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Message started by sscala on 10/25/12 at 11:23:10

Title: Belt tension gauge
Post by sscala on 10/25/12 at 11:23:10

How does the belt tension gauge that came with the toolkit work?

Title: Re: Belt tension gauge
Post by verslagen1 on 10/25/12 at 11:28:22

very poorly.

we use a 90° twist method.

grab the belt in the middle and twist

if you can twist it 90° it's at the correct tension.

Title: Re: Belt tension gauge
Post by Charon on 10/25/12 at 12:03:05

The Owner's Manual explains its use. Read it.

Title: Re: Belt tension gauge
Post by Gyrobob on 10/25/12 at 20:31:21

If you have a RYCA modifed bike, the tension tool is not applicable.

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1304722902/240 see reply #246.

Title: Re: Belt tension gauge
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 10/25/12 at 21:46:37

The tool works, its probably all fine & dandy IF the goal is Max belt life, but if the goal is less belt squeal, put the bike in gear, pull it backwards to put tension on the top side of the belt, grab the bottom side of it 1/2 way between the pulleys, using 2 fingers & the thumb, twist. If its no great effort to get a 90* twist in it, youre pretty close. Different ideas of How much effort is right gives different tensions, but once you play with this method a while, youll get a feel for it & will be able to control belt noise with it.,

Title: Re: Belt tension gauge
Post by Charon on 10/26/12 at 06:02:34

455A5C5B4641704070485A561D2F0 wrote:

...put the bike in gear, pull it backwards to put tension on the top side of the belt...

No need to do this part. Leave the bike in Neutral, and the drive pulley will simply let the belt move as needed.

Title: Re: Belt tension gauge
Post by Cavie on 10/26/12 at 06:19:25

To answer your question in case you don't have a manual. Look at the bottom of the frame in front of the rear tire. You will see a hole in the frame. The adjusting too has a nipple on one end that fits in that hole. The other end just sets aganist the belt. You will see three lines on the adjuster. Adjust the belt to the middle line.

Title: Re: Belt tension gauge
Post by Digger on 10/30/12 at 19:29:32

Here is my experience with the tool:

If you insist on using the belt gauge, don't set the belt any tighter than this:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee201/Digger109/BeltTensionGaugeE.jpg

Actually, the gauge should be positioned such that its longitudinal axis is perpendicular to the belt. Mine is set a little off of the perpendicular in the above photo.

Currently, the belt on my Savage (see signature) is a tad too tight (I can rotate the belt about 85 degrees). If the gauge in the picture were set perfectly at the perpendicular, it would indicate a bit tighter than it does in the photo. I figure my slightly over-tight belt cancels out the slight mispositioning of the tension gauge, soooo.....

Bottom line? Don't use the gauge, set your belt tension via the twist method. If you insist on using the gauge, set the belt tension no tighter than what you see on the above photo.

YMMV!

Title: Re: Belt tension gauge
Post by Dave on 10/31/12 at 13:35:35

33203736292422202B74450 wrote:

very poorly.

Now you've done it! I was hoping to put my belt gauge in the marketplace and make a lot of money!

Title: Re: Belt tension gauge
Post by WD on 10/31/12 at 15:42:23

I used 3 different gauges on mine in the span of 5 minutes. There were 4 members from the old Heise forum at the L'il Sturgis (MS) rally in 2000. I'd long since thrown mine away, borrowed one from Chad, one from Allison and one from Steph (Intrudn's wife) to see if any of them were close to the right tension...

3 gauges, 3 different readings, on 4 different Savages. You do the math... my answer is... they're a joke.

They make great fishing weights though...