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Drive pulley problem

AllanSpyder

New member
Hi everyone!

I noticed today that my Spyder make squealing noise when I am backing up (on neutral). Turned out that the belt is going against the outer side of the drive pulley and that makes the sound. It doesn`t go against the pulley`s side all the time, I need to turn the wheel 3-4 times and then it make the sound. There ain`t no squealing when I push the bike forward. I checked the belt alignment on rear sprocket and that was OK. What I noticed is that the gap between the belt and rear sprocket inner side is changing as I turn the wheel (from 1-4 mm). Same applies to the front pulley (belt is against the pulley at one point and then there is 1-2 mm gap as I keep turning the wheel). The pulley bolt is not loose and also the rear axle nuts are as they should. The drive pulley does not have any visual damages and the wear seems OK. Has anyone had this type of problem? Belt was aligned and tensioned 1.5 month ago in the dealers workshop.


Thank you in advance!

Allan
 
Alan,
Mine is in the shop for the second time for the front sprocket. Yours may be wearing out the splines that mate with the output shaft as well. The first time mine was failing the belt wouldn't maintain normal tracking. It wandered. Could be you have the same issue. With both of my failures the bolt that secures the front sprocket was tight. I haven't been able to collect enough data yet to determine why some of us have failures (some single some multiple) and others don't. Try pressing on the outer edge of your front sprocket at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions and see if you have any movement. If you do it may be about to go. if you don't it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't the problem because of the way the sprocket rides on the output shaft. You can also look for metal shavings below the sprocket. The first time mine was covered. This time there seemed to be very few shavings. Good Luck.

PS Could you take a look at the inner part of the front sprocket flange to see if it has been polished by the belt from repeated rubbing?


Hi everyone!

I noticed today that my Spyder make squealing noise when I am backing up (on neutral). Turned out that the belt is going against the outer side of the drive pulley and that makes the sound. It doesn`t go against the pulley`s side all the time, I need to turn the wheel 3-4 times and then it make the sound. There ain`t no squealing when I push the bike forward. I checked the belt alignment on rear sprocket and that was OK. What I noticed is that the gap between the belt and rear sprocket inner side is changing as I turn the wheel (from 1-4 mm). Same applies to the front pulley (belt is against the pulley at one point and then there is 1-2 mm gap as I keep turning the wheel). The pulley bolt is not loose and also the rear axle nuts are as they should. The drive pulley does not have any visual damages and the wear seems OK. Has anyone had this type of problem? Belt was aligned and tensioned 1.5 month ago in the dealers workshop.


Thank you in advance!

Allan
 
Thanks for the reply!

I read your earlier post today before I posted mine and I was suspecting the same problem. Awful to hear that this has happened to you twice. Does your bike have a warrant and is the BRP covering it?

I pressed the outer edge of the sprocket like you suggested, but I did not notice any movement at all. I did not find any metal shaving either. I used small mirror to see the inner part of the flange, but I did not detected polished surface. Maybe it is in early stage yet. If I woudn`t have pushed my bike backwards in neutral gear, I wouldn`t have noticed anything suspicious.

My dealer is 40 miles from me and I must get there on Monday to check this issue. I hope that I can make this ride without doing any damage.

Allan



Alan,
Mine is in the shop for the second time for the front sprocket. Yours may be wearing out the splines that mate with the output shaft as well. The first time mine was failing the belt wouldn't maintain normal tracking. It wandered. Could be you have the same issue. With both of my failures the bolt that secures the front sprocket was tight. I haven't been able to collect enough data yet to determine why some of us have failures (some single some multiple) and others don't. Try pressing on the outer edge of your front sprocket at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions and see if you have any movement. If you do it may be about to go. if you don't it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't the problem because of the way the sprocket rides on the output shaft. You can also look for metal shavings below the sprocket. The first time mine was covered. This time there seemed to be very few shavings. Good Luck.

PS Could you take a look at the inner part of the front sprocket flange to see if it has been polished by the belt from repeated rubbing?
 
Hi everyone!

I noticed today that my Spyder make squealing noise when I am backing up (on neutral). Turned out that the belt is going against the outer side of the drive pulley and that makes the sound. It doesn`t go against the pulley`s side all the time, I need to turn the wheel 3-4 times and then it make the sound. There ain`t no squealing when I push the bike forward. I checked the belt alignment on rear sprocket and that was OK. What I noticed is that the gap between the belt and rear sprocket inner side is changing as I turn the wheel (from 1-4 mm). Same applies to the front pulley (belt is against the pulley at one point and then there is 1-2 mm gap as I keep turning the wheel). The pulley bolt is not loose and also the rear axle nuts are as they should. The drive pulley does not have any visual damages and the wear seems OK. Has anyone had this type of problem? Belt was aligned and tensioned 1.5 month ago in the dealers workshop.


Thank you in advance!

Allan
you may not have a problem for some reason the belt will track different backing up then center back up going forward, of course check everything out but they all do this
 
I think that your bike is perfectly fine. :thumbup: The drive-belts move around like a toad on a hotplate, whenever you are backing them up.
That's why you should always make sure that the bike has rolled straight forward for about 25 feet or so, before looking at your alignment.
When backing up on my 2010: the belt would hang off the rear pulley by almost 20% of it's width. :shocked: My 2014 didn't move that much; but it still moved around a significant amount.
 
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SQUEALING SOUND

IMHO it's not the belt you hear it's the BRAKE PADS ...... a common issue with OEM pads ...... I have Ron's EBC pads that I cut a diagonal Line onto it and NO more squealing ...... Mike :thumbup:
 
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I hope you are rigth!

To be clear: I am not worried about the belt alignment. The problem is that belt is running against the outer side of the drive pulley and that creates loud squealing.

Allan

I think that your bike is perfectly fine. :thumbup: The drive-belts move around like a toad on a hotplate, whenever you are backing them up.
That's why you should always make sure that the bike has rolled straight forward for about 25 feet or so, before looking at your alignment.
When backing up on my 2010: the belt would hang off the rear pulley by almost 20% of it's width. :shocked: My 2014 didn't move that much; but it still moved around a significant amount.
 
100% sure that is belt going against front pulley. That is the source of the squealing (have done lots of test).

Allan

IMHO it's not the belt you hear it's the BRAKE PADS ...... a common issue with OEM pads ...... I have Ron's EBC pads that I cut a diagonal Line onto it and NO more squealing ...... Mike :thumbup:
 
BELT SQUEAL

Allan, #1.... the rear pulley ( Sprocket ) has the flange on the wheel ( inside ) edge ............#2 ... the engine Sprocket is covered by lots of Tupperware ( on all Spyders ), so I don't know how you can see it unless you have removed the Tupperware ( side panels ) ?..... and on the front Sprocket, I'm sure the flanges are designed to touch the belt on both sides ..... I don't think whatever you are hearing is BELT re-lated .................... Mike :thumbup:
 
I removed the cover of drive pulley and it is quite easy to see how the belt is moving on the pulley. It makes the sound as it goes against the pulley. I tested it several times (back tire jacked up).

Allan

Allan, #1.... the rear pulley ( Sprocket ) has the flange on the wheel ( inside ) edge ............#2 ... the engine Sprocket is covered by lots of Tupperware ( on all Spyders ), so I don't know how you can see it unless you have removed the Tupperware ( side panels ) ?..... and on the front Sprocket, I'm sure the flanges are designed to touch the belt on both sides ..... I don't think whatever you are hearing is BELT re-lated .................... Mike :thumbup:
 
SQUEALING SOUND

I removed the cover of drive pulley and it is quite easy to see how the belt is moving on the pulley. It makes the sound as it goes against the pulley. I tested it several times (back tire jacked up).

Allan
, If it's belt related, the only thing I can think of now is - belt tension !!! .... How tight is yours ?? ...... Mike :thumbup:
 
Try this....

We had a lot of the belt noise issues going on and even BRP suggested a pea size dap of grease on the sprocket to eliminate the noise. You could do that on the flanges to see if that clears it up. I have found that the sides of the belt have a minimal amount of rubber contact would not likely be the culprit. Now the whole belt wandering forwards and back is really minor as long as all is quiet and adjusted properly going forward. You really do not go in reverse that often or that far...:thumbup:
 
On my F3S I took some measurements the other day with a laser pointer. No problems with my belt, but I can tell you all this; from what I measured the engine should have been shifted 1/4" to the left as you are sitting on the byke. My belt is exactly 1-2 mm's off of the rear flange and is actually rubbing the outer flange of the front sprocket. The additional 1/4" would put the belt exactly in the center of the front pulley.
I do not have a front sprocket issue and there is no telltale rust from the sprocket, so that is not it. I think they did not align the sprockets correctly. That may or may not be contributing to the front sprocket failures.
I can tell you this; it is not like that on the RT.
 
I noticed today that my Spyder make squealing noise when I am backing up (on neutral). Turned out that the belt is going against the outer side of the drive pulley and that makes the sound. It doesn`t go against the pulley`s side all the time, I need to turn the wheel 3-4 times and then it make the sound. There ain`t no squealing when I push the bike forward.

The fact that this is only happening when the bike is being backed-up is the tell-tale clue.
100% normal :thumbup:
 
On my F3S I took some measurements the other day with a laser pointer. No problems with my belt, but I can tell you all this; from what I measured the engine should have been shifted 1/4" to the left as you are sitting on the byke. My belt is exactly 1-2 mm's off of the rear flange and is actually rubbing the outer flange of the front sprocket. The additional 1/4" would put the belt exactly in the center of the front pulley.
I do not have a front sprocket issue and there is no telltale rust from the sprocket, so that is not it. I think they did not align the sprockets correctly. That may or may not be contributing to the front sprocket failures.
I can tell you this; it is not like that on the RT.
on the rs there engine mounting shim adjusters f3 ? maybe also
 
Would have to disagree with you on the flange belt contact squeal from personal experience. I had the noise in the low speed range and when reversing. It was the belt alignment. Confirmed it using a recommendation here on SL to apply a very small amount of lubricant in a couple of places on the edge of the belt. Confirmed no more noise. Adjusted the belt tracking to keep it off the flange.

CJ JAX


Allan, #1.... the rear pulley ( Sprocket ) has the flange on the wheel ( inside ) edge ............#2 ... the engine Sprocket is covered by lots of Tupperware ( on all Spyders ), so I don't know how you can see it unless you have removed the Tupperware ( side panels ) ?..... and on the front Sprocket, I'm sure the flanges are designed to touch the belt on both sides ..... I don't think whatever you are hearing is BELT re-lated .................... Mike :thumbup:
 
I would like to thank everybody for their comments and thoughts!

Dealer did new belt alignment and I also used a small amount of lube as you suggested. Seems OK now, but let`s see how it going work after few rides.

Allan


Would have to disagree with you on the flange belt contact squeal from personal experience. I had the noise in the low speed range and when reversing. It was the belt alignment. Confirmed it using a recommendation here on SL to apply a very small amount of lubricant in a couple of places on the edge of the belt. Confirmed no more noise. Adjusted the belt tracking to keep it off the flange.

CJ JAX
 
On my F3S I took some measurements the other day with a laser pointer. No problems with my belt, but I can tell you all this; from what I measured the engine should have been shifted 1/4" to the left as you are sitting on the byke. My belt is exactly 1-2 mm's off of the rear flange and is actually rubbing the outer flange of the front sprocket. The additional 1/4" would put the belt exactly in the center of the front pulley.I do not have a front sprocket issue and there is no telltale rust from the sprocket, so that is not it. I think they did not align the sprockets correctly. That may or may not be contributing to the front sprocket failures.I can tell you this; it is not like that on the RT.
How exactly did you measure? My engine is out right now getting the transmission replace due to repeated sprocket failures. Curious if we can check/adjust as it goes back together.CJ JAX
 

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