I'm doing my own 10K service right now and I have a couple questions I hope you guys can help me with...

1) The belt tension, the manual says to measure the # of hash marks until the guage reads 10lbs, question is, my belt right now (bike on the jack w/ wheels off the ground) is below the belt guard so it's outside the window, do you just count the first dash mark as point 0 or is that counted as 1/8"? My belt is deflecting 5 or 6 depending on this so I know I have to tighten it, but when getting it in the range of 3/8 - 7/16 do I count that first hash mark in the deflection?

2) The steering bearing check, manual says to hold it to the left and let go, mine does maybe one swing, but I can see why, the wiring harness on the right side of the frame going up to the fairing is holding it back, rubbing on the foam that is on the lower tree brace. I don't see any way to get it so it won't affect this test. I know for a fact the dealer never took the outer fairing off (to move this harnes so it wouldn't bind) so I'm not sure how they could ever have tested this like the manual says.

Sorry for the long post but any help is appreciated.

 

As far as the belt,I hold a 6" scale on the side of the swing arm to measure the deflection.I also remove the guard.

I have 46000 miles on mine and have never checked the fall-away.Maybe I should,dont know!

 

I answered your PM.

 

Thanks guys.
One interesting thing, I changed all 3 holes and the oil and tranny didn't look too bad, but man the primary fluid looked liked it had never been changed. I guess just another reason to do it yourself.

 

+1 on removing belt guard

 

The easy way to check the belt is to grab it in the loosest spot and twist it. If you can't twist it up more then half way, it close to where it should be. If it twists further then half way, it needs to be tightened up..

 

+1 on 45 degree belt twist, it always hits the 10lb mark on my tension guage.

 

I don't know about an 09
But my 08 EG book says to check the belt with the bike on the jiffy stand.
You might want to check your book again.
Other wise the belt might be too tight when bike is on the ground.

 

The 09 manual on page 1-29 has a bullet that says "With motorcyle upright and rear wheel off the ground or on jiffy stand without rider or luggage"

I did it with it on my jack stand and the deflection is at least 5/8" just by the marks and the belt is below the marks when I start so it's probably more when measuring it this way. But I agree, I'm worried if I tighten it, as soon as I go 2 up it's going to be too tight. I'm going to do the 45 degree as suggested and see what it looks like, with it on the jiffy stand.

My other question is, how often do these "typically" need to be adjusted? I wouldn't think every 5K miles given the type of belts these are, but the dealer did my 5K service and I watched the Tech adjusting the belt during hte service.

 

Other than checking mine, hasn't needed adjustment yet.