Spyder Dealer Tire Blues - now the belt's too tight! Any opinions??

[Jambo Creek]

This story is about two Can-Am dealers who objected to mounting a General Altimax car tire on the back of a 2022 RTL Sea to Sky. One dealer did it anyway, and the other worked on it later. The first returned the bike with a drive belt that wandered continuously from the inner shoulder to the outside of the rear sprocket. The bike was returned for an inspection and an adjustment, but they said the problem was somehow caused by the tire.

The bike was then taken to a second Cam-Am dealer who fixed the wandering by adjusting the axle and tightening the belt. That seemed to work, so I went back to the first dealer to report what happened. When their mechanics took it into the shop, they reported the belt had no play left in it at all. It was SIX TIMES tighter than BRP specs. They expected it to wreck the belt and the bearings, and I was told not to bring it back to them for warranty work.

When I returned to the second dealer, he insisted the belt tension was perfect. He asked how the other dealer measured. I didn’t know. He said he used a device that used sound from belt vibration to determine the correct tension, and he was very confident. But…I’ve never had a Spyder belt that TIGHT! Both dealers can’t be right, so my bills accumulate along with my frustration. Anybody have an opinion?

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

This story is about two Can-Am dealers who objected to mounting a General Altimax car tire on the back of a 2022 RTL Sea to Sky. One dealer did it anyway, and the other worked on it later. The first returned the bike with a drive belt that wandered continuously from the inner shoulder to the outside of the rear sprocket. The bike was returned for an inspection and an adjustment, but they said the problem was somehow caused by the tire.

The bike was then taken to a second Cam-Am dealer who fixed the wandering by adjusting the axle and tightening the belt. That seemed to work, so I went back to the first dealer to report what happened. When their mechanics took it into the shop, they reported the belt had no play left in it at all. It was SIX TIMES tighter than BRP specs. They expected it to wreck the belt and the bearings, and I was told not to bring it back to them for warranty work.

When I returned to the second dealer, he insisted the belt tension was perfect. He asked how the other dealer measured. I didn’t know. He said he used a device that used sound from belt vibration to determine the correct tension, and he was very confident. But…I’ve never had a Spyder belt that TIGHT! Both dealers can’t be right, so my bills accumulate along with my frustration. Anybody have an opinion?

You've been here awhile :clap:, but haven't posted much .... hopefully you've read a lot of the posts .... As far as belt Wander goes - Yes it does .... all the time .... I have seen a video on U-tube that a Spyder owner did that showed this fact ..... it appears NEITHER of those Tech's is actually competent in servicing Spyders. .... good luck finding one that is competent .... Mike :thumbup:

 

[Peter Aawen]

Here's a quick & dirty test to see if your belt really IS too tight, that most can do themselves anywhere/anytime, just so long as the Spyder's on the ground, not moving, and if you can get down onto the ground so that you can reach in to grab the top chord of the belt reasonably close to midway between the sprockets - try and twist the top of the belt away from you so that you can get a good look at the nubs on the drive side of the belt. :thumbup:

In this case, you don't really need to look at those nubs, it's the amount of twist that you can get into the belt that's of interest - bearing in mind that the closer you are to either sprocket, the less twist is likely, so the 'in the middle of the chord' bit is fairly important; but also remember this method really isn't anything but rough guide! :lecturef_smilie:

If you can get it to twist somewhere near 90°, then your belt tension is in the right ballpark; no twist or not even 45° suggests it's too tight; while almost a full 180° twist suggests it's too loose. Over to you! :cheers:

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

Buy a Kriket 2 from ron. He includes instructions with the tension gauge.

Here is a link to the video on how to check your belt tension with it.

The amount of tension that is recommended varies on this forum from 160- 200 while in the air, BRP recommendation is 230.

I personally use about 180.

 

[Jambo Creek]

First of all, thanks to all who offered input on my problem. I appreciated the help.

After additional investigation on the web and consultation with some other riders, I decided to return the bike to my original dealer and have him restore it to BRP specs. I told them I was frustrated but done messing with it. They could tension the belt to whatever made them happy, and if the damned thing wandered all the way to Wyoming, I didn't care anymore. Everybody was really nice about it and forty miles later, after I drove home, the belt still tracked right perfectly. I'm declaring victory and moving on.

As a side note, both dealers used the same device for establishing the correct tension. It measures the sound frequency when the belt is plucked. Apparently, they strum it like a guitar string, and when it hits middle C, that's it. Who knew?

 

[BajaRon]

CloverHillCrawler has good advise. For about $20.00. You can get your own gauge and do your own test. You won't need to depend on what the dealer tells you ever again. At least for belt tension.

The belt on the Spyder is designed to take up to 600 lbs. of tension. You're not going to hurt the belt. It's the bearings that can't take that kind of pressure. But since the belt doesn't need to be anywhere near 600 lbs., it's not a problem.

The tire has nothing to do with belt tension, belt alignment, belt wandering, or belt anything. It is amazing what these guys will say, sometimes.

A dealer once told me that it was my aftermarket cruise control that destroyed my DPS. This kind of bovine waste is everywhere. I told him he needed to save that kind of story for the unfortunate customer who didn't know any better and trusted him.

This is not to say that there aren't honest dealerships out there. Just that it pays to know your machine. And I agree, it shouldn't have to be this way. It just is, too many times.

I'm glad you got things worked out.