I had something very similar happen to my belt - but maybe a third that amount of damage. Had about 15K miles on the bike when I noticed it. Didnt hear anything and couldnt find anything. Local dealer couldnt find anything wrong either. Guessing it was rock or other debris wedged in somewhere, no bolts or anything else fell out or was missing. Their opinion was ride it but watch it carefully. Ended up putting another 40K miles on the bike with the belt in that condition. Everything I have seen or read online leads me to believe that those belts are pretty tough. However, I would lean towards replacing with that amount of damage you have. Preparing for a cross country trip back in 2014, had the bike gone over and replaced alot of things as I didnt want to be in the middle of Kansas on a Sunday morning when something broke. Ended up replacing the belt, rear pulley, front pulley (because of not wanting to put a new belt on worn pulleys at more than 60K miles), new clutch while in there and a whole host of other things from a preventative maintenance standoint - swing arm bushings handle bar bushing (which were worn out), plugs, wires, upgraded charging system, etc. Was an uneventful trip - bike worked perfectly for being 16 yrs old.
I was pretty surprised how long the damaged belt lasted in that condition - although I dont beat on my bikes either ... well not too much most times
Wonder if the culprit, (rock?), was jammed in there where Duracell was pointing to and small enough that once the groove got worn into your belt deep enough it had the clearance to finally fall out or got spit out and hence no rock, or whatever, to find when you tore it apart?
Got it all apart. Not that awful if I'm honest. The ipb seal is getting replaced and in picking up new rear pads too. Everything else seems ok. I'dI'd like to see less wear on the comp, but I can't swing that right now. I'll just know that I want to do it in the future.
The only wear mark I could see was just as suspected, where the belt enters the inner primary like pictured above. Just beyond the marks was a little collection of carbon fiber from the belt.
Moto - Yes I think whatever got jammed in there and held in place by riding, then after parking and probably backing up, it popped whatever out and eventually fell away. Hope these pics come through. Interestingly it is in the same position on the belt as caulk04's. Hard to believe, but did get another 40K miles after this happened
I wonder if mine just wore deep enough that it ejected itself. Who knows. There ought to be a belt sweep or something to help prevent this, even if it isn't that common.
I did take a look at the HD comp though, $265 from Surdyke for the SE unit with the oil deflector.
Well, the job is done. It's quite a bit of work but it went alright. Worst part was getting the swing arm shaft out. The bolts in it and in the left side bracket were loctite'd in and not exactly cooperative. Manual states to zip tie the primary tensioner before you remove it then for reinstallation it tells you to collapse it and zip tie it... Kinda silly. The primary locking tool they tell you to buy is just a 6" long piece of 1/4" flat stock. 1" wide or more is fine. A piece of wood also works.
If a short test ride is good tomorrow, I intend to put some miles on it. Take advantage of this layoff!
PS -whoever said it's an 8 hour job... Damn. You're good. I had somewhere between 7 and 8 in it.
03-29-2020 | 10:46 AM
