Belt won't stay centered on rear

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AKrider
Posts: 30
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:21 am
I ride: '93 Vulcan 500, '06 Honda Rebel, '81 CX 500
Location: Two Rivers, Alaska

Belt won't stay centered on rear

Postby AKrider » Tue Apr 25, 2017 10:17 pm

Rosebud developed a problem with the belt not running centered of the rear gear causing a low speed squeak, I have adjusted and got it tracking just fine in the garage with 6 to 10 mm deflection at 9.9# of force but when I go out and ride over the very frost heaved road from my house to town it invariably ends up squeaking again on one side or the other. Harley riders tell me to live with it but I have gotten 20K plus quiet miles prior to this. Belt and sprocket wear appear to be well within limits, any ideas?
We are what we repeatedly do, excellence is a habit.

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Triangles
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I ride: '94 Black Cherry Vulcan 500, '06 Candyfire Red Vulcan 500 LTD
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Re: Belt won't stay centered on rear

Postby Triangles » Thu Apr 27, 2017 11:09 pm

It's been a while since I had my EN500A (found a home with my brother in law) From what I remember on my EN500C for the brief time I had the craptastic scootworks belt drive on it which was more difficult to get centered, I adjusted it as follows:
1) I'd get it pretty close with jack stands.
2) go ride and bring the bike to a stop (making sure to not roll back at all!) and see which side belt was towards.
3) If the belt is centered you are finally done. If not make an adjustment of no more than 1 flat at a time, then go back to step 2.

I ran thru this iteration countless times over weeks till I was happy with the adjustment. Sometimes I'd have to split the adjustment between both sides to keep proper belt tension. The swing arm does flex and as good as the swing arm bearings are they are not perfect. Hell even tightening the rear axle nut can throw things off. If all else fails and you still can't get it where you're happy, you might check for slop in the swing arm bearings and/or the bearings in the damper/hub that the rear pulley is bolted to. If you finally reach the "F" it point you can put lipstick on a pig by rubbing a bar of soap on the side of the belt.
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User avatar
AKrider
Posts: 30
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:21 am
I ride: '93 Vulcan 500, '06 Honda Rebel, '81 CX 500
Location: Two Rivers, Alaska

Re: Belt won't stay centered on rear

Postby AKrider » Thu Apr 27, 2017 11:34 pm

Thanks, I may try the soap till I have time to fuss with it Sunday.
We are what we repeatedly do, excellence is a habit.


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