REAR TIRE alignment?

[RBS66]

I have a 2013 RT. My question is should the rear tire be centered with the rear mudflap. Mine is noticeably off center. I haven't tried any other spider but the one I test drove at the dealership. It seems to be riding rough even at the higher rpm's. Sometimes even at 5000 or 5500 RPMs it still feels like it's kind of lugging. ANY HELP WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED

[flamingobabe]

check the tension on the belt....mine was off and had to re-align the back wheel

[RBS66]

check the tension on the belt....mine was off and had to re-align the back wheel

Thanks for the reply

[Chupaca]

loosen the rear axle..on the back plates are the adjustment bolts. You adjust them evenly. You will have to consider the belt tension. But if the belt is tracking true the rear wheel is aligned. If you have no way to check belt tension you will need to run it by the dealer. They use a sonic method but once they have it done you can get a kriket and do it yourself. Good luck..!!

[RBS66]

loosen the rear axle..on the back plates are the adjustment bolts. You adjust them evenly. You will have to consider the belt tension. But if the belt is tracking true the rear wheel is aligned. If you have no way to check belt tension you will need to run it by the dealer. They use a sonic method but once they have it done you can get a kriket and do it yourself. Good luck..!!

Thanks for the info that sounds like something I wouldn't want to attempt. I'm not a very good mechanic. I don't even know what a kriket is:dontknow:

But should my tire be centered on my rear mudflap?

[GeoffCee]

I have a 2013 RT. My question is should the rear tire be centered with the rear mudflap. Mine is noticeably off center. I haven't tried any other spider but the one I test drove at the dealership. It seems to be riding rough even at the higher rpm's. Sometimes even at 5000 or 5500 RPMs it still feels like it's kind of lugging. ANY HELP WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED

Been there, asked the same question about 2 years back. The alignment of the rear wheel is done by adjusting the wheel axle adjusters so that the toothed drive belt runs about 1 mm from the inside flange of the wheel's drive sprocket. This aligns the rear wheel with engine drive sprocket using the belt as an alignment indicator. Clever, uh? It never would be a good idea to align the tire with a piece of bodywork, it's open to personal interpretation and not nearly accurately enough.

If that's all there was to it the job would be simple. Unfortunately you also have to take the tension of the belt into consideration. Moving the wheel to get the belt alignment right changes the tension of the belt making it either tighter or looser. Measuring belt tension can be done reasonably accurately using a Gates Krikit II V-Belt Tension Gauge which you can buy for a few dollars. If your dealer was checking belt tension he would use a sophisticated electronic audio device which measures belt tension by listening to the belt's vibes when it is tapped. This is similar to twanging a guitar string. The higher the string tension the higher the pitch of the note it produces.

The best way to go about this is to pay to have your dealer set your wheel alignment and belt tension in the first instance. Take your Spyder home and measure the belt tension using your Krikit as per the instructions that come with the device. Having obtained a reading (near to 150 lbs) mark it with an indelible pen. This will give you the confidence to use it any time you need to measure belt tension in future.

Note: My experience relates to a 2011 RT. I am not 100% sure that the above info is correct for a 2013 RT, the belt tension may have changed and the 1 mm run out of the belt on the rear sprocket may also be a different value. Please check it out with your dealer.