Hi,

Except on damp days, the belt was quiet in both directions before I changed the rear tire. 99 FXSTC (24K)

The belt squeeks badly when you rotate it backwards, totally quiet going foreward. I made the wire tool to align it and have a fish scale for belt tension, axle bushings are correct and I didn't remove the bearings or mess with the belt. Belt and rear pully look fine, the trans pully looks good enough from what I can see.

What I did notice is that when you rotate the wheel foreward, the belt rides in the worn(just shinny) area of the trans pully, where it's been for years. When you reverse the wheel the belt starts to ride towards the transmission a little and engages a part of the pully that has not been used. It also moves over a bit in the rear pully and squeeks as the cogs engage. Two noises actually, the belt riding on the new section of the trans pully and the squeek on the rear. Again, everything is aligned according to the book, and I've tried a bunch of times and ways.

Help!! Ideas??

Thanks
Doug

 

Don't ride it backwards!

Sorry, I just couldn't stop myself!!

Walt

 

LOL, Trust me, I'm already thinking about not parking in places where I'll have to roll it backwards, or just tack it up a little when I do so I won't hear it...

Seriously, Any ideas?

Doug

 

Seriously. It is highly possible that the drive pulley (transmission) and the driven pulley (back wheel) are not going to be exactly parallel and in line to the n'th degree. That being the case you would expect that when the drive runs one way the belt will tend to go to one side of the pullies and conversely when you reverse the drive the belt will run up against the other side of the pullies.

Have you tried checking the back wheel to make sure it is exactly square/ in line? Did you put the wheel back in yourself? I would be tempted to slack off the wheel a tad and tap the alignment to see if it doesn't ease up. It wouldn't surprise me if the squeak is the belt trying to ride up the side flange of one of the pullies.

P.S. don't forget to tighten the wheel back up!!

All the best.

Walt.

 

Walt

That is what I see happening, it moves on the transmission pully and rides (tried to) up the rear pully edge when reversing.

I have adjusted the alignment according to specs numerous times, I then tried it 1/4 turn at a time each direction, until it was badly aligned just to see if anything changed & with various belt tighnesses. I took the wheel off and swapped the bushings.

Long story short, I can make it worse by having noises in foreward but nothing I can think of gets rid of the reverse noises.

Doug