How To: Primo Brute V Open belt drive install

Drain the primary and remove the outer primary cover. If you have a 2000-2006 model the primary chain adjustment cover must be removed as well to get the primary cover off. Here is the bike with the primary cover off.




Lock the front primary drive sprocket with a special tool or whatever is on hand. I used a small piece of wood and it worked fine. Loosen off the Compensator sprocket nut. I used a large breaker bar and my foot. Loosen the clutch adjuster nut (LEFT HANDED THREADS so you turn it to the right to loosen it) Remove the clutch adjuster screw, large snap ring and plate behind the clutch adjuster. Remove the Primary drive sprockets, chain, clutch basket, tensioner, everything.
Remove the transmission main shaft race with a race puller. I use the George’s Garage version.


Removing the compensator sprocket


Everything out of the outer primary


Remove the 2 starter bolts (the most difficult part of the install due to the location of the oil tank) and the bolts holding the inner primary on. The bolts inside the inner primary have brackets around the bolts that have to be tapped out of the way with a screwdriver and hammer to get the socket on the bolts.

To get to the starter bolts I used a long wobbly extension and a long ball end ¼” allen socket with a ratchet once I got the socket on the bolt. The front one was easy and took about 5 minutes to get. When you loosen the bolt, do not remove it from the hole in the starter or it will be hell getting it back in. Ask how I know. Here is the front bolt removal.



For the rear bolt which is impossible to see with the bike as it is, I removed the splash guard, the battery, and the 4 bolts that hold the oil tank in place. Two of the bolts are on the top front portion of the oil tank, the other two are on the back behind the splash guard. Once the 4 bolts were removed I had access to se the bolt as the tank would move around a bit. Not a lot of space, but just enough to be able to see and get in to the bolt for removal. I had to use a flash light to see the bolt I wanted to remove and then the space I could see through was so minute that when I stuck the socket on the extension in I would lose sight of the bolt, but after about 20 minutes I got the socket on the bolt. Loosen the bolt off (I removed it from the hole by accident and it was a 2 person job to get it back through the hold to attach later) and then remove the bolts that hold the inner primary on the primary side after tapping the safety brackets on the bolts out of the way. At this point the inner primary will come right off.
Inner Primary off



Remove the cover for the stator which is held in place magnetically.


Now I am ready to start installing the Primo Brute V open belt drive on my bike. Remove the stock starter shaft and replace with the Primo version. You need a super small snap ring pliers to get the stock shaft off. I used a little screwdriver as I was not going to reuse the snap ring. Slide on the Primo shaft and bolt it on with the supplied washers and bolt. Put the stator cover back on after cleaning it thoroughly of all the oil that is in it. Bolt on the rear plate loosely using the supplied hardware and blue loctite on the bolts. Bolt on the front plate in the same fashion. Tighten the bolts down. Torque is in the instructions somewhere.

Here you can see the Primo starter shaft and such.


Here is the inward portion of the Brute V open belt drive.


Grease the transmission shaft with the supplied primo grease. Slide on the rear pulley. Hand tighten the nut on the shaft. Slide on the front pulley and hand tighten as well. Check alignment of pulley’s with a straight edge. I had a question about alignment as it was about 1/8” off and Primo told me that was fine. Clutch plates are already installed in this pic. You alternate steel plate, clutch plate and so on. The last plate on the inside and outside is a steel plate.


Remove each pulley and reinstall the rear with blue loctite and torque to spec. Install the belt over the rear pulley. Slide the belt over the front pulley and slide the pulley on to the shaft. Use blue loctite and torque the nut to spec.

Install clutch cover, clutch spring, and 4 nuts with locking plates. The clutch nuts get tightened to 30 INCH POUNDS only which is pretty much finger tight. Don’t forget on Primo’s you use lots of anti seize on the clutch nuts as opposed to the loctite you use on BDL’s. Bend the locking plate over the edges of the nuts.

Here is the belt on but clutch install not completed.


Here is the clutch outer installed ready for the adjuster to go in with the locknut. Install the clutch adjuster (no snap ring on this diaphragm clutch) and the locknut. Ensure the clutch cable is slacked, turn the adjuster in until you feel it start to tighten, and then turn back about a half a turn. Due to the lack of adjustment on my clutch cable with my foot clutch, I turned the adjuster back out about a full turn so that I could find neutral easily. Tighten down the clutch adjuster nut (11/16”) and you are almost done.

Install the two stand off’s with blue loctite and tighten them down. Install the outer cover.


My bike has floorboards and I was nor sure if I was going to be able to fit the floorboard bracket in it’s stock location with the brute V and no one else seemed to know either. I purchased two 1” floorboard bracket spacers from Vulcan Works in case I was going to need them. I tried first with just a few washers (maybe ¼” wide) on each bolt with the floorboard bracket and it fit fine. There is almost an inch between the edge of the brute V cover and my bracket so I am pretty sure I would not have needed to space the brackets out at all but this is food for thought.

The only other potential issue is the kickstand and where it rests when up. I found that in stock form the kicker part of the stand was hitting the underside of my belt. I stepped on the part of the stand and bent it so it was out of the way but then the stand was hitting the frame. So I zip tied some fuel line around the frame where the stand was hitting. This has worked so far but I am going to find a better method to fix this issue when I get a chance.

Now you are free to ride.

Drew

 

Sweeeet! Hows that mod anyway? Does it improve performance or is it for looks?
I think it's time you had an aftermarket kickstand anyway.

 

Nice write up.

 

Nice write up, good pics. have you ridden it yet?

 

Yup. I have ridden it. It rides great and i really like it. Not really sure if it adds anything performance wise, but it is cool as hell. I was plannin gon being out all day today too, but there is a water main up the street that is broken and the water is 2 feet deep in my drive way and has been since early this morning. I was hoping it would have been fixed by now, but what can you do. I don;t feel like getting wet right now. If I had a ramp I'd be out for sure.

Drew

 

2 feet of water in your drive way all in the sudden? I smell a conspiracy...do you have a Primary Chain Makers local union hall nearby?

 

Need a video of it running now. Nobody will ever ask to ride your bike. Suicide clutch, tall apes, open belt. Now you just need to convert to kick only!!!

 

What a great write-up!!!! I'm saving this for reference. The new primary looks VERY cool!!!! I'm not sure it's a job I'm equipped to do myself, but it would make a nice modification at some point.

 

Holy underworld conspiracy batman! Well, I think it finally stopped around 9PM. I know where I'm going today. Anywhere but here.

 

So after a few weeks with the Primo I wanted to report back on performance and such. I have noticed that the clutch is much much smoother than my stock clutch was. I have a 95" build with 07 and up heads on my 2002. I can hot this thing as hard as I want from a dead stop and it responds much better. With the placement of my floorboard, no chance of any mishaps either.

I am very happy with this.

Drew