RT Belt tension

[gazunni]

Need some help. I have the smooth spyder belt tensioner. My dealer made a decision to set the belt tension to 450 with the belt tensioner in place. When i moved the belt tensioner off the belt, it was extremely loose and floppy. Prior to this another dealer had set the belt to 450 with the tensioner off the belt. When i set the belt tension with the fish scale the instruction is to pull until the pully comes off the belt and take the reading. When the dealer reset the tension to 450 with the belt tensioner in place it was no longer possible the tension pully would not disengage. I thought this was wrong and reset the tension higher. The belt is no longer floppy however the pully still does not disengage from the belt, so i know the tension on the belt is still below the original setting.

With all that said, i set the alignment with the belt slightly off the inside flange as per the lamonster setuptook it for a drive returned home and the belt was slightly off the front. Readjusted and took it out and checked it and all was okay. Returned tonight and belt was off the front. Did not make any adjustments took it out and checked 3 times on the road and all was okay. Backed into the driveway and the belt was off the front again. It appears that every time i back upthe belt shifts to the front. When forward the belt alignment is okay. What is out of alignment to cause this? Has anyone else experienced this. It was very confusing when trying to set the tension.

 

[Jeriatric]

Need some help. I have the smooth spyder belt tensioner. My dealer made a decision to set the belt tension to 450 with the belt tensioner in place. When i moved the belt tensioner off the belt, it was extremely loose and floppy. Prior to this another dealer had set the belt to 450 with the tensioner off the belt. When i set the belt tension with the fish scale the instruction is to pull until the pully comes off the belt and take the reading. When the dealer reset the tension to 450 with the belt tensioner in place it was no longer possible the tension pully would not disengage. I thought this was wrong and reset the tension higher. The belt is no longer floppy however the pully still does not disengage from the belt, so i know the tension on the belt is still below the original setting.

With all that said, i set the alignment with the belt slightly off the inside flange as per the lamonster setuptook it for a drive returned home and the belt was slightly off the front. Readjusted and took it out and checked it and all was okay. Returned tonight and belt was off the front. Did not make any adjustments took it out and checked 3 times on the road and all was okay. Backed into the driveway and the belt was off the front again. It appears that every time i back upthe belt shifts to the front. When forward the belt alignment is okay. What is out of alignment to cause this? Has anyone else experienced this. It was very confusing when trying to set the tension.

The smooth spyder must not be in contact with the belt when setting belt tension. The only way to get it right is to return to the dealer and insist they do it right. Good luck.

 

[shelbydave]

I believe proper belt alignment is checked after forward motion. it wont show correctly after backing up.

 

[NancysToy]

You can't check belt alignment after backing up. It should be checked after the equivalent of several vehicle lengths of forward motion.

The belt tension should be adjusted with the idler off the belt. Next time back it off and lock it down there before you have the dealer do any work. They are not familiar with the aftermarket tensioner. For a quick check of belt tension (with the idler off the belt, grab it in the middle between the sprockets with your thumb and forefinger, and giove it a twist. It should go just 1/4 turn (to vertical) with a fair effort. This is not accurate, but it will get you by for a short while.

 

[phj]

You can't check belt alignment after backing up. It should be checked after the equivalent of several vehicle lengths of forward motion.

The belt tension should be adjusted with the idler off the belt. Next time back it off and lock it down there before you have the dealer do any work. They are not familiar with the aftermarket tensioner. For a quick check of belt tension (with the idler off the belt, grab it in the middle between the sprockets with your thumb and forefinger, and giove it a twist. It should go just 1/4 turn (to vertical) with a fair effort. This is not accurate, but it will get you by for a short while.

This seems to be why some bikes are vibrating more than others. Before BRP gave us permission to tighten the belt and it was supposedly set at 450 newtons I could twist my belt almost all the way around. Now after permission to tighten the belt and set at BRP new newton limit, I can twist it about 2/3 of a turn. When checking the new bikes on the show room floor they can only be turned about a quarter turn. I believe there is a wide variation of belt tightness and how techs are reading newtons. I would love to see someone figure out how to read pounds of pull force on the belt, I believe this would be a much more accurate measurement of belt tightness.

 

[NancysToy]

This seems to be why some bikes are vibrating more than others. Before BRP gave us permission to tighten the belt and it was supposedly set at 450 newtons I could twist my belt almost all the way around. Now after permission to tighten the belt and set at BRP new newton limit, I can twist it about 2/3 of a turn. When checking the new bikes on the show room floor they can only be turned about a quarter turn. I believe there is a wide variation of belt tightness and how techs are reading newtons. I would love to see someone figure out how to read pounds of pull force on the belt, I believe this would be a much more accurate measurement of belt tightness.

:agree: There are too many variables for the sonic meter to suit me. I would rather see a gauge that pushed on the belt. I also would prefer the test be done with the Spyder on the ground. The Krikit does OK, and the twist test is good for a quick check, but there should be a better way. I don't trust the techs, either, and I know many of them don't check in three places on the belt, as specified by the shop manual.

 

[Schnauzer]

To respond to the question about belt travel from side to side. In your case,When you travel forward the belt is riding on the inside grove of the rear pulley just slightly. indicating that the rear tire is facing 11 oclock, just left of center so when you reverse it will travel in the opposite direction and be located on the opposite side of the front pulley. You can narrow the travel from forward to reverse, but it takes some tedious time sitting behind the rear wheel and making small amounts of turns on the adjusters. It took me about 20min to get it to travel less than 1/2" on the front. I have my belt adjusted to about 3" of slack while in the air. When it sets on the ground and the swingarm pulls on the belt, I have close to 1 1/2" of flex. I have a small amount of vibration from 45-50mph. For me that is acceptable seeing that the belt is almost 9' long. {I feel all is needed is a roller for the belt to travel on , not to tighten it up.} Just remember when the wheel is off the ground, the axle is closer to the front pulley, { only a small amount }when you relax everything it stretches and with additional weight it stretches again, even while going down the road.{ again small amounts. but the thread of the adjustment bolt is a small amount of travel also and changes belt tension drastically with a small amount of turn. A tighter belt will wear out pulleys,bearings. Granted, too loose a belt will tear up tupperware and possibly bald spot a rear tire if it came off. I learned the hard way with a chain drive in the past. These are my oppinions and work for me. "To each his own"


Hopefully you are able to do this yourself, Dealer Techs are far, few, and in between to sit there and fine tune your ride. They are out there, when you find one, keep'm:bowdown:.

 

[NancysToy]

Here's a really stupid question from someone who simply doesn't know better.

Aside from bearing damage from an extremely tight belt and the danger of cog jumping with one too loose, just how important is the tension?

I'll understand if you're laughing so hard you can't type .....

It isn't a matter of how many problems it can cause, just the severity of the potential, resulting damage for these two possibilities. Those are the main issues, but the consequences of each are very serious. Rebuilding an engine because the output shaft had to be replaced is no fun...and you won't finish your trip if you kill the front sprocket. Having a belt break or slip and taking out everything in it's path isn't either (not to mention trying to ride with that horrible vibration shaking your eyeballs). The BRP spec is pretty wide...+/- 33%, but it has been revised over time to prevent damage observed when the settings derived from the engineering proved to be wrong. I'd stick with a carefully adjusted belt if it were me.

 

[capt.jim]

Good advice from all, you can pull the idler away from the belt and lock it, or remove the idler pulley and let the tensioner arm pop up out of the way before going to the dealer for a belt adjustment. Some of the dealers are not taking the time to make sure the tensioner is aligned correctly with the belt and just bolting it on without following the instructions, a misaligned idler will shift the belt to the inside or outside of the rear sprocket, the mounting holes in the RT bracket are slightly elongated to allow for adjustment if you need to shift the angle of the tensioner in or out or if you've drilled off center a little. Don't worry about the reverse tracking, it will usually change in reverse. The idler once applied should make no difference on the rear sprocket tracking. I would also have the dealer set the static tension to the high end of the spec's, 600N, the tensioner will work much better with even a modest increase in static tension. I would also encourage those mechanically inclined to learn how to do their own belt adjustment, the first time is intimidating, but once you learn the process and what each adjustment does, you will no longer be at the mercy of the dealer, except for an occasional sonic test if your unsure, but a 90 degree twist or 180 or so with the kricket should put you in the ballpark.

 

[NancysToy]

Good advice from all, you can pull the idler away from the belt and lock it, or remove the idler pulley and let the tensioner arm pop up out of the way before going to the dealer for a belt adjustment. Some of the dealers are not taking the time to make sure the tensioner is aligned correctly with the belt and just bolting it on without following the instructions, a misaligned idler will shift the belt to the inside or outside of the rear sprocket, the mounting holes in the RT bracket are slightly elongated to allow for adjustment if you need to shift the angle of the tensioner in or out or if you've drilled off center a little. Don't worry about the reverse tracking, it will usually change in reverse. The idler once applied should make no difference on the rear sprocket tracking. I would also have the dealer set the static tension to the high end of the spec's, 600N, the tensioner will work much better with even a modest increase in static tension. I would also encourage those mechanically inclined to learn how to do their own belt adjustment, the first time is intimidating, but once you learn the process and what each adjustment does, you will no longer be at the mercy of the dealer, except for an occasional sonic test if your unsure, but a 90 degree twist or 180 or so with the kricket should put you in the ballpark.

IMO 180 is too high with the Krikit.

 

[Jeriatric]

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