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.
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.
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.
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.
I have one from Harley that I've had for years. I've checked my belts on my Harley and Victory's for years, so I can pretty much put 10 lbs of pressure on the belt without using the gauge. But, since the spec is so small, 5 to 6 mm, I used the gauge on this one. I also have these paper rulers I got from IKEA and just cut off part of those rulers and tape them on the belt guard to meassure the deflection. It's a lot easier than trying to hold a ruler and a belt tension gauge and push up on the belt.
I bought one a few weeks ago to adjust my belt for my 500 mile service. Easy to use but I do suggest taping the ruler to a small box or something so that it will not move. I had a tough time trying to hold the ruler and do the deflection measurment and getting a good reading every time. You can get them on Amazon for $25 or so. I would also suggest getting a 27mm crowsfoot so you can torque your axle bolt to specs without having to remove the muffler.
Thanks, i saw one on ebay for $22 shipped, and my deflection is suppose to be a little over an inch, I think its 32mm with the tire off the ground, and yes I have a 27mm crowsfoot, very well worth it!
You probably already know but your lb pounds of torque will be a little less with the crowsfoot. For my torque wrench it was about 57 lbs (compared to the 65 lbs in the manual).
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