maney belt set up... but

Got her back together, finally. Took pains to get the initial tension and alignment correct. Maney suggests 20mm free play cold, either top or bottom run. Following advice on other threads, I set her to 30mm cold first time, and after a run, adjusted to 25mm cold. Took her out for a highway jaunt and the basket swelled a bit more than on the initial test. With the 25mm cold setting I still had a good 10-15 mm free play when she was hot.

Problem is this, during the run I noticed what felt like the belt "slip" when pulling off from a light, just happened a few times while slipping the clutch. When I pulled he primary cover off I did notice the back of the belt had rubbed against the stator mounting bosses, leaving about a teaspoon's worth of particulates in the bottom of the case.I suspect I need to tighten to Maney's suggested 20mm and that should solve the problem. I do have a spare belt, but unsure if the backing having rubbed against the case has compromised the existing belt or not

IMHO you got yourself a belt kit of outstanding quality but why in the first place would you not follow advice from Maney himself :?: 20mm free total up and down movement (cold engine) is the way to go :!: Don't worry about that teaspoon's worth of particulates if the belt looks alright just adjust it to the right 20mm movement paying particular attention to the parallel alignment of the crankshaft and the mainshaft (very important for all belt drive kits) http://www.rgmnorton.co.uk/csi/1245184/ ... ctions.pdf (P4 shaft alignment)

You did good to get belt aligned then creep up best belt tension hot but even if almost too tight belts tend to slap their way around like chains so I would relieve the rub area some to help reduce dust wear then creep on on tension hot that still allows belt to slip on/off pullyes and can twist belt to about 90* w/o pinching finger skin much. This week I am getting my special in living room primary to accept 40 mm Maney belt which could take me forever.

nortonspeed said:

IMHO you got yourself a belt kit of outstanding quality but why in the first place would you not follow advice from Maney himself :?: 20mm free total up and down movement (cold engine) is the way to go :!: Don't worry about that teaspoon's worth of particulates if the belt looks alright just adjust it to the right 20mm movement paying particular attention to the parallel alignment of the crankshaft and the mainshaft (very important for all belt drive kits) http://www.rgmnorton.co.uk/csi/1245184/ ... ctions.pdf (P4 shaft alignment)

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Yes, I know, when all else fails follow the manufacturers instructions. I think I got all caught up with the "doom and gloom" stories from other threads where people are opining about a "minimum" 1-1.5" slack and 90 degree turn mid belt run etc etc....

The other issue I've noticed with the maney kit is that the engine pulley's keeper plates are integral, and leave no gap on either side of the belt to visually check for runout when the engine's spinning. I did set the clutch skewed very slightly away from the crank to allow the belt to run in a bit, but I think this is unecessary as well. I have to remove the inner cover to fix a pissy oil leak from one of the 3 fixing bolt holes anyway, and will set it back to dead parallel when back together. I've got a handy digital tiltbox that reads angle settings (use it for cabinetmaking) and found that much easier than the set square method.

My belt drive will often jump a tooth or two if I start the bike cold and immediately grab too much throttle. One it has gone a half mile or so them the drum will expand enough that it will never slip.

That is the way I know when the adjustment is just right. If I adjust it a little tighter then it may end up being too tight when ridden hard on a 100 degree day and then belt damage will start. [like it did on my last trip across Kansas]

It sounds like your belt is slightly too loose -but I doubt the contact with the case has caused any damage. Jim

Steve Maney did not design the belts so to follow manufactures instructions one uses their engineers calculators that need belt tooth count & pulley sizes to come up with pulley axis center-center distance, which leaves belt tension to easy twist 90* w/o much strain cold Same tension HRD belt chart applies to 1/4 to 4+ inch width. At Barbers I pestered a bike dragster with 2 ft wide rear slick that was belt drive EVERYTHING, oil pump, fuel pump, case vaccuum pump, supercharger drive, primary and final drive to be told just set em so fairly easy to twist 90* when hot as they might get. Rubbing away on belt flats is just messy - its the side rubbing that can unravel a belt so check in often with spare belt on bike in case you see belt cord fibers in the dust...

Note that the amount of play necessary in the belt is also dependent on how much play is in your sleeve gear bushing. Any manufacturers recommendations can not take this into account.

To get an accurate idea of how much play is needed you will want to have the bike hot. Then apply pressure to the rear drive chain to take up any slop in the sleeve gear bushing. Under these conditions you should still have a small amount of play in the belt -it should never be tight.

Always start out with the tension too tight and then use the adjuster to push the trans forward until you have adequate play.

If you start with a loose belt and use the adjuster to make it tighter then the rear chain pull will move the trans rearward by the amount of slop in the adjuster over the next few hundred miles and the belt will end up too tight. Jim

comnoz said:

Note that the amount of play necessary in the belt is also dependent on how much play is in your sleeve gear bushing. Any manufacturers recommendations can not take this into account.

To get an accurate idea of how much play is needed you will want to have the bike hot. Then apply pressure to the rear drive chain to take up any slop in the sleeve gear bushing. Under these conditions you should still have a small amount of play in the belt -it should never be tight.

Always start out with the tension too tight and then use the adjuster to push the trans forward until you have adequate play.

If you start with a loose belt and use the adjuster to make it tighter then the rear chain pull will move the trans rearward by the amount of slop in the adjuster over the next few hundred miles and the belt till end up too tight. Jim

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All good points I've taken into account, any re tensioning I did involved pulling the g box back via the chain, then pulling forward into final tension. When I checked free play after a hot highway run, I still had 10-15mm slack in the belt. This does seem like a bit much to me, I figure 20mm cold should equate to 10mm when hot (in my situation anyway)

Ever put a pants belt looped around a pair of chair or table legs or someones legs standing, then pull the belt runs apart? Try it for sense of how tight to end up with belt in primary. The slight push apart force is magnified greatly in pulley tension. This is another load beyond the drive loads for poor old sleeve bushes to handle. To go by mere belt deflection > manufactures use a tension device to put standard force on the runs -so similar to trying to torque w/o a T-wrench. Proper tensioned belt when hot will feel too loose to human sense of good and snug as still allows slip belt sideways on clutch teeth w/o tool leverage.

Only takes one over tight event to deform things to show up later as mysterious fast basket wobbles which then can rub belt edges raw and show up as a mess away from home.