2014 RTS ate a belt today!!! Teeth missing!

[Joel The Biker]

My dad was riding my 2014 RTS today and all of a sudden it was making banging noises. We pulled over and I investigated. There was a section of belt about a foot long with no teeth at all and a few random spots missing teeth. I have no idea what caused it. I was thinking maybe a stone got in there and started the whole process. Once a tooth was gone, it started eating the next one. I dont know. Belt alignment is perfect. I did not see and stones or bulges. I do have the extra belt guard on it too. Anyone ever see this before or have an idea of the cause? I will post a picture when I get the belt off. It might be a few days.

[UtahPete]

How many miles are on the belt, Joel?

[Joel The Biker]

35,000

[Mikey]

Do you run a dampener?

[Joel The Biker]

Yes it has a damper.

[Joel The Biker]

Screenshot_20221023-100730.jpg . Screenshot_20221023-100730.jpg

[larryd]

Joel. Is this Spyder stored near any electric motors??? Its my understanding that electric motors give off ozone's that cause rubber deterioration...larryd

[Mikey]

What are you running for belt tension?

[Joel The Biker]

Stored in a garage. Belt tension is set using a cricket to spec. There are several teeth on the belt that are almost broke off. I inspected both pulleys for foreign objects and damage. Nothing found. The only thing I found suspicious was freeplay in the front pulley. No red dust and no slippage on the shaft and the bolt is tight. Spyder is in neutral. Front pulley turns about 1/4 turn before feeling resistance. This might be normal because I have never checked it during tire changes. Or it could be wear internally from the clunk when you put it in first gear? The belt might just be bad. I have used Superclean degreaser to clean the dirt and dust from the rear wheel and sprocket which gets on the belt of course. I just want to be sure the new belt will last another 35000 miles which will take my dad many years to achieve.

[ButterSmooth]

Seems to me the likely cause includes a faulty belt and 'super clean'. You need to take a close look at the condition of the rear tire. If the 'super clean' is attacking some component of the belt, the rear tire may also be degraded. Look at it for checking or any other deterioration -- could be a safety hazzard.

[PMK]

Stored in a garage. Belt tension is set using a cricket to spec. There are several teeth on the belt that are almost broke off. I inspected both pulleys for foreign objects and damage. Nothing found. The only thing I found suspicious was freeplay in the front pulley. No red dust and no slippage on the shaft and the bolt is tight. Spyder is in neutral. Front pulley turns about 1/4 turn before feeling resistance. This might be normal because I have never checked it during tire changes. Or it could be wear internally from the clunk when you put it in first gear? The belt might just be bad. I have used Superclean degreaser to clean the dirt and dust from the rear wheel and sprocket which gets on the belt of course. I just want to be sure the new belt will last another 35000 miles which will take my dad many years to achieve.

The freeplay you noticed in the gearbox output shaft is typical of a dog style gearbox. The gearbox requires these clearances to allow easy shifts. If the dogs were increased in size to lessen the freeplay, alignment during each shift would be difficult and cause wear to the shift forks and shift drums.

As for the belt, no definite idea why. Those soaps you mentioned are typically very aggressive and maybe it had a drying effect on the rubber.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

The freeplay you noticed in the gearbox output shaft is typical of a dog style gearbox. The gearbox requires these clearances to allow easy shifts. If the dogs were increased in size to lessen the freeplay, alignment during each shift would be difficult and cause wear to the shift forks and shift drums.

As for the belt, no definite idea why. Those soaps you mentioned are typically very aggressive and maybe it had a drying effect on the rubber.

... IMHO the soaps you used may have had a deleterious effect on the drive belt ...... also OEM tension specs have been an issue with the drive belt in the past .... good luck .... Mike

[Bensonoid]

Tell Dave I say it's operator abuse, and don't forget that I have a trailer when you're up this way and need it.

[trikermutha]

You should get a lot more mileage out of those belts. Something caused that to happen

[2dogs]

I have a machine that runs a belt just like our spyder drive belts. On my machine, the belt in question is buried deep within the system and is totally concealed out of view. A considerable dismantling of the system is required to view and adjust that particular belt. If I ignore inspection and adjustment for too long and the belt gets too much slack in it (becomes loose) it will shed its teeth. It requires 100 lbs of tension. Specs for drive belt tension on our spyders has always been in question. The happy spot seems to be around 160 lbs on the cricket. Exactly why your belt shed its teeth may never be known. Possible you got a factory defective belt and never knew it.

[Peteoz]

Joel, having worked in IT for many, many years, you learn when to cut your losses when problem solving.

It appears that the issue was due to either a faulty belt, or a possible adverse belt reaction to the rear end cleaners, as there have been no similar instances reported on belts that have many more miles. Also, the sprocket appears OK, so I would change the cleaner you are using for the rear end (the RT, not you personally ), install a new belt, and just keep an occasional eye on it. But then, that’s what “I” would do

Pete

[Bartender]

You may never know what caused your drive belt to disintegrate, but you have one really likely candidate in the form of the Superclean Degreaser. I do not pretend to be an expert on the subject of cleaning agents but do know that there are de greasers that are really powerful and may not be friends with the materials used to make the drive belt. What you do know is that the tension was correct on the belt and there are no damaged teeth on either sprocket. That makes the most likely culprit the Superclean. I would hand clean with simple soaps maybe even something as basic a Dawn and get all remains of Superclean from the entire drive line and install a new belt at correct tension. Sometimes cleanliness is not next to godliness and this may just be one of those cases. Please keep in mind that I am absolutely devoid of qualifications for this opinion. Good luck.

[Little Blue]

....My Tip.....Stop using the 'super clean product'.
As someone already posted, try using a mild dish soap.

Good Luck on Your Mission. .....

[Mikey]

Get a new belt on that thing, stop being so anal with cleaning the tire that can't be seen unless you're on your hands and knee's, keep a eye on that dampener wheel because if that little bearing should go bad that will shred a belt also, and ride the thing!! Good luck your belt should have lasted longer yes, but you know what we say here, Ride more, worry less!!! Or ride more, clean less!!!

[Wmoater]

If I had to guess on how this occurred, I’d say the degreaser when sprayed on the wheels etc ran towards the front of the spyder, sat and soaked into the belt since it was facing up on the bottom return. Then I am guessing that a thread/cord might have snapped. Not sure if the spyders are like snowmobile belts, but if the thread/cord snapped and would have snagged on the front sprocket, it would have pulled that thread/cord out. As it pulled it out, the ribs on the belt would have simply fallen off almost instantly since they were degraded and the cord was pulled. You said it happened quickly. That’s my only thought. I’d have to see how the belt is made and if the threads weave or go back and forth. Again I haven’t really studied the spyder belt yet accept for cleaning it so I could be completely wrong. I’d say a flook happened if both occurred just right. I was always taught to use dawn soap only when cleaning. Then after cleaning apply conditioner, place belt in a long PVC pipe with a fan blowing over it till the conditioner dries out. Then rub dry. Can’t hurt. I always clean my belts before I install them too

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I've owned 3 Spyders .... I have never purposefully cleaned any of the belts, other than when washing the Spyder. ... I haven't seen any maintenance schedule that says your supposed to this..... good luck .... Mike

[UtahPete]

I'll bet it looked showroom ready though.

My Spyder is lucky to get a hose and bucket wash twice a year. Windshield more often. Belt and tires...just overspray.

[Joel The Biker]

The rear wheel gets really cruddy. That is why I clean it. Just saw a recent facebook post of another 2014 RTS with the same exact problem. The answer there was, once one tooth leaves the belt, the rest follow in rapid succession. Age of the belt was the assumed cause of the belt failure. Whatever the cause, the new belt has arrived and will be replaced shortly. I only asked the question becuase I have never read about any belt failures on here, with the exception of stone damage.

[PMK]

The rear wheel gets really cruddy. That is why I clean it. Just saw a recent facebook post of another 2014 RTS with the same exact problem. The answer there was, once one tooth leaves the belt, the rest follow in rapid succession. Age of the belt was the assumed cause of the belt failure. Whatever the cause, the new belt has arrived and will be replaced shortly. I only asked the question becuase I have never read about any belt failures on here, with the exception of stone damage.

Hopefully this does not affect a large number of Spyders. Agree with you that most damages were from debris puncturing the belt. Several folks have posted more than 100,000 miles on their oem belt. Glad to know your dads machine is back up and running.