To Belt or not to Belt............?

[45grum]

The clutch on my shovel (77 4 speed) is looking decidedly worn and drags a bit should I bite the bullet and fit a Belt kit with a new hub and plates or replace the worn parts and keep the duplex?
If I go Belt does anyone have any reccomendations, (make, pitch, cost etc)
I also like the idea of not having a leaky primary.
How much slop should there be in the motor sprocket shock absorber (mine seems a bit excessive, about 10 degrees when twisting by hand)
Cheers Graham.

[chopper]

graham,

i had both a 3" open BDL and a 1" closed on my 73 shovel chop, both worked perfectly and were a lot better that the stock chain and clutch setup, if i remember correctly the 3" open was about £600 (non electric start) from a UK indy that was about 3 years ago, the 1" i got from the US direct and was about half the price and that had the starter ring on it as well.

[kiwidave]

Are you on a budget?

Why not try new plates, or thoroughly clean and scuff your current ones if they have meat on them? Maybe try a clutch tamer kit and check that your throwout bearing is in good shape?

Just a penny-pinching thought....

[che]

swings and roundabouts. have duplex on 73 shovel and 1" belt on 60 pan. gear shifting is constantly smoother on pan, but the tranny HAS to be oil tight which is no mean feat. Clutches on both still have to be regularly adjusted to stop drag or slip. So you pay your money you take your choice. If i was pushed, i would just come out in favor of the belt.

[kiwidave]

there's a guy on shovelhead.us selling a complete primary belt drive kit for 400 quid... not sure if still available, but it was a fortnight ago

RevTech 5-in-a-4, BDL 3" Belt Primary - Shovelhead Forum

[michael_dinwiddy]

on esthetic grounds my personal opinion is a belt looks better. I suppose it is also quieter and needs little adjustment once fitted.

But a chain is cheaper and I suppose a wet clutch lasts longer than a dry one.

[devon.john]

hello mate there's a few shovals in are area
if you come to Frislstock you might get some good infomation and help

john

[45Brit]

my 45 project has a belt primary drive, and if I was building any bike from scratch or replacing a u/s set-up, I would go belt every time. A 1" belt should be quite adequate for any reasonably stock shovel, no bike anywhere needs a 3" belt for any real-world reason!

[45grum]

If I fit a belt it will be going in the cases anyway so max is 1.5 inch.
I want to keep the primary cover as I like the look of it and it is somewhere to bolt me footboards.
Zodiac do a 1.5" Primo E-start kit for £225 + vat, anyone got an opinion.
What is Zodiac stuff like in general (Chrome, fit etc)?
Cheers Grum.

[Simon_Y]

If you fit a belt with an enclosed case make sure the tranny and engne seals are oil tight ANY oil will seriously screw up the life of the belt. another issue is heat as that also F*&cks a belt sharpish even if the thing has kevlar in it the rubber matrix holding the thing together is key.

I had a 1.5" belt on my 79 shovel for 2 years and was left standing by the road side twice when the thing broke, both times when trying to start the bike since going back to the duplex chain with the "dry " clutch set up with the system sealed so as not to circulate the chain grindings through the engine I have had no problems and IMHO I would steer well clear of enclosed beld drives and set up the existing clutch with a tamer , long roller bearings and Aluminium centre , may also be worth looking at a 5 bolt hub set up to get a more even loading on the plates. Also sand the plates to get rid of any oil inmpregnation/debris. Correct adjutment of the primary chain is also critical so a hayden may be a worthwhile investment its something I'm looking at getting next.

R

Simon