What can cause a belt to break? I have an 02 trike with a Lehman trike kit. I have just broken my second belt with only 30,000 miles on it. Second belt only lasted a year or so, maybe 5k miles. I don't see anything wrong with the pully or sprocket. It has a clean break, no sign of wear as I can tell.

Just wondering if anything I can do. Not a fun project. I do my own wrenching with the advice from a friend who is a harley guru and retired from running his own shop.

Any suggestions would be apreciated.

 

Sounds like an alignment issue between trans and sprocket.

 

Stock belts? Ive read that some of the aftermarket belts wont hold up your pants let alone keep 1000 pound bike moving

 

A belt that is too loose will jump and break prematurely. A loose belt will also vibrate excessively and experience tensile failure.

Another sure to break it is someone not removing everything and trying to bend or twist it through to get it installed. On a conventional bike it's typically when someone tries to bend it through the swingarm rather than removing the swingarm.

Back bending the belt causes clean breaks, there are specific circumferences not to exceed when bending belts.

 

I have broken 2 belts within 1000 miles and determined the tension was too loose. I now set tension to 1/4"@10lbs with rider sitting on the bike.. I have a very built motor..