What's the best belt tensioner? What are you using?

[wagswvu]

The rollers on your John Deere Tractor are part of the tensioning system, not to mention that the belt is twisting in every direction, your belt on your bike is already on tension with the back wheel and is straight in line with each other. The use of a belt DAMPENER, is to take out some of the vibrations of the belt, is this needed, well this is a long-time discussion on here that will never be solved, it like oil, tires, seats, it's a personal thing, and only your butt will tell you whether it's right for you! The one thing I will say is that if you drink the Kool-Aid, you have just given yourself another thing to watch and maintain. Good Luck! P.S This post was from back in 2022hyea::bdh:

Correct, one pulley on my tractor moves on a spring to keep constant tension on the belt, because if one blade spins slower then others or change in terrain will cause slack in the belt which is bad. Same thing is true for spider, the static adjustment on rear tire takes inherited slack out of the belt, but does not account for acceleration, changes in suspension do to weight or road conditions that can cause unnecessary vibrations and possibly excessive belt wear. which is why a tensioner is needed to keep load on the belt when hits those condition that cause slack in the belt outside of set tension.

I see people claim spiders belt is over built or over tighten and fine as it, but then see reports of people belts snapping at very low mileage with no other cause. Imo if you are casual rider and cruising around maybe fine which could be why canam didnt engineer a better solution. But me, I push my spyder to limit. I rode mine the other day with the panels off before i installed tensioner arm and my belt was bouncing at least top frame rail. With it installed seems keep it contained.

 

[EdMat]

which is why a tensioner is needed to keep load on the belt when hits those condition that cause slack in the belt outside of set tension.

I see people claim spiders belt is over built or over tighten and fine as it, but then see reports of people belts snapping at very low mileage with no other cause. .

Not sure you have felt the almost no tension that the dampener places on the belt but it is far from a tensioner.

Also, not sure where you are seeing all these snapping belts, would love to read about some.

 

[Mikey]

Correct, one pulley on my tractor moves on a spring to keep constant tension on the belt, because if one blade spins slower then others or change in terrain will cause slack in the belt which is bad. Same thing is true for spider, the static adjustment on rear tire takes inherited slack out of the belt, but does not account for acceleration, changes in suspension do to weight or road conditions that can cause unnecessary vibrations and possibly excessive belt wear. which is why a tensioner is needed to keep load on the belt when hits those condition that cause slack in the belt outside of set tension.

I see people claim spiders belt is over built or over tighten and fine as it, but then see reports of people belts snapping at very low mileage with no other cause. Imo if you are casual rider and cruising around maybe fine which could be why canam didnt engineer a better solution. But me, I push my spyder to limit. I rode mine the other day with the panels off before i installed tensioner arm and my belt was bouncing at least top frame rail. With it installed seems keep it contained.

Like said above, I didn't see that post of a snapping belt, but it's a known fact that not everything comes off the assembly line right! But I have not seen a whole lot of this happening. But at the end of the day if a DAMPER makes you feel good go for it, it's your money!!

 

[redrazor]

I'm " Anti-belt tensioner " .... I cured any vibe issues by reducing my belt tension ..... and even if I couldn't I wouldn't get one of these. This type of device has FAILED as reported here by a number of members. .... If you have to replace your drive belt on the road expect to pay north of $1000.00, and possibly a few days to get it done. And for what , you have an " annoying " vibration. I know this doesn't answer your question , however a newbie may read it and get a different perspective ..... good luck .... Mike :thumbup:

:agree:

 

[wagswvu]

Not sure you have felt the almost no tension that the dampener places on the belt but it is far from a tensioner.

Also, not sure where you are seeing all these snapping belts, would love to read about some.

Yeah I'm kind of done topic because the point I was trying to make that seems to be lost is belt flopping is not a good idea. Any other belt drive vehicle I owned from ducati xdiavel to a Slingshot used some sort of tenisoner system, in those case is way more elegantly designed for sure but did the same thing. Also you don't need a lot of force because at speed just a little pressure goes a long way.

 

[Peteoz]

I rode mine the other day with the panels off before i installed tensioner arm and my belt was bouncing at least top frame rail. With it installed seems keep it contained.

Wagswvu,

Like EdMat, I would really appreciate you posting some references to snapping belts, as I have never heard of this happening in the 10 years or so that I have been following multiple Spyder sites. I’m not saying it hasn’t happened and I’ve simply missed it……I’d just like to see what it is all about.

Pete

 

[Peacekeeper6]

I run Lamonster's because it is well-engineered and well-built. It's a shame that such a good-looking piece of equipment is hidden from view.

I lowered my belt tension as well. It is MY opinion that the vibration experienced during high speeds accelerate the failure of the front sprocket; I mean, it's directly connected to it, right ?? That is why I elected to run the tensioner. As far as failure, if I replace the roller every 15k miles, which really isn't that difficult, I believe I should be okay.

I hope, lol.

 

[Wmoater]

I have Lamonster's updated roller on the OEM kit he originally sold. I change out the roller every time I change the rear tire. Heads up, his old 1065 roller has been out of stock since early June. Still in production. His new red metal arm and roller is in stock. I called and receptionist said it was in production back in June but it’s now August and still out of stock. I’ll probably buy a new red metal one if not in stock soon. I have 22000 on the old roller.

 

[fatboy]

i have og on my 21 39600 miles still going

 

[mandytuning]

What is og?

 

[SLICE]

What is og?

Original...OG is slang.

 

[Isopedella]

So all these belts snapping and slapping....

Q. Were they adjusted correctly tension wise prior to the failure of getting noisy?

And....If yours has failed when did you last check it before it failed? .....