Drive Belt fun

Well there I was, fresh off the red eye from Washington to Heathrow this morning. Got my kit on and loaded the bike in the bike park, fired it up, put it into gear, let out the clutch and all of a sudden........nothing happened

I looked down and there was the drive belt on the floor. Carole Nash rescused me in 30 mins and bought me home, so now I have to work out my next move.

So how much of a job is this on a glide classic? One man job on a sissor lift?And should a belt fail after only 9,000 miles?

Perhaps I should wait for the jet lag to fade a bit, but any suggestions would be welcome

David

[kiwidave]

a belt should definitely not fail after 9,000 miles. Perhaps there was damage you hadn't noticed? Maybe an obvious tear point?

An expert will be along in a minute with repair know-how.

Kind-of impressed at the transatlantic-jet-then-Harley transport switch, though. But careful with the jet lag...

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by kiwidave

An expert will be along in a minute with repair know-how.

This i eagerly await

[robbiemac]

ok. here you go...
lift bike, drain and split primary, remove clutch/compensator. Remove inner primary.
Drop out the rear wheel, remove swingarm pivot and doughnut left side.
Fit new belt and as they say in all the good haynes manuals...assembly is the reversal of disassembly.
You can do it on your our if you got the right gear and are ok in your abilities.
I hope you have a manual as that will be a help.
Right, off you go then.

Joking aside, all the best.

[Phil]

Year & model?

1991 FLHTC Phil

[essjay]

They always go like that, some people think that they have been subject to vandalism - not so.
I have a 1990 FXSTC and replaced the belt at 58,000 only because the teeth were coming loose, so yours is a bit premature, is it a genuine HD belt? anyway I bit the bullet and got it fitted by someone who knew what they was doing, approx 4-5 hours, that included fitting the rear pulley
Cost, £150 - Genuine HD belt, £150 Genuine HD Pulley + fitting around £180 if I remember another 20,000 and no probs.
I guess it was lucky that it was not on the ride for water though!

[hardley_ableson]

hi had same problem,found harleyhog.co.uk very helpfull nice step by step photos.all the best hardley

[Ex3t3r]

Bowenman,
Recently changed my rear drive belt & pulleys, and found this blow by blow
pictorial DIY procedure as the previous poster 'hardley_ableson' mentions,
which helped greatly, as this was the first time for me too.


Note that on page 4 the the guy fails to mention that the front
pulley wheel locking nut is a LEFT HAND THREAD!

Link: Belt Install 1

Hope this helps.

ps. 9 pages in total, see link at bottom of each web page to continue with the operation.

[Phil]

I haven`t read Harleyhogs excellent instructions (if I know him).
If you remove the left side cleve block (rear engine mount) cover, you can finangle the belt through without removing the swingarm. Be careful not to kink the belt though, as it can put a weak spot in it. Replace all the inner primary seals too. While you are in there its a good time to replace the trans seals too.