Cherping

I Have A 98 Hertiage Softail. I Am Hearing Some Cherping That I Think Is The Drive Belt, Worse In Colder Condditions. But When Its Cooler Weather And I First Start Out, When I Acclerate There Is A Squil Sound And Also If I Let Off The Gas Quickley There Is A Squil Sound Or Loud Cherp. After It Warms Up That Will Quit But I Still Hear Some Belt Cherp.

There is some stuff called 'belt dressing' that is suppose to quite down the belt, as the belts gets older it becomes a bit dryer and/or dirty and the dressing kinda lubes it up. A good cleaning/wiping down of the belt probably does the same. Also make sure your alignment is right too.

make sure the noise is coming from the belt and check it for alignment. I'm not a big fan of belt dressing as it is designed for use on belts in a controlled environment..we use it on machinery at work....it works great there..quiets chirps and squeaks right now. but what makes the stuff work so good in a controlled environment makes it a recipe for trouble for drive belts for bikes. The lube that quells the squeaks attracts dust and grit that gets flicked up from the road. This grit sticks to the belt and then the pulleys and before long everything gets sandblasted the lugs on the belt get chewed up and the pulleys get chewed up..it ain't pretty. A fellow I know had a 85 Wide Glide and had a squeaky belt from day one..it was an alignment issue and the shop went the belt dressing route...[this was back in 85...not a lot of belt drive Harleys out there yet]..to make a long story short this guy's final drive took a **** kicking..lots of gravel and what have you up this way. I'd make sure everything is clean and lined up..just my take

Had the same problem

G'day I had the same problem when starting up in cold conditions, and later got worse and started even in warmer weather, then I was informed by a older Bro of the course and the fixes, The first was due to my rear wheel being out of align for so long that the belt must be stretched on one side and walks to one side, I tried silicone sprays but this only stopped the problem for a short period, What worked for me was making sure the belt was clean, I did this by washing in a heavy mix of car washing soap with a sponge, just wet the belt area with water then wash a section at a time from underneath the belt guard, make sure you soap the edges because this is where the chirping or whistling is coming from due to the edges being polished, then move the bike a few inches and repeat on another section, It usually take only three moves of the stationary bike, also check the tension is not to tight, If you can twist the belt a little when cold this is ok, when the bike gets warm you will notice the belt tightens, Also stay out of the middle of the lane where all the cars loose plenty of oil as this is thrown up under your bike and is caught on the belt sides.

The primary cause of 'belt chirping' is a loose belt. If you have no alignment problems then tighten it to specs, or a tad more.

May also want to be sure the rear pulley is tight to the wheel. A slight bit of movement in that pulley can make a HUGE difference.