Belt To Chain Conversion w/180mm Tire/wheel
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,415
Likes: 18
From: Belmont, MI
Belt To Chain Conversion w/180mm Tire/wheel
Im doing a belt chain conversion to my 05 glide using a 16 Steet Bob wheel, 180mm tire with a NCB wide fender and have run into a problem. To get my wheel perfectly centered in the fender Im using a .750 sprocket spacer on the rear. and a 1.060 offset for the front. The sprocket alignment was off .142 so we machined it off the tranny side of the front sprocket and made a .142 spacer to put under the sprocket nut. The problem with that is there isnt much of a flat on the rear of the nut to begin with and having to clear the splines with the spacer leaves even less of the flat area on the nut clamping down which concerns me. Anyone know where I can get a spacer with splines? We considered cutting one out of an old sprocket but theyre hardened so we decided against it.
Heres my options as I see them. Please let me know your thoughts.
1. Scoot the wheel to the left .142 and get a new front sprocket. I believe I have enough bolt/swingarm, fender/tire clearance but Ill have to check to be sure when I get home tonight. I hate to do this as the wheel/tire is perfectly centered in the fender.
2. Get a 1 rear spacer and machine it down to .892 and get a new front sprocket (Same thing as above regarding clearances).
3. This would be the cheapest, easiest and is the way I would like to do it but Im not sure its acceptable. The nut is tapered so I was thinking of cutting the sprocket side of the nut down a bit to gain a little more flat area on the nut to help clamp things down. Doing this I would lose a few threads on the nut but I could leave all else as is.
I would appreciate hearing thoughts and ideas.
Thanks,
Rick
Heres my options as I see them. Please let me know your thoughts.
1. Scoot the wheel to the left .142 and get a new front sprocket. I believe I have enough bolt/swingarm, fender/tire clearance but Ill have to check to be sure when I get home tonight. I hate to do this as the wheel/tire is perfectly centered in the fender.
2. Get a 1 rear spacer and machine it down to .892 and get a new front sprocket (Same thing as above regarding clearances).
3. This would be the cheapest, easiest and is the way I would like to do it but Im not sure its acceptable. The nut is tapered so I was thinking of cutting the sprocket side of the nut down a bit to gain a little more flat area on the nut to help clamp things down. Doing this I would lose a few threads on the nut but I could leave all else as is.
I would appreciate hearing thoughts and ideas.
Thanks,
Rick
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
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From: Bedford UK
Rick, I'm surprised at what you say, as I have a 160 tyre (actually 167mm wide) in my 2004 swingarm with no problems. Wheel is central with a 1 1/8" belt. To get in your wider tyre would need taking a further 10mm or 3/8" from the belt side.
I suggest you start with the rear wheel, which is what I did. Space the sprocket so that you have just enough clearance for the chain where it passes the tyre. I have 3/16" clearance between my tyre and belt. The attached photo shows how I checked that.
Continued in next post!
I suggest you start with the rear wheel, which is what I did. Space the sprocket so that you have just enough clearance for the chain where it passes the tyre. I have 3/16" clearance between my tyre and belt. The attached photo shows how I checked that.
Continued in next post!
Last edited by grbrown; Apr 2, 2013 at 05:16 PM.
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
Likes: 2,897
From: Bedford UK
Sorry about that, pressed the wrong button! I'll carry on. The attached photo shows my tyre and the pulley, from which you can see the belt track. My clearance is the thickness of the edge of the pulley. I suggest you need to check you have a suitable clearance on your wheel.
Then you can install the wheel and get spacers or offset correct for the front sprocket. You may well need to offset the wheel to the right of the bike, but you have a sound basis on which to work that out. Your chain is narrower than my belt, so any wheel offset should not be very much. Hope that helps!
Then you can install the wheel and get spacers or offset correct for the front sprocket. You may well need to offset the wheel to the right of the bike, but you have a sound basis on which to work that out. Your chain is narrower than my belt, so any wheel offset should not be very much. Hope that helps!
Tourer
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 324
Likes: 2
From: Central Valley, CA
I installed a 180mm tire on my 2002 roadglide. Here's how I did it. I used a .900 offset sprocket on the front, 17x6 wheel , 180mm tire, with a 530 o-ring chain and a rear sprocket with countersunk holes. Must use flat head socket bolts, because hex head and allen head bolts will hit swingarm. This is how I mocked everything up. First I installed the front sprocket, then I installed the rear sprocket and brake rotor on the wheel with out any spacers behind them. Don't tighten bolts all the way down, leave them loose so you can slide sprocket and rotor back and forth on bolts. I then installed and centered wheel in swingarm, don't put on the axle spacers. With the wheel centered, I used a straight edge and aligned rear sprocket to the front sprocket. Leaving the bolts loose on rear sprocket allows you to move it in or out for proper alignment to the front. Next I centered the rotor in caliper. I had to grind a little off the caliper for it to fit they wider wheel. Now you measure, I used a digital micrometer. Here's what I measured, thickness of spacers needed between the sprocket and wheel hub, rotor and wheel hub, left and right axle spacers. Made my own axle spacers out of 1" galvanized pipe from your local hardware store. Sprocket and rotor spacers I bought from vulcanworks.net. I didn't like how close the tire was to the saddlebag brackets, so I made my own out of some 3/16" thick flat steel. Hope this helps and good luck. Have any questions PM me and I try to help you out.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jan 2007
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From: Belmont, MI
Thanks a lot for all the replies. You know what they say about hindsight being 20/20. A lot of good ideas and if I had asked earlier I might have gone a different route, but I think I have the problem solved. Ive got the wheel centered perfectly by shaving a bit off the caliper mount (Brembo). I currently have 1/4" belt/tire clearance. Ive already had new spacers made so Im very happy with where the rear is and would rather not mess with it if it can be avoided.
My biggest problem is getting enough surface clamping area on the sprocket using the spacer which is required if I want to leave the rear as it is. A friend on one of the other forums turned me on to the Jims Mega Nut for tranny sprockets. Using this on top of my spacer I should gain back all of the lost clamping area and maybe a little extra. It sure is a pricey thing though ($65) but at this point if it solves my problem and allows me to leave everything as is in the rear I dont care.
Rick
My biggest problem is getting enough surface clamping area on the sprocket using the spacer which is required if I want to leave the rear as it is. A friend on one of the other forums turned me on to the Jims Mega Nut for tranny sprockets. Using this on top of my spacer I should gain back all of the lost clamping area and maybe a little extra. It sure is a pricey thing though ($65) but at this point if it solves my problem and allows me to leave everything as is in the rear I dont care.
Rick
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jan 2007
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From: Belmont, MI
Problem solved, I see Baker has what I need. .900 will be perfect. I had tunnel vision and was only looking at PBI. They jump from .750 to 1.060 offset.
Thanks a lot for the help.
Rick
Thanks a lot for the help.
Rick
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