“Missing Belt Guard” is this needed on the RTL 2017

[mcpjan]

I just purchased a new RT Limited and I am not sure if the "Missing Belt Guard" is needed. The sites I checked only list 2014-2016 nothing for the 2017. I added it to my 2013 and if needed want it on my 2017 if needed.

[PW2013STL]

I just purchased a new RT Limited and I am not sure if the "Missing Belt Guard" is needed. The sites I checked only list 2014-2016 nothing for the 2017. I added it to my 2013 and if needed want it on my 2017 if needed.

Since there is no change to the drive assembly than the one listed for the 2014-2016 will fit.
As for do you need it - that depends on what you ride on. Do you ride on gravel roads? Do you end up on roads that have fresh pea rock laid? If the answer is never than you do not need it.

[JayBros]

I debated about getting it when I bought my Spyder. Popped for it as inexpensive insurance because I never know where I'm going to be on a ride. One short construction detour could turn out to be an expensive excursion without it.

[mcpjan]

I agree, that if it is truly missing it is needed where I live. I will order it today... It is a must have around here.

Thank you so much for your quick responses.

[ARtraveler]

Think--Murphy's Law.

[mcpjan]

Thank you, I had a lot of stuff added before picking it up but forgot this one... thank you

[bmwlarry]

I always said that since I didn't ride gravel - I didnt need it. Well, last year whiles I was on a week long trip, I was diverted onto a newly redone chipseal road with the turn around option requiring a couple of hundred miles. I ended up with three holes in my belt! The other rider with me had the guard and had no problem! Then forward, I have one on all my bikes. CHEAP!!! INSURANCE!!

[cyclekid58]

I always said that since I didn't ride gravel - I didnt need it. Well, last year whiles I was on a week long trip, I was diverted onto a newly redone chipseal road with the turn around option requiring a couple of hundred miles. I ended up with three holes in my belt! The other rider with me had the guard and had no problem! Then forward, I have one on all my bikes. CHEAP!!! INSURANCE!!

I got lucky and no damage to my belt when I got forced onto a recently done chipseal road for a couple miles, just got my beltguard from Lamonster but having a hard time getting to the backside of the factory guard lock nuts to remove it so I can put the new guard on, then put the factory guard on, for those of you that have installed the missing belt guard are there suggestings, mine is a 2014 RTS.

[Lew L]

THe missing belt guard was the first farkel I put on my '14 RTS. Didn't take long but get the up off the ground and the fasteners will be much easier to get to.

Injured drive belts cause:::::::::::::::::; Kaos

[Joerolwing]

I got lucky and no damage to my belt when I got forced onto a recently done chipseal road for a couple miles, just got my beltguard from Lamonster but having a hard time getting to the backside of the factory guard lock nuts to remove it so I can put the new guard on, then put the factory guard on, for those of you that have installed the missing belt guard are there suggestings, mine is a 2014 RTS.

I installed mine when I changed the rear tire. It is a simple job then.

[Jetfixer]

I got lucky and no damage to my belt when I got forced onto a recently done chipseal road for a couple miles, just got my beltguard from Lamonster but having a hard time getting to the backside of the factory guard lock nuts to remove it so I can put the new guard on, then put the factory guard on, for those of you that have installed the missing belt guard are there suggestings, mine is a 2014 RTS.

Just put mine on today. Used a 1/4" drive ratchet with a 10mm deep socket. You just have to get the socket on the nut by feel since you can't see them. Hold the nut with the ratchet and turn the screws out.

[JayBros]

I used a box end 10mm wrench and, as Jetfixer said, it was a "by feel" episode to get the wrench on. I had my front wheels on car ramps which gave me a bit more room working my right hand at the inside of the swing arm.

[BrianO]

Just put mine on today. Used a 1/4" drive ratchet with a 10mm deep socket. You just have to get the socket on the nut by feel since you can't see them. Hold the nut with the ratchet and turn the screws out.

I don't have anyway to jack up the bike, and am only semi mechanically inclined. Can it be done relatively easily without jacks?

[Jetfixer]

I don't have anyway to jack up the bike, and am only semi mechanically inclined. Can it be done relatively easily without jacks?

No jacks needed. Just take your time test fitting it before you remove the backing on the tape. Peel a little at a time per the instructions so you can move it if you have to.

[JayBros]

No jacks needed. Just take your time test fitting it before you remove the backing on the tape. Peel a little at a time per the instructions so you can move it if you have to.

Agree! It's a more time consuming than difficult job to get it right. The good thing is if you prep the swing arm as the instructions say you only have to do the job once.

[canamjhb]

Ordered mine today. Just pulled a multi edged, sharp pea-size rock out of the belt. It left a hole about the size of a pencil in the middle of the belt. The rock looks suspiciously like the rocks on an 8 mile section of road construction encountered in northern Arizona 2 weeks ago. I think I know when I picked it up. Felt like I ran over something but didn't see anything. I plan to have the belt replaced but would like opinions about how much of an emergency it is to replace. I did ride several hundred miles after the gravel with no ill effects...

[mcpjan]

My son got mine installed pretty easily. He just read the instruction and did it without having to use a jack.Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Love this site.

[PW2013STL]

Ordered mine today. Just pulled a multi edged, sharp pea-size rock out of the belt. It left a hole about the size of a pencil in the middle of the belt. The rock looks suspiciously like the rocks on an 8 mile section of road construction encountered in northern Arizona 2 weeks ago. I think I know when I picked it up. Felt like I ran over something but didn't see anything. I plan to have the belt replaced but would like opinions about how much of an emergency it is to replace. I did ride several hundred miles after the gravel with no ill effects...

Since the hole is in the middle of the belt than you should be ok, but make sure it is a round hole and not a jagged hole as the edges can travel and cause the belt to separate.

[johnsimion]

As I stated in another post, I am not a mechanic nor am I remotely mechanically inclined. Nevertheless, people say this job installing the "missing belt guard" was easy, so I thought I could do it. I was wrong. This is why people like me should not be in the garage.

The following things are probably so obvious to everyone else that they don't need to be stated, because Spyderpops doesn't state them in the instructions:
1) You need a T30 screwdriver and a 10 mm wrench to remove the rear bolts off the factory belt guard. I had those.
2) You need very tiny hands to put the 10 mm wrench on the bolt holding the rear bolt of the factory belt guard. The sense of touch of a blind man would help as well. My toolbox was missing those items.
3) You need a T30 stubby screwdriver (or a T30 socket) to remove or loosen the front bolt on the factory belt guard. These are not common tools in everybody's toolbox but you cannot reach that bolt without them.
4) You HAVE to elevate the Spyder to be able to work on this thing and actually see what you are doing.

Once I had these tools, I was able to remove the factory belt guard in spite of my large, uncoordinated hands. I was able to testfit the Spyderpops piece perfectly as shown in the instructions. At least thought so at the time. Apparently I was wrong, because I put the new piece exactly where I had testfit it, only to discover now it was not in the proper place at the bottom and was lying against the belt. How this happened, I do not know; my guess is that my testfit was wrong and I just couldn't see very well with my head laying on the floor. That's why you HAVE to elevate the Spyder to do this. I can say that to my eyes, "the outer edge of the belt guard" was in fact aligned with the "outside edge of the swing-arm" as stated in the instructions. However, the tolerances for this piece are so close that being off by 1/16" of an inch at the top is enough to throw off the thing at the bottom. Also, there's no adjustment possible at all -- once it's set, it's set. That's great if you get it perfect the first time, not so good if you are off by that 1/16".

So ... now that I see my new belt guard is touching the belt, I tried pushing it upward and toward the tire. That did nothing, and you are advised not to use heat to bend the piece. Preferring to leave well enough alone, I decided to take the Spyder for a quick run around the block to see whether this would make any difference. In my eagerness to run my test, I managed to run over the factory belt guard and ruined it. Again, this is why people like me should not try to do things in the garage. I PM'd Spyderpops on this issue and he responded promptly as follows: "Do not use heat on it, you can use a Dremel or tin snips to cut off just a little, they are correct it won't hurt the belt or the tire. You could just leave it the way it is and ride about 5 miles and it will wear it off unless it sounds like a baseball card on a bicycle spoke. You may have a little trouble backing up as it could catch on the belt grooves."

I didn't ride 5 miles, I just went around the block. When I returned, there was already a light coating of dust on the new belt guard that wasn't there before. I saw no evidence that the belt guard had any rubbing on it, so the dust had to have come from the belt. I did not feel comfortable with the situation; a piece rubbing against a drive belt is not good. I did not need the cure to be worse than the disease.

So, I decided to try to trim the piece back using a Dremel like Spyderpops suggested. Great idea, poor execution by me. When I realized the Dremel wouldn't fit under the Spyder, I finally figured out that I had to raise the Spyder upwards. Well, I have Rhino car ramps, so I carefully (I thought) backed the Spyder up onto the ramp, whereupon the Spyder simply threw the ramp underneath itself where it got stuck. It took fifteen minutes of work with a scissors jack just to get the ramp out -- thankfully it was plastic rather than metal so the only apparent damage was a small dent in that silver thingamajig under the Spyder. So, I tried the ramp again and this time I got it up on the ramp in the right position. I pushed the belt up out of the way as much as possible with a piece of wood and carefully cut about 1/2" off the bottom of the "missing belt guard," then smoothed it out. That part went well. I took away the wood to see the result and guess what, the new belt guard is still resting against the belt. At that point, I simply couldn't cut any more of the belt guard without cutting into the tire or belt. So I just said it was better to have no guard than a guard that risks damage to the belt. I removed it, cleaned up the mess, took the Spyder down off the ramps and came inside. All I have to do now is replace the piece that I broke and I'll be almost as good as when I started.

BTW, removing the belt guard bends it out of shape, so there's no chance of putting it back with new adhesive. I am not going to re-order the "missing belt guard." The tolerances on this piece are so tight that I could not guarantee that the same thing would happen all over again. It's easier to avoid riding in gravel. Also, in the midst of this massive project, I started wondering how all those Harley riders manage to ride without ruining THEIR belts? There are hundreds of thousands of Harleys out there. You'd think they'd be ruining belts left and right but when I googled it, I found remarkably few hits. I never go off paved roads anyway and now I am wondering if the risk to the Spyder's belt is exaggerated.

Note, I'm not saying the Spyderpops piece is bad. Far from it. Nor do I think there would be any better way to design and build it. It is what it is, but it DOES have tight tolerances and there is no getting around that. If you can get it in exactly the right position, it's a good insurance policy. However, it's painfully obvious that aligning this thing within the tolerances is not the least bit "easy" and there is is NO room for error. For those of you who have the right tools, great lighting, a lift, and know what you're doing, it's probably really easy. For me, I've enjoyed this "easy" job as much as I can stand.

[UtahPete]

The thing about unemployed authors is that every writing exercise becomes a novelette.

Enjoyed the mental picture immensely, John

[Joerolwing]

I got lucky and no damage to my belt when I got forced onto a recently done chipseal road for a couple miles, just got my beltguard from Lamonster but having a hard time getting to the backside of the factory guard lock nuts to remove it so I can put the new guard on, then put the factory guard on, for those of you that have installed the missing belt guard are there suggestings, mine is a 2014 RTS.

I did mine when I changed the rear tire, it is simple enough job then.

[Copperman]

I just purchased a new RT Limited and I am not sure if the "Missing Belt Guard" is needed.

I rarely, if ever, ride on unpaved roads so I thought I didn't need one. Well, recently I rode on a road that was being paved with asphalt and I ruined my drive belt and had to replace it. Lesson learned.

[UtahPete]

For those who have experienced a rock-damaged drive belt; how did you know? Are there tell-tale symptoms?

[canamjhb]

When THAT rock entered my rear sprocket, it felt like I ran over something. There was a definite bump. My wife was following me and I asked her if she saw anything in the road. Nothing but rocks. We were going maybe 15-20 MPH.

[Spiceman64]

Ok, you all just totally freaked me out. I just ordered one from Lamonster. Cheap insurance for sure! It’s now the next item to be installed, cutting in front of a few other farkles I have lined up.