Belt Tension Specs Too Tight?

[jcanrun]

Just an observation. For my 13 Boardwalk (and for the Vegas 8 ball, vegas jackpot, hammer 8 ball, highball, and judge) the belt deflection spec is 5 mm +/- 0.5 mm or 6 mm +/- 0.5 mm over 600 miles on the bike. That's 1/2 of a centimeter. That seems a little tight for my tastes. Plus, how the heck does 0.5 mm even show up on a ruler when you are measuring defection. 1/2 of a millimeter is suppose to be visible on ruler?

Anyways, this seems pretty tight to me cause I did adjust my belt to about 5 mm or a little more while the tire off the ground at the tightest spot in the belt. When the tires on the ground, it barely has any deflection. I can't imagine when the bike is hot (pulleys expand causing belt to tighten even further) or when the suspension fully compresses (belt is tight as possible).

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this.

[half_crazy]

My service manual says 12mm +/- .5mm (about 1/2") after 500 miles.

[jcanrun]

Originally Posted by half_crazy

My service manual says 12mm +/- .5mm (about 1/2") after 500 miles.

Ya, the Hammer S has specs of 10 mm +/- 0.5 mm or 12 mm +/- .5 mm after 500 miles. I think it has to do with the low suspension on my bike and others incluing the Kingpin low. Still 5mm is pretty tight.

[lcoblentz3]

6 mm is 1/4 inch. My gauge is easily able to measure that.

[Mags]

Not trying to rain on ya parade but Victory engineers know a hell of a lot about their final drive systems.

Make sure your ride height is set to spec first. With you sitting on bike.

Right side adjusts tension, left side adjusts belt alignment on rear pulley.... as you know.

Can be a bit of a juggling act to get right tension and alignment.

Check tension in 4 places... or find tightest area as you have said.

Mags

[TNXR]

Both adjusters have to be used to adjust tension, not just the right side. The left side is used to align the belt as not to mess with deflection very much.

[half_crazy]

Originally Posted by jcanrun

Ya, the Hammer S has specs of 10 mm +/- 0.5 mm or 12 mm +/- .5 mm after 500 miles. I think it has to do with the low suspension on my bike and others incluing the Kingpin low. Still 5mm is pretty tight.

My bike is not a "low"...

[jcanrun]

Originally Posted by half_crazy

My bike is not a "low"...

exactly, i think that's why your spec is 10 mm / 12 mm.

[lcoblentz3]

Kingpin spec is different than vegas. Not sure of the boardwalk, but I suspect your manual is correct. 6mm isn't that difficult to measure.....

[robvision]

Originally Posted by jcanrun

Just an observation. For my 13 Boardwalk (and for the Vegas 8 ball, vegas jackpot, hammer 8 ball, highball, and judge) the belt deflection spec is 5 mm +/- 0.5 mm or 6 mm +/- 0.5 mm over 600 miles on the bike. That's 1/2 of a centimeter. That seems a little tight for my tastes. Plus, how the heck does 0.5 mm even show up on a ruler when you are measuring defection. 1/2 of a millimeter is suppose to be visible on ruler?

Anyways, this seems pretty tight to me cause I did adjust my belt to about 5 mm or a little more while the tire off the ground at the tightest spot in the belt. When the tires on the ground, it barely has any deflection. I can't imagine when the bike is hot (pulleys expand causing belt to tighten even further) or when the suspension fully compresses (belt is tight as possible).

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this.

I mentioned this before -
Adjusting the belt when the bike is cold is just crazy

My belt has at least 2 inches of deflection when cold. Thats 2.5cm per inch or 25mm for a total of 50mm and after a short ride when the pulleys warm up the belt is snug..... With the use of all the aluminium there is a huge amount of expansion going on.

So I adjusted mine after a ride. It just makes sense.
When I adjusted mine cold at 12mm - after a short ride it was so tight you could use it to play a tune.
Leaving it this tight will destroy the bearings in the wheel or the tranny pulley shaft bearings.

I have my belt running in the middle of the pulley. It wanders around from side to side but for the most part does NOT touch the sides of the rear pulley.

When the bike is cold the belt is VERY loose and after a short ride it is semi snug.

These belts do not need to be real tight......

Rob