drive belt question
Tourer
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 373
Likes: 90
From: australia
Yea,, the drive belt should get to 80-100,000 miles before need replacing... You can have bad luck and have a stone get caught up there, and damage a belt well before that ....
But ,, if I had a belt that had done , say, 80-100 k on her ,,, and for some reason the primary ,, clutch etc , had to be removed ,,, I would throw a new belt on her .....
But ,, if I had a belt that had done , say, 80-100 k on her ,,, and for some reason the primary ,, clutch etc , had to be removed ,,, I would throw a new belt on her .....
Road Warrior
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,926
Likes: 185
From: Utah
A few years back I was approaching 50,000 on my '09 Road King and get ready for a ride around the country. My friend (not a Harley rider) suggested that I replace the belt for good measure before heading out. I went ahead and did it, though the belt was showing no signs of wear. I didn't our ride getting bogged down on my account. It was probably overkill.
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 1,962
Likes: 140
From: NY
i have an 05 road king with just over 50,000 miles on it. i have been friends for many years with a family that owns the local honda dealership and was just talking with one of them today, and we were discussing belt verses chain rear drives. he told me that the belts were likely to break after 10 years no matter what mileage or maintenance. he told me he had seen the belts break on trade in models he was moving around. i had not heard this before and wonder if i should consider replacing the belt to be a winter project. i do all my own maintenance so far.
Dont believe it.
My friends have older higher mile bikes with original stock belts still on them,1 is an 08/9+ yrs old with 100k miles & other is 05/12+yrs old with approx 75k miles.
Just as long as proper maint is done on belt drive bikes that arent putting out crazy hp/tr that are not abused constantly or ridden many miles on gravel roads where stones/gravel can possibly get stuck in the belt damaging it the belt can last many yrs and many miles.
But as is suggested you need to inspect the belt every so often for cracks/tears/holes or damage from stones etc esp as the yrs & miles add up.
Scott
Last edited by wscott; Oct 30, 2017 at 08:52 PM.
My 2006 FLHCI is coming up on 91K miles. New SE cam, new rings, new journals and bearings ... but the belt is original. It looks close to new, but I get a small and continuous squeak from it. The tension is correct, and the sprockets are aligned, so we are relatively certain that the belt lobes are slightly worn and no longer perfectly match the sprocket cavities (if I put belt dressing on the belt, the squeak goes away for a while), so I am going to replace, even though she could probably run considerably longer.
When I change the belt, I will also renew the primary case gasket, any suspect seals (or even non-suspect, if they are fairly easy to get to), and those five big bolts with the integrated O-rings on them.
What else should I be considering for replacement? I believe the primary chain tensioner was done under ESP only about 6,000 miles ago, so expect it to look like new. The compensator, while not replaced, was also examined at that time and pronounced to be in perfect running order.
When I change the belt, I will also renew the primary case gasket, any suspect seals (or even non-suspect, if they are fairly easy to get to), and those five big bolts with the integrated O-rings on them.
What else should I be considering for replacement? I believe the primary chain tensioner was done under ESP only about 6,000 miles ago, so expect it to look like new. The compensator, while not replaced, was also examined at that time and pronounced to be in perfect running order.
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