Riding to work this morning on the freeway doing about 75 mph. I feel a slight slip; at that moment I feel the bike is not pulling as it was anymore and at the same time I hear a brief sharp noise. I slow down to 65 motoring on and get off freeway about a mile and half down the road. Slowing down and a strange noise is evident. Sounds like a belt being destroyed. I stop and get off to inspect and find my main drive belt is chewed up. The inner approx. 1/4" is ground/gouged badly. The remaining outside section is in various states of chewed up. You cannot see any teeth.
I am 32 miles from home. Looks like I'm going to need to baby it home or till it breaks.
Sounds like I either have a rock in near the clutch or a clutch part broke.
I still think something is dragging on the belt.

 

Good luck! Doesnt your insurance cover tow's?
You might want to think about that........let us know how it turns out.

 

Upon further inspection I discovered the issue; an exhaust bracket part had come off and the now badly deformed part was pinned by the belt and the swinger behind the removable panel. It was easy to remove. The offending part now removed I judged the belt intact enough to proceed and I made it home without issue.
The exhaust bracket part is a small support bracket that works with the exhaust clamp which sits behind the rear cylinder. The part itself is mounted to the top of the transmission and helps support the left side exhaust routing along with the exhaust clamp.
This all happened because a few days before while working on the left side exhaust I failed to tighten this part properly.

 

I would be willing to bet money that my 99 has the original belt on it. I know it has HD written in red on it. I have looked at it close, no signs of cracking or fraying. Run it til it pops, or replace it? How much would one run, generally?

Thanx in advance, RD

 

I just replaced my belt as it had broke out on the road. new one from an indy shop was $180. Then I went through the task of putting it on. What a pain.

 

Sucks that tightening one nut cost you a belt. Las time I had my exhaust off I dropped that same nut and couldn't find it. I wouldn't take bike off lift till I did find it because I feared it getting tied up like yours did. Found the damn nut two days later.

 

According to HD the belt should be good for over 100K if it is the kevlar belt.

 

There I was....just passing an 18-wheeler on the outskirts of Beaumont on I-10 when all he!! broke loose. I thought the bottom-end had came apart on my Softail. I got her coasted down and upon close examination, discovered some teeth were missing off the belt. I pick up the cell phone to call the wife to see if I could coax her into bringing the trailer, but had another thought. I tightened the adjusters as tight as I could and rode a few more miles breaking off a few more teeth and repeated the process 3-4 more times until I had all the teeth stripped off and the belt fairly slick. I had to stop 2 more times during the 250 mile run home and tighten the adjusters, but made it all the way. It got a little hairy going up steep inclines in the rain when the belt got wet and slipped, but it never broke. When I replaced it...the thing was a thin as a penny, but it stayed inside the pulley's and got me home.