Why is Belt alignment so hard to get right?!

[rideaway]

So my belt was riding against the rear sproket flange so I thought I should adjust it. Must have tried 10 times now. it's either over the edge or right on the edge or against the flange. Went for about an hrs. ride and it was right on the outer edge so I thought I will just do 1/8 turn and it still goes right up against the flange.

[EdMat]

So my belt was riding against the rear sproket flange so I thought I should adjust it. Must have tried 10 times now. it's either over the edge or right on the edge or against the flange. Went for about an hrs. ride and it was right on the outer edge so I thought I will just do 1/8 turn and it still goes right up against the flange.

If the belt tension is where you want it to be only adjust on the right side. That will make the most change in where the belt runs with the minimal change in tension. If you need to make a small change in tension but no change in tracking adjust the left side only.

[Peter Aawen]

So my belt was riding against the rear sproket flange so I thought I should adjust it. Must have tried 10 times now. it's either over the edge or right on the edge or against the flange. Went for about an hrs. ride and it was right on the outer edge so I thought I will just do 1/8 turn and it still goes right up against the flange.

I wouldn't stress about getting it tracking EXACTLY right too much!!

These belts move around A WHOLE LOT as you ride forwards; then they'll move even more if you back up even just a small part of just foot or so!! Which basically means that it'll change & move back & forth somewhat during riding even if you have it looking perfect RIGHT NOW after aligning it while your Spyder is stopped & sitting without a load on it, instead of while it's moving along at varying speeds on an uneven surface with the suspension articulating up & down under a load that moves & changes, so much so that even just a small PART of one turn of the front sprocket will probably change were it appears to be spending most of its time on the rear sprocket as you ride along!! And who's to say that your rear sprocket is mounted exactly square to the rim or to the rotation of the wheel assembly anyway - most aren't!! Besides, you do realise that these rear sprockets on our Spyders are a 'press fit' into rubbery 'cush pads' that have a fair whack of inherent movement and shock absorbing capability built into them anyway, don't you??

So the reality of your 'accurate belt alignment' & 'true belt tracking' is that no matter how 'correct' you might THINK you've got your belt aligned while you're not on it & riding; no matter how perfect it might look at any given moment, even while you are riding; it's probably not 'running true' in that spot and only that spot as you ride and there's even a couple of vids floating around showing this really is what TRULY happens as you ride, but it's FAAARR MORE LIKELY to be wandering a little (or a lottle ) back and forth across the teeth on that rear sprocket pretty much all the time you're riding, and yet it's STILL DOING ITS JOB PERFECTLY WELL!!

All if which means that if you can see while your Spyder is stopped or just gently rolling the rear wheel forwards that you've got your belt aligned fairly close to the flange on the wheel side of the sprocket, maybe even just touching it a bit just so long as it's not actively riding up onto that flange, then the alignment is probably AS GOOD AS IT'S EVER TRULY GOING TO GET, cos the second you start moving & riding it & making it do all those things & more that've been mentioned above, IT'S GOING TO START MOVING & TRACKING BACK & FORTH ACROSS THE SPROCKET ANYWAY!!

You can't stop it from doing that; the factory can't stop it from doing that; the dealer (ANY dealer!) can't stop it from doing that - it's simply the nature of the design & the limitations of the engineering.... altho some unscrupulous dealers/techs might try to convince you otherwise in order to milk more $$ from you! Sure, you can aim to get close to the specified alignment; you can even have a few tries at getting it to be reasonably close to that; but don't waste your time, effort, &/or $$ trying to get it to be EXACTLY PERFECTLY THAT, cos the reality is that just so long as your Spyder's belt is closer to the flange side than it is to the outer edge of the sprocket; so long as it's not hanging a significant part of any teeth off the outer edge of the sprocket; so long as it's not pressing so hard up against the flange that it's burning the inner edge of the belt &/or riding teeth up onto the flange, then it's going to do its job fine and you shouldn't stress or worry too much about getting it any more accurately aligned, cos the second you start riding again, THAT BELT ALIGNMENT GOES OUT THE DOOR AS THE BELT MOVES AROUND ON THE SPROCKET WHILE YOU RIDE!!

And THAT brings us back to.... can you guess??






Yeah, I'm gonna.....







I really am gonna say it again.....










You've gotta learn to RIDE MORE, WORRY LESS!!



Besides, chasing the perfect but impossible to achieve 'true & unwavering alignment' of your Spyder's drive belt when there are so many variables that cause it to constantly change really defeats the entire purpose of owning and riding these things!!

[rideaway]

If the belt tension is where you want it to be only adjust on the right side. That will make the most change in where the belt runs with the minimal change in tension. If you need to make a small change in tension but no change in tracking adjust the left side only.

That's what I do. I'm just going to leave it where it is, as long as it doesn't rub hard against the flange it should be good.

[Gwolf]

The reason it is so hard to get right, might be, that it walks one way if you turn the wheel in the forward direction. It walks the other way, if you turn the wheel in the reverse direction. Aligning and setting the tracking should only be done by turning the wheel in the forward direction. I doubt if anybody is going to ride in reverse enough to damage a belt.

If you don't pull straight in to the parking spot, it could affect the tracking too. You might have it tracking perfect, then next time you park it, you make a turn going in to the parking spot, or you back it into the parking spot, and you will think the tracking is off, but most likely, it you set it turning the wheel forward, it will come back after a little forward motion, straight ahead.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

with Peter and I've seen the video on U-tube of how much the belt wanders while in motion ... and this will occur even if the belt is perfectly aligned... As to the WHY the Belt is so difficult to align baffles me. BRP makes Snowmobiles which have Tracks that also need to be ALIGNED .... So BRP designed adjusters that CAPTURE the TRACK AXLE .... When adjusting them you can increase or decrease where the axle is (ie. alignment) by turning the bolt either way .... The adjusters on Spyders can't do this. You either have to pull the tire (rearward) with a rachet strap, or jamb a piece of wood between the front of the tire and the swing ARM ....

Maybe BRP will wake-up to this fact .... or not!!!! ..... Good Luck ... Mike

[Woodenfish]

So my belt was riding against the rear sproket flange so I thought I should adjust it. Must have tried 10 times now. it's either over the edge or right on the edge or against the flange. Went for about an hrs. ride and it was right on the outer edge so I thought I will just do 1/8 turn and it still goes right up against the flange.

If you make a 1/8th turn on each adjuster you have made a 1/4 turn of total adjustment. Perhaps you should only make 1/8th of adjustment on just one side. If that is what it is then you probably are wasting your time.

[Redbeard]

One more suggestion: Do not back into your parking space before looking at your belt alignment. Mine shifts significantly while backing up. I can either back into my garage or drive straight in, so I make sure to drive in forward before looking at it. And as suggested above adjust only one side at a time.

[Isopedella]

I watched a video on belt tension setting and alignment I found on the u tube.

No rattle guns and stuff but a down to Earth Bloke quietly sharing some tips on Spyder maintenance at home.

I watched that video and set mine up in the same way.
I set the tension, adjusted the belt position then rechecked the tension.

Its stayed in the right place for about 2,000k so far, so it worked for me and not difficult to do.

I have noticed if I back up it and park it, then have a look at the belt position it seems to move.
But once off forwards it returned to the correct position in the rear pulley again.

Here is the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Ewxr7qwqo

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

So my belt was riding against the rear sproket flange so I thought I should adjust it. Must have tried 10 times now. it's either over the edge or right on the edge or against the flange. Went for about an hrs. ride and it was right on the outer edge so I thought I will just do 1/8 turn and it still goes right up against the flange.

Read this thread to see how I dealt with the same problem. Note particularly post #14.

https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...ight=alignment

[K80Shooter]

On mine I found that as I was tightening the nut that the swingarm would flex and thus throw the alignment off.

What I did was to simply get the belt where I wanted it then snugged the bolt down and then lowered the Spyder to the ground to finish the tightening. It worked perfectly for me.

[CloverHillCrawler]

I think belt wandering may be misconception or optical illusion caused not so much by alignment but by the design of the sprocket and how it mounts to the wheel.

It sits on top of 3 rubber pads that are "evenly placed" and if the sprocket is not seated perfectly you basically don't have a sprocket that is parallel to the wheel and the end result is a belt that "wanders" when in fact it is not the belt wandering.

It is the sprocket not being parallel to the wheel and "wobbling" as the wheel stays perpendicular to the ground. The more your sprocket is off from being parallel to the wheel, the more wobble or wandering you will get.

Also the sprockets may not have been perfectly cast and also causing some wobble. Basically I feel it is not just alignment that can affect the path of the belt on the sprocket.

[Mikey]

There is one thing that I will throw into to this pot! When you make an adjustment, always make sure that your end caps are tight and do not wiggle side to side before you tighten the axle bolt. If it wiggles, put your wrench over the nut or bolt head and give a light tap with a hammer on the loose side it should tighten, if it doesn't you have the axle bolt too loose; snug it up some and try again. When the caps are not wiggling, tighten the axle, and recheck to make sure the caps are still tight. If you don't do this, you will chase your tail for hours!

[DaniBoy]

Basically the same as BajaRon told me. The wheel must be tight up against the adjusters. I have a 21” long 36mm combination wrench. Loosen the axle nut and place the open end on the nut and smack the box end with a hammer a few times. Then tighten the nut, snug, but not tight. THEN make the adjustments, and check tension. On mine at least, I set the tension so my Crikut reads about 110 - 115 pounds with the wheel off ground. Final tightening with the wheel spinning in first gear. Once I lower the wheel down, my tension increases to 135 - 140 pounds which is perfect.

[Holeshot]

If the belt tension is where you want it to be only adjust on the right side. That will make the most change in where the belt runs with the minimal change in tension. If you need to make a small change in tension but no change in tracking adjust the left side only.

Thank you Edmat, I was trying to adjust mine like a motorcycle, so when I read your simple explanation on adjustment that solved the problem for me.