I'm about to do my first service myself this weekend (10K miles), and have been reading about this in the service manual. What exactly does it mean to have it in the slack end of it's range, and how do you know when it's there?

 

If you do have a *factory* HD Service Manual for your year/model, I am quite sure there is either a photo or a drawing showing EXACTLY what "freeplay" is. When they are talking about the "slack of its range", in other words they are saying to rotate the rear wheel....stopping every so often feeling the freeplay each time, until you find the spot on the belt with the most free play.

As far as sitting on the bike to do the adjustment. I fully understand the reason for it, with the swing arm slightly raised from the weight of rider/passenger the belt tension will be tighter. The only thing though......I believe the MOCO has that already figured into the procedure as the manual describes it. I am sure the people at HD who write these service manuals know about setting the belt tension with a rider on the bike to get a more accurate setting, but they say nothing about it IIRC.
After you do it enough times, you dont NEED to use the tool anymore. You can get it 99% correct by just feel.
I think the much more critical thing is to get the alignment of the rear wheel set right. For this I am totally ****. I get out a tape measure, and make many measurements....using both the tape and a small ruler. Or I use one of these from Motion-Pro. They are cheep, and work perfectly.

Here it is in the J&P cat.

 

Biz,
Thanks for that reply. Yours is a much better explanation than what I've seen in the manual. Realistically, can this all be done with the bike on the ground or is is better with the real wheel jacked up or on a stand? I guess I'm thinking more about the alignment and adjustment, because I'm thinking that at 10,000 miles (5K since the last service), the belt is likely to need to be tightened.

 

At this point I do it with the bike on the side stand......I just put a piece of 2X4 under the foot of the side stand to get the bike to sit a bit more straight up. Like this with the rear wheel on the ground you obviously can't rotate it to find the most slack spot on the belt, but I guess if you want to get **** about it, you can first jack up the bike.....turn the back wheel until you find the spot on the belt with the most slack/freeplay, and then lower the bike down off the jack with the rear wheel remaining in the same spot. You should check the lower strand of the belt....if you still have the plastic belt protector on the bike, it usually has a small hole cut into it where you should check the freeplay. The hole is marked and divided into several increments....I am not sure of the size though. Anyhow....that's where you check the freeplay at.
So...yes you can do it with the bike on the ground, or on a jack with the rear wheel off the ground. Just if you do it while on the side stand, do like I said and try to keep the bike as upright as possible. Follow the directions in the service manual step by step......loosening the rear axle only enough to make it easy for the belt adjustment bolts to turn. (I dont know what year/model bike you have), but on my 2008 Street Glide the rear belt adjustment has a "eccentric" type adjuster, and that makes it very easy to get the alignment of the rear wheel perfect. You can turn the one side of the adjuster and both sides will turn because the axle is keyed or notched so the both turn at the same time and amount. If you have the old style bolt type adjusters, just do the left side first, and then go to the right side. Turn the bolt the same amount of turns on both sides, and then measure it several times or use the tool I pictured to get the alignment perfect.
Make 100% sure you use a torque wrench on the axle nut. IIRC it should be no tighter than about 65ft/lbs. or you could do damage to the wheel bearings.
Anyhow......just make sure you use the HD Factory Service Manual, and not one of those Clymer or Haynes el cheapo ones, and you will do just fine. If your stuck....or not sure about something, just ask here on the forum....or PM me and I will help you through.

 

I bought the tool and the manual and have had no trouble my soon reads the gauge since I'm to fat to sit on bike and have my face on the ground.

 

I find it is easier to check the belt tension while riding on the freeway. You get the best measurement above 75mph. j/k

 

LOL..........good idea....I think I'll try that today......makes sense to check it under real world conditions..........THX in advance....

 

I think he might be asking how the tool touches the belt. The tool has a wide U shaped part that fits against the belt so the upright parts of the U fit into the slots that run crosswise on the belt.

 

I think the service manual says to measure with no on sitting on the bike. Besides, what good would that do with the bike on a jack with the wheel in the air? Wouldn't make any difference.

 

I ain't fat, but can't do that either!