RT Hitch removal and belt adjustment

[AbNormy]

Ran it after fiddling with it several hours between Sunday night chores got it close test drove it was a tad on the inside so I jacked it back up adjusted it little more. Not rocket science like its been said but helps to get it close enough for govt work!

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[SpyderFun]

Hello I have a 2010 RT-S. Ive read all the threads and am a bit confused. What is the belt tension range for my Spyder. Thanks

Keep in mind:
1st) its just a drive belt for a motorcycle...nothing more than that.
2nd) the "sonic" adjustment can be converted to an applied "pounds" of force.
3rd) BRP has "over complicated" this procedure by "Rube Goldberg"(ing) it.

 

[sandman53]

belt tension

Why is the belt tension so different between the 2012 and 2013?

 

[pegasus1300]

I see that no one has replied to this question. As I hope to be buying a left over 2013 soon I too would like to know the answer to this question.

 

[chuckk]

so... let me try to get this straight.. lamont says 150 to 200 lbs. using a krikit.. that sounds right.. then service bulletin #2010-6 says 450 plus or minus 150 newtons, which means 67.4 lbs to 134.9 lbs... that just sounds awfully low... but the threat of doing harm, with too much tension, has me worried..... lamont, are you aware of that service bulletin 2010-6 ? .. those math conversions have my little brain spinning....

 

[SpyderFun]

Belt Tension Math - Simplified

.. those math conversions have my little brain spinning....

If BRP uses the "newton" as a way of measuring force, then simply multiply the *NEWTONS REQUIRED by 0.224808943 which is ratio of 1-newton to 1-pound.

Also, 0.2 is 2/10 which is reduced to 1/5 (i.e. 0.25 is 1/4). A "ball park" estimate, if you have no calculator, is to take the newtons required and divide by 5 (you will be "light" but you will have an idea of what it should be). So a "ball park" rough estimate of 300 - 600 Newton requirement is about 60 - 120 pounds. AND you will not be applying "excessive tension" to the belt. This is how other owners come up with their tension numbers.

Google: http://www.convertunits.com/from/Newtons/to/pounds

* = BRP can change this requirement at any time but the math remains constant.


Hope This Helps Clear Things Up!

 

[srsjerry187]

nice tutorial u got there buddy

 

[PatriotRider]

I'm getting a aggravating vibration when going up hill in 6th gear (bordering on lugging the engine at 3800 rpm) which I believe is the belt.

Is a vibrating belt caused by too high a tension, or too low. Recently, my dealership replaced the back tire with stock, so the belt was off, inspected, aligned, and put back. I notice the belt is against the pully ridge (back?) with very little space showing. They also claim they are up to date on tension and used the correct spec.

any comment ???

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

BELT TENSION

......I have always had the tension on My 14 RT well below spec ( even the lowered one ) and have NO vibration.............I don't have any add-on tension devices either ........Mike :thumbup:

 

[Bfromla]

With all this said i see a need for a vendor service @ spyderfest. Much like the alignments, yall agree?


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[Wildrice]

I would loosen th axle nut
Jack the Spyder up
Back the adjusting bolts 1/4 turn at a time
Rotate the tire forward
Lower the Spyder back on the ground to put tension on the belt
Raise it back up and check tension
Repete till you have it where you like it

The adjusting screws set the tire & sprocket in a left or right direction plus set the belt tension. Adjusting the right screw clockwise in (pushing the right side of the tire/sprocket to the rear) to move the belt away from the rear flange. Tell me how this would be different than adjusting the left screw counter clockwise? It has to be a balance to get the tire running straight with the desired belt tension & locating the belt on the rear pulley to the desired distance from the flange. I can't imagine how turning either screw would not effect either the tension or alignment, provided everything is straight---it's a both screw adjustment--unless the adjustment is minor & doesn't effect tension or alignment out of desired setting. Just my 2 cents worth.
Darrell

 

[dwade]

These are questions that come up all the time so I decided that since I needed to make some adjustments on my belt I would go ahead and take some pics and add captions to answer some of the questions that have been posted here many times before. As they say a picture is worth a 1000 words so I hope this will cut down on my typing. :doorag:

You start by removing the through bolt that holds the hitch on.

This bolt should slide right out after the nut is removed from the right side.

Now you're ready to remove the hitch after the bolt is removed.

The hitch is going to be on there pretty tight so grab the ball and move it side to side till it breaks loose. Then pull it straight back being careful of the brake line and sensor wire on the right side.

This shouldn't take much more than 5 min. to get the hitch off. Took me a little longer as you can tell by the time stamp.

The last time my dealer did a tire change and belt tension check I got out my Krikit and marked it where he had it set with the sonic gauge. This has worked well for me for many years and you can pick these up for about $20 bucks.

When the Spyder is on the ground go ahead and loosen the axle nut. When you have the Spyder in the air you can start making adjustments. As you can see from the picture I have the belt just off of the sprocket flange about 1-2mm. This can be a fight some times and you're better off making small adjustments to start with as it doesn't take much to move the belt.

After I get the belt where I like it I check the tension while it's on the ground it should be a little more when it's on the ground because the swingarm is now more inline with the counter sprocket.

I don't know how many times I've been asked about removing the hitch bolt from folks that thought it was the axle. This picture is just to show you that the axle is under the hitch and removing the hitch bolt has no effect on the belt tension.

I know this is an old post but it had the pics I need to remove my hitch. I have a question about the hitch. There are 2 bolts on each side of the hitch. I assumed they are there to remove the back portion of the hitch so you don't have to remove the the axle bolt and entire hitch. I tried to remove the rear section Saturday. When I got to the front bolt on the right side I found the disc brake is in the way. The bolt is too long to pull out because of the brake. Your pictures show the bolts mounted the same way as mine (the bolt head is on the inside of the hitch, the nut of the outside of the hitch.) This makes removing the back part of the hitch impossible. Is the rear section made to come off as opposed to removing the entire hitch. I guess I can just flip the bolt around. Am I missing something here?
Don

 

[canamjhb]

Belt tension

I am about to do the drive belt alignment and tension adjustments for the first time (for me). My Krikit is in today's mail (Thank you, BajaRon). This post has excellent information but after reading it all I am still a little confused. The TSB has the belt tension lowered to 67-135 ft/lbs. But I also read other numbers. And, I'm not even sure the TSB is applicable to the RTL. My belt is riding almost exactly in the middle of the rear sprocket and I believe it should be closer to the inner sprocket flange. So, what is the correct tension for the belt on a 2014 RTL? And am I correct that the belt should ride about a credit cards thickness away from the inner flange on the rear sprocket.

Edit for more info... I just got my Krikit and measured the belt tension at 225#s I took the measurements on the bottom of the belt as it was easier to get to without taking body panels off. (I assume the tension is the same on the bottom as it is on top....?)

 

[pegasus1300]

Dwade,yes you are missing something. You are NOT removing the axle bolt. You are removing the the thru bolt that holds the hitch on. This goes thru the axle and can be removed without disturbing the axle bolt,belt tension or belt alignment. Once you remove this bolt the hitch slides off,no other bolts need to be removed to remove the hitch. Why would you want to remove 4 bolts when you can remove 1 bolt to take off the hitch?

 

[sledge]

very nice , my RT i just got, 2011 has a tow hitch on it , and I have looked at it , thinking about removing it . so glad I saw this . you folk's sure post things that Spyder people either Need to know ......or most like are gonna need to know..... Thanks so much.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

very nice , my RT i just got, 2011 has a tow hitch on it , and I have looked at it , thinking about removing it . so glad I saw this . you folk's sure post things that Spyder people either Need to know ......or most like are gonna need to know..... Thanks so much.

I won't repeat what was said in post # 54 above, ... So read it ... But it is absolutely necessary to do, because this will KEEP the BELT where it was before you started this task ..... Mike :thumbup: