Drive Belt

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Awesome,thanks

Broke it a couple of weeks ago...Red neck Buds have been taking a pounding since...lol...Parked it the evening before,then heading to work next morning,fired it up put it in gear and went nowhere....If there's a good place to break down,I guess home in the yard is one of them....

Heh, No condo on the beach....Even if Cali Phil gave you a commission,you'd be lucky to get a decent cigar out of the deal

Way better than in the middle of nowhere . . .

I assume the belt you broke is the final drive belt. I hear of them breaking every now and then. I have an o-ring chain for final drive and have had no problem with it.

He can,gave me a good price on the belt...It is a PIA job,about 5-6 hrs without beer until it's done...It'll give me a chance to fix the stator plug leak and check out the seals,if they aren't leaking/look good, I'm gonna leave them alone...It'll be coming apart again in about a year when I save the coin for a S&S T111,then I'll do a chassis and brake overhaul...Probably is the end of my season,started putting the bike away when the clocks go back an hour about 3yrs ago....Because leaving work one night,temps were hovering around freezing mark and it rained all day,the rain stopped but the roads were full of black ice,had to stay in the car tire paths where they melted the ice...It was a looong 25 mile ride,when I got home I said fck that,not worth it!!

Lucifer, I just saw this as I was checking all the new format here. Looks like I have a lot of new stuff to learn again.

About your drive belt: get a Gates--it's the very best, and for the same money as all the other brands. You didn't say how many miles you got out of it or how you ride, but look at your sprocket for unusual wear. It's made out of soft aluminum and might need replacing also if the teeth are worn down.

I had my rear sprocket chrome-plated a few years ago, and the plating gave a bonus of extra strength to the teeth. I recently replaced my original belt with over 120,000 miles on it, and it might have lasted longer if it had'nt picked up a rock while crossing an 18" deep creek. The sprocket teeth still look new. I can't complain about spending $200 for a normal wear item that lasts that long. A chain would have never lasted that long, and a drive shaft would have cost 5X that to fix.

+1 What A Dog says.

As much as you depend on the quality of the belt I would go with MOCO OEM or Gates and not fret about a few $$.

I have heard the Gates belts are very good from a guy I see at Tattoo's shop every now and then. He has 65,ooo on a Gates final drive belt and it still looks in great shape. Amazin' . . .

I have over 8,000 on my BDL primary open belt and it still looks very good. I also have a spare - just in case. I keep a lot of spare parts LOL. To clean the belt, I just wash with detergent & water, like you guys told me once .

Alex, good to see you posting. Hadn't heard from you in a while.

I did...S&S/Gates High Strength final Drive Belt from Cali Phil
http://www.harleypartscheap.com/SS-...L-DRIVE-BELTS-detail.htm?productId=7781613#/0

I wouldn't fret over a few bucks and I'd even pay $20-$30 more just to buy local...But what the dealer wanted for an OEM belt would have made me feel violated....California Phil saved me over $100 even taking shipping into account...dealer here charges 20% over MSRP so I only buy from him when absolutely necessary...If he wants to make a lot he's only going to sell a little to me,the money he's lost from me over the years because of his mark up,would have covered that mark up and then some,but his choice....enough rant...

The belt only had 48,000 miles on it,but it was loose for a while,which is why I think it broke...(my fault for not checking after I got a new tire put on)I will be checking it all over when it comes apart,pulleys,seals and bearings...

Good idea to re-check everything. Unfortunately, we can't always depend on others working on our bikes to do a good, thorough job.

I've been away on an extended trip and filled Ken in with the details. I love things that are truly "maintenance free". You still need to check em every so often for that little rock that might be stuck in there from when you go dirt biking.

Josh, that's a very big close-up of your nose hairs!

Belt came today...Thank You California Phil(got the sticker on my beer fridge)...I'm thinking about the swing arm bearings,what's their life span?? I think I'm going to replace the do-nuts at least...bike rode like it was on rails for 3 yrs but was just starting to get a little loose before the belt broke,it feels like the neck bearing needs a little tightening ....those swing arm spherical bearings are supposed to last a long time,but is 48,000 a long time??

Those old style spherical (rubber) bearings were used to isolate harshness and would last for the life of the belt, but were the real cause of a lot of the high speed wobble. You can tighten them up for more years of satisfactory service. I still have the originals on mine.

Since you have to remove them for belt service, you might consider those steel and bronze bearings from Custom Cycle Engineering. I think they are about $100, but will improve handling greatly.