to check, but if all we well, I'll scuff it with sandpaper and use some PTFE Dry Lube as you said. Thank you.

boeingav8r

Discussion Starter · #12 · Feb 12, 2015

yes, she knows what it means to me but that doesn't matter. what matters is that I am going against what she wants and my doing so is a huge betrayal and means I don't love and respect her. When I sold my last one I promised I wouldn't buy another one without her blessing. I found I had to have one. Had to. So I talked and begged and pleaded and reasoned and talked to no avail. So finally I just bought this one. the price was so right with all it has on it, I just couldn't say no. But in doing so I broke a promise, I'm a liar, I can't be trusted, our marriage is meaningless, on and on.
I tried to go without one. I really did. I had a Vulcan 900, then bought a Vulcan 1600. It was such a nice bike. Loved it. I sold it for the family and I tried to be OK with it but I couldn't. I just love riding a bike. So I bought this V2K. It was a great deal.

RedDogDarren

· #13 · Feb 12, 2015

boeingav8r said:
yes, she knows what it means to me but that doesn't matter. what matters is that I am going against what she wants and my doing so is a huge betrayal and means I don't love and respect her. When I sold my last one I promised I wouldn't buy another one without her blessing. I found I had to have one. Had to. So I talked and begged and pleaded and reasoned and talked to no avail. So finally I just bought this one. the price was so right with all it has on it, I just couldn't say no. But in doing so I broke a promise, I'm a liar, I can't be trusted, our marriage is meaningless, on and on.
I tried to go without one. I really did. I had a Vulcan 900, then bought a Vulcan 1600. It was such a nice bike. Loved it. I sold it for the family and I tried to be OK with it but I couldn't. I just love riding a bike. So I bought this V2K. It was a great deal.

Many woman have this irrational fear of motorcycles and you were lucky enough to get one of those. Choose something you know she cannot live without and force her to give it up. When she can't get whatever bike you want.

davidr

· #14 · Feb 12, 2015

That's a tough one, good luck.

boeingav8r

Discussion Starter · #15 · Feb 12, 2015

Thank you for the info Wrench Jockey. I will do as you said. I'll take some sand paper to it and get some TPFE Dry Film Lube and put on it. I sure hope that works. The shop wants to look at it again, hopefully free of charge since they adjusted the tension before and we'll see. I'll ask them if they have any dry lube. It's much easier for them with it up on the lift then for me laying on the garage floor............

smedlin

· #16 · Feb 12, 2015

How long ago was it when you went and had it adjusted? Both in time and estimated miles put on it since...

boeingav8r

Discussion Starter · #17 · Feb 13, 2015

It was October. Probably 2000 miles. They loosened the tension, seemed to fix it. Then test ride and squeak on sharp decel. Belt is walking on pulley if tire turned fwd then backward while on the lift. They don't know what it's doing.

davidr

· #18 · Feb 13, 2015

The belt walks because the rear axle is not parallel to the output shaft. If the rear axle is adjusted perfectly, it won't walk (good luck with that, though). It is going to ride to the left side of the rear pulley because the rear pulley sits a little to the right of the drive pulley and is normal.

smedlin

· #19 · Feb 13, 2015

smedlin said:
If the belt is to tight.. it chirps.

If the belt is to lose... it chirps.

If the wheel is not aligned (more tension on one side of then the other).. the belt chirps.

Some people HATE it does that.. but I view it kind like the bike is telling you something is wrong. Kind of like when your car brakes start to squeal...

that correlates with..

RoadToaster said:
The belt squeal is the nature of the beast, no pun intended.

<snip>
if my wheel is out of square any bit the belt squeals because it is riding up on the side of the hub over so much.

Doing a little reaserch, plus i am a ME working for a OEM of large processing equipment, I found it is not the riding on the side that makes the squeal it is how it forces the cogged portion of the belt to enter and leave the pullies.

One, to loose the front pully will squeal becasue the slack in the belt is causing the cogg to ride in its groove to long and then poping out on the top side of the pully.

Two, to tight the back pulley will squeal from the bottom side of the pulley as the cogg leaves the pulley it is so tight it jumps ship prematurely, when it does it pops out.

Lastly, and the most likley culprit, if the belt is out of square to either pulley it locks the coggs in tighter and they wont want to disengage so the ride around longer than supposed to then finally pop out with much force.

boeingav8r

Discussion Starter · #20 · Feb 13, 2015

Pulley Issues Now

So originally I brought the bike in for the belt squeak in October and they found the tension to be way way too tight. So he says he loosened it to high end of spec. Today he tells me he loosened the belt to low end of spec. I say, so what's the range per spec?? He says, well there are notches, blah blah blah. I thought you adjusted tension by pushing on the belt with a scale and 1/4" deflection should happen at 10 lbs or something like that. Does anyone know about these "notches" he is adjusting the belt tension to?? So he loosens the belt and tells me the squeak is gone. Then the boss tells him to take it for a test ride. So he does. Then he says it has a sharp squeak at hard decel which I heard when he brought it back. So they looked at it for a long time. Then they said they found the problem and that I needed new pulleys and belt. He took me back and showed me the pulley, and the teeth do look quite chewed up and the belt shows signs of something perhaps being stuck in it. Does this sound truthful??
So the maybe good news is the previous owner changed out the pulleys and I have the original ones and a new carbon fiber belt. If they are compatible, I'll be very happy. It is a carbon fiber belt Falcon, maybe?? Let me know.

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