frickin' worn pulleys + belt frickin' :)

2932 Views 14 Replies 8 Participants Last post by TrentonC, Mar 27, 2015

boeingav8r

Discussion Starter · Feb 13, 2015 (Edited)

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 the tech says he loosened it to high end of spec in Oct. 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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davidr

· #2 · Feb 13, 2015

Pulleys do look kinda rough, the aluminum aftermarkets are going to wear much more that the factory steel. If the stock pulleys look good then swap them out.

The notches he is referring to are in the belt cover, just to give you a reference point, not an actual measurement. Specs are very tight, like 4mm deflection @ 10lbs of force.

Belts do pick up rocks, if there is a tear on the outer edge, replace. If the rock or hole is in the center, you can remove the rock and just keep an eye on the belt (per the manual, I'm not just making this one up) and keep riding on it. Replacing the belt requires partial removal of the swing arm.

TrentonC

· #3 · Mar 22, 2015

I just got my V2K a week ago, so I'm digging into it's nooks and crannies before the first big ride of the spring. I found some wear through the finish on both pulleys with matching wear through the top coating of the belt teeth. Belt seems pretty tight, when I took it for a ride I didn't hear any squeaks (altho the mufflers are loud as #@&%$.

Probably wouldn't hear much anyways.....
Just curious if I need to be looking at this sooner than later..........based on the manual I should be OK as there are no tears or broken/cracked teeth.

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smedlin

· #4 · Mar 23, 2015

Trenton, that third pic has me worried.

Somebody with more knowledge can chime in on it.

But.. you can buy a new panther built for like $160.

smedlin

· #5 · Mar 23, 2015

boeingav8r,

did you ever get it sorted out?

TrentonC

· #6 · Mar 23, 2015

Replacing the belt can be done, but those rust spots in the troughs of the pulleys.....are they cause or effect do you think?

RuaphuNZ

· #7 · Mar 23, 2015

Could be, do the rust spots align with the rub marks????.

In saying that, something could have caught in the frame and rubbed on the belt at sometime in the past perhaps????

I would suggest the cause is found before fitting a new belt, it may avoid damage and another hole in one's wallet.

Cheers, Ando

Sent from the bottom of the Earth via a Tapatalk clone........……Motorcycle.com.

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TrentonC

· #8 · Mar 23, 2015

RuaphuNZ said:
Could be, do the rust spots align with the rub marks????.

Yes, there are scuffs/rough spots in the troughs of both pulleys which align with the rubbed out (*snicker*) spots on the crests of the belt.
I was debating using some emery cloth to smooth them out, but it's consistent all the way around both pulleys.
A finger test shows it's like a blemish in the coating of the pulley.

On a related note, did I see correctly somewhere that you removed the plastic belt cover? If so, any negative repercussions?
It's a PITA to workaround so I was thinking the same. No real gravel roads except 50ft of driveway from my shop to the highway...........

Izzy's08V2KCLT

· #9 · Mar 23, 2015

The notches referred to are on the rear of the swing arm and are matched up to marks in the belt tension adjusters. You will find when you tighten the belt the rear wheel will have a slight cant to the left when the belt is centered in the pulleys and rear wheel rotates freely. Belt tension is fairly critical and a correctly adjusted belt is TIGHT. Bike needs to be on a jack to correctly adjust belt tension and make sure rear wheel is rotating freely. Pulleys in the pics probably should be changed as they will eat a belt fairly quickly. Bad belt? Forget the factory belt. Gates 1 1/2" X 133T is 1/3 the price. Good luck. Bob

RuaphuNZ

· #10 · Mar 23, 2015 (Edited)

TrentonC said:
Yes, there are scuffs/rough spots in the troughs of both pulleys which align with the rubbed out (*snicker*) spots on the crests of the belt.
I was debating using some emery cloth to smooth them out, but it's consistent all the way around both pulleys.
A finger test shows it's like a blemish in the coating of the pulley.

On a related note, did I see correctly somewhere that you removed the plastic belt cover? If so, any negative repercussions?
It's a PITA to workaround so I was thinking the same. No real gravel roads except 50ft of driveway from my shop to the highway...........

Huh, sounds odd? Can't see any issue with touching up with sandpaper. Reason being, my rear pulley gets a dust of rust after a wash and if it's left, so I take it from that any coating has long since worm off. I've done 62000km on the pulleys and around 17000km on the belt thus far.

Yep I took that large fugly plastic belt cover off ages ago. Primarily to get access to remove stones and it lets me keep an easy eye on the belt condition. I also wash the belt everytime i give the bike a clean to keep it crud free as possible.

Cheers Ando

TrentonC

· #11 · Mar 23, 2015

Well, here's the plan: I have a new Panther on the way. I talked to a local daeler mechanic that has treated me well over the years with my various toys. (They were the main reason I rode Suzuki before. I'm not brand fussy, but people loyal when it comes to that) He looked at th pics and gave me a suggestion: I'll pull the rear wheel off so I can get at the pulley, then I'll polish away any rough spots in the grooves for now, see how that does. I'll do the front pulley still on the bike. I'll use a Dremel polishing tip. Hopefully that will remove any needless wear to the new belt,and I can keep the original as a spare.

TS Tinker

· #12 · Mar 23, 2015

TrentonC said:
Well, here's the plan: I have a new Panther on the way. I talked to a local daeler mechanic that has treated me well over the years with my various toys. (They were the main reason I rode Suzuki before. I'm not brand fussy, but people loyal when it comes to that) He looked at th pics and gave me a suggestion: I'll pull the rear wheel off so I can get at the pulley, then I'll polish away any rough spots in the grooves for now, see how that does. I'll do the front pulley still on the bike. I'll use a Dremel polishing tip. Hopefully that will remove any needless wear to the new belt,and I can keep the original as a spare.

Sounds like a reasonable plan to me.

If it were if it aint broke don't fix it me I would clean up the pulley's where they are flat spotting the belt and run the old belt for a while to be sure everything is smoothed out. With the slight damage that appears in the pic not being on the edge belt failure is probably not likely.

However if the mileage is close to swing arm pivot bolt service I would go ahead and replace it and do the service.

TrentonC

· #13 · Mar 24, 2015

Looks like more research.........Not sure what the mileage for the pivot bolt service is.......I'm at 19000. I was also going to check the rear wheel bearing, as I'm not sure of the service history on this unit.
But thanx for the advice, I'll be digging into this too!

rattler50

· #14 · Mar 24, 2015

Belt Adjust

I adjusted my belt to specs last week when I installed a new rear tire. I was surprised to see how far out it was before. Now I have no squeak on acceleration and much less vibration at speed. My belt must have been flopping. I could feel it in the floorboards and it was beginning to worry me. Now it runs smooth...............and from now on I will be changing my own tires.............

TrentonC

· #15 · Mar 27, 2015

So, just to finish off this thread: I didn't pull off the wheel to clean the pulley surfaces. I used a Dremel with a small 200g sanding drum on it, and was able to polish it up quite nicely. The front drum had more surface corrosion on it than the rear, but I was able to smooth it out nicely. I checked each trough and crest, and it appears to be all good. No idea if the belt scuffing was the cause or effect of the marking on the drums, but for now they both look smooth.
I'll run the current belt for a bit and see what transpires, and go from there.
The second pic shows the before (bottom section) and after of the rear drum sanding.

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