F3 Front Sprocket Inspection

[mcurtright]

Those curious about front sprocket stripping out
on rt yes. It happened on mine this past Monday.
Oddly enough I just had 19,000 mile service done
the week before and dealer said drive belt was worn
out. I have a 15 rtl by the way.

[ofdave]

new pulley yesterday, after these were noticed
pic of pulley at 3400 +/- milesP1010927.jpg
clean spot is a thumb print

pic at 3517 miles a couple days later
P1010936.jpg

now 3672 a new one, can only hope it won't happen again

[jcthorne]

Those curious about front sprocket stripping out
on rt yes. It happened on mine this past Monday.
Oddly enough I just had 19,000 mile service done
the week before and dealer said drive belt was worn
out. I have a 15 rtl by the way.

Yes, I have had to give the bad news to a couple RT owners myself during the multipoint inspection part of a service visit. Manuals and Automatics do not seem to matter.

[Bruiser37]

Doc, have you heard of many F3T or Limited having this happen? I had only heard of it happening on 2015 F3 and was hoping that they had fixed the issue in 16 or 17 or on the T or Ltd. models.

Problem exists in all 2016 and probably 2017 Spyders. Just replaced front sprocket on 2016 F3-T at 16Kmi... just missed grenade stage by few miles. 90% of spline gone to rust dust. My clue to problem was a couple months of increasing louder high pitched whistle when closed throttle engine braking. This suddenly turned to loud metallic thrashing... this is final stage indicative of immediate grenading. Immediately push it to a dealers shop is only option if you aint stuck in the hinter land.

[ofdave]

I think an inspection of the front sprocket should be done at a minimum 1500 mile intervals.
It takes at most 10 min to remove and replace the cover and have a look.
Maybe take a pic for comparison to the next inspection.

[Roadster Renovations]

I think an inspection of the front sprocket should be done at a minimum 1500 mile intervals.
It takes at most 10 min to remove and replace the cover and have a look.
Maybe take a pic for comparison to the next inspection.

I'm going to see if an inspection mirror will work without removing panels. I will try both the RT and F3. Glad you caught it before it grenaded and got it replaced!

[ofdave]

I'm going to see if an inspection mirror will work without removing panels. I will try both the RT and F3. Glad you caught it before it grenaded and got it replaced!

let us know if the mirror thing works, good idea
yeah, good to have new-but the new one has the same part number and mfr. date. as the one replaced.
I may be going through this again in about 3000 miles.

[jcthorne]

I'm going to see if an inspection mirror will work without removing panels. I will try both the RT and F3. Glad you caught it before it grenaded and got it replaced!

If you know where to stick a flashlight and your Eyeball, you can inspect the pulley without removal of any panels. RT or F3. I do not use a mirror although it might help.

I have long thought of adding a Milwaukee inspection camera to my tool kit and this is one of the jobs it would be useful for.

[BrianO]

I think an inspection of the front sprocket should be done at a minimum 1500 mile intervals.
It takes at most 10 min to remove and replace the cover and have a look.
Maybe take a pic for comparison to the next inspection.

Been following this thread. I have a 16 RTL only about 5,000 km. Which panels do I have to remove to see the front sprocket? Pictures would be appreciated since I ama not very mechanically inclined.
....brian

[ofdave]

Been following this thread. I have a 16 RTL only about 5,000 km. Which panels do I have to remove to see the front sprocket? Pictures would be appreciated since I ama not very mechanically inclined.
....brian

can't answer for the RT
but I'm sure you'll get your answer soon
just keep an eye here

[eddieshep999]

Been following this thread. I have a 16 RTL only about 5,000 km. Which panels do I have to remove to see the front sprocket? Pictures would be appreciated since I ama not very mechanically inclined.
....brian

If if you look at this Video he removes the left hand panels
once the bottom panel is removed the sprocket can be seen just to the right to the opening covered by the grill

The panel removal is the same for all RT models

https://youtu.be/zVulKP4_GaU

Hope this hope

[jcthorne]

If you look from the rear of the bike, along the bottom of the belt forward toward the sprocket, and place a flashlight below the sprocket, you can see enough of the face of the sprocket to see if there is red dust or not. You do not need to remove any body panels just to check. We check the sprocket on every bike that comes in for oil change / annual service.

[Trevor G]

I still have two questions.
1. Everybody seems to agree that the clunking when shifting is bad. As I new driver I have heard it but unclear as to what causes it. Can somebody tell me how to avoid clunking?
2. Will towing a trailer make this problem worse? Eventually I want to get a pop up trailer (no lectures about how after market trailers voids the warranty), and want to know if that is a bad idea with a F3-T.

Thanks.

1) "Everybody" who said clunking is "bad" would be quite wrong.

The clunking occurs during the gear change when the drive is not connected to the output sprocket, because the clutch is disengaged.

Motorcycle gearboxes are constant mesh and ratios are changed by sliding "dogs" (very coarse teeth on the side of gears) which engage with matching holes in the next, adjacent gear, or by engaging with splines on the shafts which hold the gears.

The only effect of the clunk is that a small amount of hardened gear material might be dislodged on occasions, but this is caught by the oil filter or by the magnetic drain plug. The clunking will not affect sprocket wear, or enable it, since it takes place while the drive is disconnected from the sprocket.

2) I'm sure there will potentially be more wear on the drive belt while towing a trailer, but it's not a big deal for the people who do it.

Have fun

[JackSA]

1) "Everybody" who said clunking is "bad" would be quite wrong.

The clunking occurs during the gear change when the drive is not connected to the output sprocket, because the clutch is disengaged.

Motorcycle gearboxes are constant mesh and ratios are changed by sliding "dogs" (very coarse teeth on the side of gears) which engage with matching holes in the next, adjacent gear, or by engaging with splines on the shafts which hold the gears.

The only effect of the clunk is that a small amount of hardened gear material might be dislodged on occasions, but this is caught by the oil filter or by the magnetic drain plug. The clunking will not affect sprocket wear, or enable it, since it takes place while the drive is disconnected from the sprocket.

2) I'm sure there will potentially be more wear on the drive belt while towing a trailer, but it's not a big deal for the people who do it.

Have fun

Gents, I have 8500kms on my F3L.

I inspected my pulley, and see no red dust, however I have a lot of grey dust. Can that be from road dirt? Or is it grey metal??

[jcthorne]

Grey is road dirt and belt dust. Completely normal. The iron dust from the splines oxidizes very quickly and shows up as red on the pulley. Sounds like yours is fine so far but keep checking it.

[petegtsv10]

Did a pulley inspection on my wife's 2015 F3 and saw there was just a bit of red dust. I explained to my dealer that I would like to be pro-active and they replaced the pulley and bolt. (at about 5K miles) I couldn't ask for better service from my Clarksville, TN dealer. I'll keep an eye on it from now on.

[Navvet]

Well .... Looked and we don't have any red dust, but we have developed a screeching / grinding noise when accelerating. Seems to be coming from the engine area on the left side.

Calling the service department tomorrow AM to see when we can bring it in and get it checked out.

This is on our 2016 F3 Ltd SE6

[Roadster Renovations]

Just serviced our 2014 RT and no sign of red rust at all. Original pulley and it now has 48,000 miles on it. Most of those miles are two up and some pulling a trailer. No sign of wear. Checked on the mirror thing and didn't really work very well. Think the best way to do it is to reach up and stick a finger in one of the sprocket holes and see what gets transfered. Grey = Dust, good to go. Red = iron oxide from the sprocket splines, replace.

[Sweetwater]

Anyone here remember seeing a pic of lamonsters bike with the pulley cover removed? he painted the pulley to match the bike I think, but I cant find the pic. It looks like the cover is just left off. Looked cool and made inspections simple. Anyone know where that pic is?

[EricP]

If I missed it in this thread, sorry and please point me to the correct post number or so covering my topic, but...

...does anyone know of any owners with any sort of the belt dampers, that also has had their sprocket replaced?

Was just wondering if those dampers might possibly mitigate reasons for sprocket failure. No clue just was thinking. If it’s been thought of and addressed, then never mind. :-)

[eddieshep999]

Anyone here remember seeing a pic of lamonsters bike with the pulley cover removed? he painted the pulley to match the bike I think, but I cant find the pic. It looks like the cover is just left off. Looked cool and made inspections simple. Anyone know where that pic is?

I found this

C672B9E9-04C5-4755-A427-0BA0D9D26C6A.jpg

[Sweetwater]

Thank u! What do we think??

[ofdave]

Thank u! What do we think??

I think it looks good, kind of industrial exposed pulley.
It would be difficult for the average owner to remove the pulley, unless you leave it on to paint it.
Only works for the F3-too much would be left off on other models.

[Madmartigan]

I am at Whites Cycle in Chattanooga. Told them about the red dust on the sprocket and how the sprocket will fail at any moment. They had not heard of this problem but they were willing contact BRP about it. BRP told them to replace it under warranty without them even looking at it. They ordered a sprocket and today I am here getting it installed. They installed it and when they took it for a test drive the belt keep drifting out of alignment. They contacted BRP and they advised them to replace the belt because since the splines on the sprocket had worn and changed the position of the sprocket, it caused the belt to wear unevenly. They are replacing the belt now and hopefully I can get out of here some time today. Everyone here at Whites Cycle have been great.
Anyone that gets their sprocket replaced be sure to check your belt and your belt alignment.

[Roadster Renovations]

I am at Whites Cycle in Chattanooga. Told them about the red dust on the sprocket and how the sprocket will fail at any moment. They had not heard of this problem but they were willing contact BRP about it. BRP told them to replace it under warranty without them even looking at it. They ordered a sprocket and today I am here getting it installed. They installed it and when they took it for a test drive the belt keep drifting out of alignment. They contacted BRP and they advised them to replace the belt because since the splines on the sprocket had worn and changed the position of the sprocket, it caused the belt to wear unevenly. They are replacing the belt now and hopefully I can get out of here some time today. Everyone here at Whites Cycle have been great.
Anyone that gets their sprocket replaced be sure to check your belt and your belt alignment.

Glad you caught it and BRP was right on top of the repair with no questions asked! Sounds like the belt somehow warped. Maybe we should insist on a belt replacement when the red rust occurs and the sprocket is replaced??