Went to a 180 tire and 18" x 5.5" wheel on the rear and a 3/4" belt. The shop I took it to said I could re-use the 1 1/8" pulley, just needs to be properly spaced. I asked if we should not get the correct pulley, but they said this would work.

Now, belt has walked and rubbed against the tire and damaged the belt - some pieces missing. Looking from the rear to the front, I can see this without being a "custom shop" and am irritated they missed something like this and being in the business. Reason why I went to them as I did not have the tools/know how/lift to do this change.

My question. What can I do to get this corrected? I know the simplest answer is to get the correct 3/4" pulley, but the manufacture is out of business so no matching pulley.

These are three options I received from Andrei @ HD Wheels in Chatsworth, CA:

1. Pulley spacer (0.28") - $50 (not a best option. belt already running on a end of primary pulley)
2. Pulley ring clamp (to reduce accepted belt width) - $390 (Special order)
3. 70 tooth, 3/4" belt pulley, Chrome (?) - $490 (Special order)


Based on these options - it appears to me that the pulley ring clamp is my best option of the three - if I want to keep the matching pulley.

Is there anything else that could be done? Different transmission pulley?

 

If the pulley was spaced so that the inside of the belt cleared the tyre then your problem is with the front pulley. The front pulley is very wide and the belt will try to align itself to the correct orientation.

If the belt is not right at the front then you can't pull it back into line by spacing the rear pulley if its already hard up to one side of the front pulley, it will just eat the belt.

If it has room to move on the front pulley then it's fine to space the rear but it has to be done in such a way that the belt is aligned from the inside edge and that there is sufficient room on the outside edge of the front pulley for the belt to align itself and this is why the later bikes with the wider wheels use a narrower belt.

All this should have been resolved before the inner primary went back on and my advice would be to pull the primary off along with the belt guards and start from scratch....

 

Thanks for the response. Attached some photos for clarity.

Pulley was not spaced to clear on the inside - not from my view when I was in the process of installing a chrome inner primary and new charging system.

As it sat when I dropped it off at the shop (to fix their mistake), the belt sat on the outside of the rear pulley, but still had clearance on the front pulley.

Your third point makes sense - what I stated above.

Agreed - thought the shop I took it to (Stroker's Dallas) had the skills to complete.

 

It looks from the pics that you have issues on both sides of the belt.....There is no option but to tear it apart and do it properly.

Your belt should sit against the inner lip of the pulley but I think its a mistake to put the thin belt on the fat pulley, plenty of used pulleys on Ebay that would do the job.

Look at it this way....if a fat pulley is shimmed to the inner edge of the belt, the belt can then walk outwards and that might be what has caused the chamfer on the outside of the belt.

The correct width pulley will clear the tyre and stop the belt walking outwards.

On assembly you would rotate the back wheel to see where the belt wants to sit and if it sits away from any harm on the front pulley you are good to go because you know it won't walk because it is retained by the rear pulley.

Its a sloppy piece of work both aesthetically and from an engineering viewpoint.....sorry if your Indie thinks that's harsh but that is my professional opinion....that bike would not have left my workshop in that state....somebody has no idea of belt dynamics....

 

The slightest misalignment of the rear wheel will make the belt walk across the pulley, that is what belts do! It is also why they come with two flanges, or a flange on one side of one pulley and another on the other side of the second pulley.

The beauty of the wide front pulley is that it will allow us quite a bit of freedom to run different widths of belt, also different hub spacings. I have a 1 1/8" belt (with correct pulley) on a 4.5" wheel, plus pulley spacer.

The simplest solution is to modify that pulley, or fit a suitable narrow one, to match the belt width. That'll tell it!

 

Trouble is, he needs new belt now too so its gotta come apart again anyway....bummer, I would be spewing vitriol....

 

Can't run a narrow belt on a wide pulley and expect it to stay away from the tire...your mechanic is an idiot...find a new shop.

 

Thanks for the help. I've already talked to another place that can match my current pulley design, but in the correct 3/4" width. After I talked with them and they said they could match it - that was the direction I was going to go.

I agree, they are idiots for thinking this would work.

@ Spanners - I had much more choice words for them. lol

@ Tom - this s/b an easy fix, although it is going to cost me $200 more now than if I had purchased the correct size pulley when it was done (manufacture out of business).