t, I should have known you were being funny, usually you have some good advice for most people out there so something like that I should have put one plus one together to get four.. Lol

 

I got 115K out of my original belt on my `89 Softail, it didn`t break, it just threw a few teeth and I could feel it while riding.

The first time I got a look at the pulley was when the bike only had about 40K on it, but I had to pull the primary to replace the shifter shaft.

Good thing I did, because the pulley retaining nut was finger tight, and the anti rotation screw head was sheared off.

Good luck on the rebuild Rufus, ride safe.

 

Gee that's strange... I come up with 7 Lol (I have my moments... seems like days lately)

I knew you'd replaced yours and always recommended other do so as well. Glad you caught it early.

So your '89 was the 3 hole pulley for the lock screw? I'm still hoping to learn someday, when (what year) the stripped out pulleys were most common. But then, with any piece of mechanical equipment, sometimes things fail in ways that defy any and all logic.

Replaced my belt when I did the trans about 85k so I'm gonna run it since it looks good. Original had had pencil eraser size chunks out of many teeth from tar/gravel stuck to the rear pulley since I bought it with 12k on it. Never gave any problems but I ride like Grandma Moses anyway

It's all done except mounting the mufflers and road test.

 

I've posted this in the past.

*** Below information is from the book, 101 Harley-Davidson Performance Projects For Evolution Big Twins And Sportsters ***

Tip: Always update to the latest design pulley (40210-85D)
The updated pulley has more spline area. That, combined with the lockplate and spacer largely solves the leaky, loose pulley syndrome that's plagued too many Big Twin riders.

Front Pulleys
The pulley is dependent on the strength of the splines and the clamp load. Without enough clamping pressure, the splines alone can't take it and wear prematurely. Any noticeable wear on the splines means replacement is adviseable and failure is probably not far off.

Loss of clamp load can also cue the tranny seal to leak for much of the same reason. Insufficient clamp load pressure on the seal (in other words, the pulley's loose) allows oil to sneak right on through it.

To address these issues, H-D extensively redesigned their pulley in late 1993 and introduced it to the production models in 1994. The new pulley (#40210-85D) is available as a kit, including a pulley with 50 percent more spline area and a much heavier duty spacer, along with the different oil seal required and all the related fasteners and hardware.

This design is such an improvement that it's worth doing to older, high-mileage models when the belt is replaced. In fact, immediately is none too soon for any belt-drive Big Twin with the older design pulley - especially heavy bikes, like dressers and Heritages, which have been known to chew up the pulley well before the belt wears out, some in as few as 25,000 to 30,000 miles.

 

Regardless of year or model with splined shaft tranny's, I always use red loctite on the splines for the clutch basket and belt pulley... It takes 24 hrs for 271Loctite to set up...