Rear wheel change discovery

[ButterSmooth]

Today I mounted my new wheel and tire combo on the rear of my 2020RT. It appears that the drive pulley was dropped sometime during the build/assemble process of my Spyder. It hit some hard surface, presumably the concrete floor, and flattened 4-5 of the sprocket teeth on the outer edge. That also peened over the top onto the belt interface surface of the pulley, leaving a sharp edge to cut the belt, should it move out that far. I filed the teeth back to the proper shape, but it certainly could have caused a premature belt failure.

I didn't move the adjusters during disassembly or reassembly, but the tension and alignment changed anyway. Last time I tensioned and aligned the belt it was fairly easy. This time was an ordeal. There's snow on the ground here, so I'm not sure it's done yet.

 

[Snoking1127]

Not a warranty item?

 

[trikermutha]

Yeah really I would take it back for warranty before filing anything.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Yeah really I would take it back for warranty before filing anything.

:agree::agree: ..... Considering what the rear Sprocket is made of, I can't figure out how flattening 4-5 teeth was even possible .... be prepared when the Dealer claims ... YOU caused it ....:gaah::gaah: .........good luck ..... MIke :thumbup:

 

[ButterSmooth]

Ten minutes of backwoods machine shop work isn't worth talking to the service department about. These machines are made by humans and things are bound to happen. If I can fix something that easily, it's just going to be done. I'm sure it's right, the belt wasn't damaged, so I suffered no harm or loss. The pulley looks to be a cast part, but the surface was hard -- the file sounds made that obvious. My son guessed that it had been heat treated, something along the lines of case hardening, since it was soft just below the surface. Maybe it was some type of coating. The belt may occasionally wander to the outer edge during heavy cornering, but it will see that part of the surface rarely. If it were out there regularly, it would have been cut already.