Hey guys. im building a custom with odd and ends. ive got a 3" open BDL. does anyone know what the tourque specs are for the pulley nut and the clutch hub nut? it a 1980 shovel motor S&S stroker if that makes any diff.also the three bolts that hold the front pulley on the offset spacer specs if anyone knows. not sure if i should go by the service manual or if BDL has its own specs. cant find anything on there sites anywhere. thanx in advance.

 

Contact BDL. Go to their website and get the contact info there. When I ran a BDL belt drive I was able to speak directly with a tech on the phone but you can email them too. They were very willing to help.
I did not have much luck with the belt drives I have tried over the years. I finally went back to a chain primary and never looked back.
I hope you have better luck than I did with those things.

 

what kind of problems are you talking about. its a custom build so i dont need the headaches.

 

Allow me to preface my tale of woe with the fact that a whole lot of guys really like their belt drives and haven't had trouble with them. I am glad that they are getting good service life out of them.
I ran a 1 1/2" belt drive in an enclosed (but it was vented) aluminum primary. It was a BDL unit with their "quiet clutch" that was not-so-quiet. It wasn't bad at first but as the metal plates wore where they contact the round screw-in lugs in the shell they got a lot louder. That clutch made a heck of a lot of racket in the engaged position. It was much quieter when I pulled the clutch lever and disengaged it. Of course, the clutch spends most of it's time engaged so I listened to it rattling around in there most of the time. I never had any problems with it dragging on this particular setup and it engaged smoothly but after about 7 or 8 thousand miles it started squealing as it engaged. I mean it really let out a screech. I talked with the good folks at BDL and they sent me a "fix" which was a different outer plate for the clutch but that didn't help and over time sent me a new (not a "quiet" type clutch) clutch which worked okay and did not squeal. It did rattle around in there worse than the "quiet" type clutch especially when the steel plates started wearing where they contact the round lugs in the shell. A few of the screw-in lugs in the clutch shell came loose a couple of times and I managed to catch them before anything bad happened but the last straw on that setup was when one of those lugs snapped off and got loose inside the primary, wedging itself against the starter ring gear and the primary housing making a truly disquieting grinding-screaming noise and spraying lots of metal filings all around inside the primary. I took that unit out and installed one of their belt drives that use the original type Harley clutches. I couldn't get that one to stop dragging (I tried all the usual tricks to get it to fully release) so that ended my interest in belt drives.
When I removed that last belt drive I noticed rust around my trans shaft support bearing (the one pressed into the inner primary). Upon inspection, I discovered that the bearing had failed and was chewing on the shaft of my Baker 6 into 4 tranny. That transmission cost a couple of bucks and I was not happy. I blame the belt drive because the belt gets tight (at least, mine did) when everything warmed up which put a big load on that little bearing.
I gotta say, the belts they use today with the parabolic teeth are WAY better than the old Gilmer belts that the early ones used.
Chain drive works best for me. I run an isolated primary with a Barnett Scorpion clutch and have, so far, received exellent service from it.
I have not tried an open belt drive so I can't speak to their performance...I just don't care for the looks or that belt whizzing around out in the open. Lots of folks love 'em and I am glad they are happy with 'em.
I hope your belt drive serves your needs well.

 

I just put a new clutch basket on the bike because the old one was chewed up, anyways, now that everything is back togeather and all new its still messed up.
When I pull the clutch in and put it into gear it jumps and stalls, ive worked on the clutch every way to sunday and its still messed up.
It is now at a shop and they are stumped as well anyone have a clue?????