New Old Belt Drive

So last summer some of you might recall my adventures messing with the clutch to get it better. In the end I had to settle and call it good enough. The plan was to replace it with a belt drive in the near future which would probably require more messing to get it sorted again.

Well, the belt drive is coming sooner than I had planned. Pour yourself another coffee or adult beverage (depending on what time you are reading this, and if there's an adult beverage in your coffee I'm not here to judge) and I'll tell the story. Even fewer of you might recall my steering wheel story and how it comes around to a belt drive. The story goes that I was at a swap meet a really long time (late 80s?) I picked up a wooden Momo steering wheel that I had planned on putting on my TR-4. Well I never put it on the car and it was just hanging on a nail in my garage. Eventually I started to feel bad that it was never going to get used so I figured that I should see if it was worth anything. After some research I found out it was original equipment for the Ferrari Daytona (Euro spec). Keep in mind I paid $50 for the wheel which was a lot for me at the time (poor college student). I posted on a Ferrari forum and a nice dentist in Texas offered an obscene amount for the Daytona he was restoring. So I took some of the windfall and bought my brother a Maney belt drive for his Norton. I already had a RGM kit on my bike but always thought the Maney was a nice piece of hardware.

You might see where this is going. So fast forward to more recent news. My brother sold his Moto Guzzi and then went and splurged on a CNW electric starter(!) so now the Maney belt drive became redundant as the starter kit comes with a belt drive. So now I'm going to get the Maney belt drive from him for my 850.

So the first step is to strip the primary:

https://coloradonortonworks.net/cnw-clutch-center.html

I did splurge and order a new clutch center from @cNw this morning. The one I have now isn't bad but it isn't good. I suspect it contributes a bit to the stiffer clutch. The new hub should help there too.

The nice thing about belt drives is there's relatively little wear on the parts.

You’ll get the added bonus of raising the gearing a bit with that Swoosh.

Might help to reduce those unintended wheelies a tad...

Fast Eddie said:

You’ll get the added bonus of raising the gearimg a bit with that Swoosh.

Might help to reduce those unintended wheelies a tad...

Click to expand...

The excessive weight of the rider seems to keep the wheelies to a minimum currently.

Cool. Why on this bike and not the PR?

gortnipper said:

Cool. Why on this bike and not the PR?

Click to expand...

Other bike already has a belt drive.

A couple packages showed up today. The first one was from @cNw and it's very lovely. The old clutch hub was notch and I suspect may have been contributing to a less than lighter pull. So I splurged and got a new one from Matt. In addition to being lighter I think it should wear better being a hard anodize surface. And if that wasn't reason enough it's also less expensive that the AN part.


The next box was even more loaded with goodies. There's a new belt and a used spare. I will say that the Maney stuff is equal to the CNW stuff in quality, at least in appearance. But without the fancy red anodizing.

I think next up is removing the inner primary, at drilling a hole for the adjuster. I may try to get the gear box align without the extra adjuster but if I can't I shouldn't need to remove the inner primary if the hole is there for it. In theory.


You might also spot a push rod seal.

Maney belt drive kit: 6.4lbs. Stock set up: 10.6lbs. Does not include plates or spring.

swooshD
You will like the Maney. Ive had mine in my 850 for over 10 years and two clutch plate kit change outs.
I've been running the surflex friction plate and plain plate. (They come as kits from Walridge) with good effect and no slipping on the clutch. Keep your belt changes under 40K as mine went south and blew the teeth off coming back from a rally in NY before the Wohan special hit us.
I'm on my second belt.
Keep on keepn on.
Cheers,
Tom

Tolerances on the Maney clutch drum can be slightly tighter than others. I had to fettle my clutch plates as they were binding in the drum. Worth checking swoosh.

If you go the Barnet clutch pack route your total rotating weight saving will be closer to 10lbs and your mainshaft and gearbox will LOVE you for it.

Raising the primary gearing eases stresses on the gearbox too.

Enjoy !

CanukNortonNut said:

swooshD
You will like the Maney. Ive had mine in my 850 for over 10 years and two clutch plate kit change outs.
I've been running the surflex friction plate and plain plate. (They come as kits from Walridge) with good effect and no slipping on the clutch. Keep your belt changes under 40K as mine went south and blew the teeth off coming back from a rally in NY before the Wohan special hit us.
I'm on my second belt.
Keep on keepn on.
Cheers,
Tom

Click to expand...

Tom, I have Surflex as well and they screech when taking up drive. do yours do that? Everybody tells me it will pass in time, but after 4 years of ownership it still does it.

Cheers,

cliffa.

The CNW hub was a little loose on the bearing (sliding fit) so a new bearing is on its way from Old Britts.

In the meantime I drilled an installed the left side adjuster block in case I need it. I think I’ll be able to install the rest of the parts with the inner case installed.


For a 22 tooth sprocket the bike is pretty quick. But it also gets really good gas mileage.

Dave, it may be just the light, but they look like metal filings on the chain. Is it rubbing on something? Perhaps the inner of the primary case?

Or is it just grit ?

Really enjoyed reviewing your photos...thank you for sharing your project.

cliffa said:

Dave, it may be just the light, but they look like metal filings on the chain. Is it rubbing on something? Perhaps the inner of the primary case?

Or is it just grit ?

Click to expand...

I had the same issue/look/stuff after installing a new chain.

I got all rattled when I first noticed the metallic dust sticking to the chain as there was never any sound to indicate rubbing or friction, and I gave it a lot of attention while at speed as well.
I pulled the primary cover and new chain for inspection and the only place I could find any suspect abraded surfaces was in the saddles of the rear sprocket.
Nothing else was scraped or "clean" or shiny.

I rechecked the spacing and adjusted the tension again and the "friction dust" as I called it disappeared. I also installed a new chain guard from CnW as I was really fighting getting the original to line up.
I can only speculate the "stuff" was generated by the seating of the new chain on the drive and rear sprockets?
Or maybe intermittent scraping on the old chain guard? It did not show any signs of rubbing but the spacing was too offset to accept.

Whatever the cause its gone now.

cliffa said:

Dave, it may be just the light, but they look like metal filings on the chain. Is it rubbing on something? Perhaps the inner of the primary case?

Or is it just grit ?

Click to expand...

It from drilling the hole for the chain adjuster. I'll clean it up and relube the chain.

cliffa said:

Tom, I have Surflex as well and they screech when taking up drive. do yours do that? Everybody tells me it will pass in time, but after 4 years of ownership it still does it.

Cheers,

cliffa.

Click to expand...

The only screech came from me when I got the receipt on the latest price that I paid for the Surflex kit. The price was over double from Walridge. I still get some notching with the Surflex friction plates because their center is a sandwich steel, and yes I get a slight squeak or chirp on takeoff now and again. I might try what Ludwig has done with his rig the next change out, by going to the fiber only friction plates and a RGM alloy center.
Cheers,
T

T

swooshdave said:

The CNW hub was a little loose on the bearing (sliding fit) so a new bearing is on its way from Old Britts.

In the meantime I drilled an installed the left side adjuster block in case I need it. I think I’ll be able to install the rest of the parts with the inner case installed.

For a 22 tooth sprocket the bike is pretty quick. But it also gets really good gas mileage.

Click to expand...

That's a pretty tall set of legs with a 22T and a Maney, and for sure you will get great gas mileage. It would be a great highway burner. You won't pull any wheelies with that combo. I had to shim the back side of the sprocket some to stop a 520 x-ring from gouging into the gearbox. I run a 21T with my 850 and the Maney Primary drive. YMMV
let us know how this combo works for you.
Cheers,
Tom

It looks like the clutch centre and the clutch chainwheel on the belt kits are often made of aluminum.
Given the tendency for the clutch plates to notch the steel centre and steel chainwheel, I am curious how the aluminum items stand up with mileage and time???