My son called me yesterday. He said he rolled the bike ('07 Road Glide) out of the garage and down to the curb but it seemed like the brakes were on. He fired it up and started to let out the clutch and felt the motor was going to die.

He rolled it back into the garage and onto the lift. The front wheel turned freely but the rear one didn't. To make a long story short I asked him how the drive belt looked? I heard him say, uh oh. He said the backside of the belt (non-toothed side) is being peeled off by something. He said there's a bunch of shredded rubber lodged between the front drive pulley and the case.

I told him he probably picked up a rock and it's lodged in there shredding the belt. I asked him if he's been on any gravel roads? He said no. So as he starts picking out the shredded rubber he sees something shiny. And the more he digs he starts to recognize the object.

Now a while back he mentioned to me that his cigarette lighter must have fallen out of the dash. I tell him that mine fell out of my Street Glide the first month I had it. Well his fell out alright. And guess where it ended up? Lodged between the front drive pulley and the case! What are the odds of that happening?

 

Man, that sucks. Gotta take the swingarm off, wich is a riot. Not.
I bet you'd love to have a chaindrive right now, dontcha?

 

HD borrowed the idler pulley from it's Buell parts bin and put it on the XR1200. With an idler pulley the belt is able to handle and spit out a rock/debris without harm. It should be on all models.

Belt replacement is easier. On the Buell there is no wheel alignment needed. Just slide the axle through the swing arm and torque to specs.

HD should make it's swing arms that way also. Eric Buell is way ahead of any other engineer at HD. Too bad they let him go.

 

Remarkable! Like the old adage, "If it were not for bad luck, I would not have no luck at all!" Sure glad you discovered the culprit at home, for sure!

 

Here are the pictures. I was able to get the lighter out of there tonight.

Zach

 

I had the lighter fall out on my RG during a road trip and got caught in my shift linkage. Talk about fun times on the road. I couldn't find it and was wondering why it was so hard to shift. After the road trip I took the bike in for service and they found it wedged down in the linkage. Had to use some very long handled needle nose to pry it out.

 

I guess he lost his chance to win the lottery ;-)

 

Geez, as if us smokers had enuff probs already, now our BIKES are tryin to tell us somethin!

 

damn!!!!!!!

 

Falling into a bucket of **** and coming out smelling of it,in this situation.Sometimes life can be a real pain.