Has anyone experienced this? After a 200 mile ride today I was pulling into our neighborhood and noticed a fairly loud on again/off again rubbing noise coming from below. I put the bike up on the jack and the noise is coming from the belt at the rear sprocket. If I look at the inner edge of the sprocket on the wheel side it is nice and smooth but if I look/feel the inner edge of the sprocket on the side away from the wheel it is all rough and chewed up. It seems as if the rear sprocket is out of alignment with the front sprocket like the leading edge of the rear sprocket is slightly angled to the right. If I take a screwdriver and hold it against the belt while turning the wheel the noise immediately stops. The belt tension is perfect per the manual and the adjusting cams are both up against their stops. I guess something is out of alignment wouldn't you think? It could be as simple as one of the wheel alignment cams welded on out of sync with the other one or as complex as something in the frame assembly out of spec. I'll take it to the dealer on Tuesday and have them check it out. Anybody else? BTW, bike has 8K miles on it and today was the first day for this noise.

Marc

 

Both cams on the axle are adjusted against the stops, one on the right one on the left?

Maybe a bearing is crushing in the cage...if that has happened the axle nut would be loose. Tightning the axle just applies more pressure to the cage and further crush happens. The later would be a very odd occurance with factory wheels. If you have custom wheels then I would bet the spacer between the bearings was / is to short and the bearings have in fact crushed in the cages.

 

Yep, both cams are against their respective stops and the wheels are stock. The nut is still tight so nothing seems to have moved. The wheel turns smoothly so the bearings seem fine. Looking closer at the inner side of the pulley that is wearing there now seems to be a bit of a step actually worn into it from the belt but the belt doesn't show any damage as of yet other than its a bit shiny in places where its been rubbing.

Marc

 

Since you're the "balancer guy" I know this isn't likely, but could the sprocket be loose? Probably you're mounting your own tires, but if someone else mounted the tire (at 8000 miles you might or might not have replaced the rear), it is possible that he removed the sprocket for mounting and didn't properly re-torque it.

Really odd that this problem didn't appear from the beginning, if there is a problem with the swingarm weldments that locate the axle eccentrics.

 

The tire hasn't been changed yet and the sprocket is tight. Must be something else.

Marc

 

Could be that nothing is wrong. Toothed belts will always rub the pulley flange to some extent. Maybe you just need a dab of Poly-Oil on the belt HD #99860-81
I have had the rubbing and or squeaking on several bikes usually after riding on dusty roads. And a very small dab if the Poly-Oil on the sides of the belt stops it.
I should add that it was a Harley tech that told me about this and even handed me his tube of lube to try.
NOTE it takes a VERY small amount of the lube to cure the problem.

 

I like that option I'll get some lubricant tomorrow and see what happens.

Thanks,
Marc

 

My 08 street glide is doing the same thing. Took it to the dealer with aroungd 1000 miles on it they said the belt was to tight they adjusted the belt. And i now have almost 5000 miles on it and its starting agian seems to start doing the sound when it gets warmed up going to have them check agian i know the belt shouldnt be getting tight over time if so someting isnt right.

 

I have 800 miles on my bike and experience the same noise after riding about 30 or 40 miles. I plan to have the dealer look at it on my 1000 mile service. My gut is the belt is too tight as mentioned above, but I doubt the dealer will do anything about it since he will not take the time to try to replicate the noilse. The situation is disheatning, but hopefully my dealer will correct this problem

 

Hey Marc let us know what your dealer says on Thursday and im going to take mine back soon to see what they allow