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Message started by BacktobasicsZM on 08/12/15 at 13:20:48

Title: How close are 4th and 5th gear & belt squeak
Post by BacktobasicsZM on 08/12/15 at 13:20:48

#1. How wide are the gaps between 4th and 5th gear. When merging onto the highway, that there is not a lot of difference in 4th and 5th, and I almost didn't realize that I wasn't in 5th.

With the exception of going to a chain drive, is there any way to extend the highway RPM a little bit? This thing has plenty of torque to get moving, but it seems to be at the upper end of the gearing on the highway. It goes up to 70 with no concern, but feels like it's turning a lot of RPM.

Much like the overdrive transmissions in cars, I would like to bring the RPM down a bit, for fuel efficiency, and reduced wear.

#2 The belt squeeks, up front, close to the engine. I read somewhere about dressing / scuffing the side of the belts somewhere, but I can't find it again?

Title: Re: How close are 4th and 5th gear & belt squeak
Post by Kris01 on 08/12/15 at 17:52:35

1. 2.3333 (35/15)
2. 1.5789 (30/19)
3. 1.1429 (24/21)
4. 0.9565 (22/23)
5. 0.8846 (23/26)

There's the 5 speed ratios. As you can see, there's not a lot of difference between 4th and 5th.

There are two ways to drop the RPMs (ok, 3 counting a taller 140/90 tire). Chain conversion or a Kawasaki EN454 pulley swap. Do a search. Dave has a pretty informative article about it. I couldn't get mine to work though! :'(

Title: Re: How close are 4th and 5th gear & belt squeak
Post by Sonny on 08/12/15 at 22:12:41

On the belt squeak/shriek, loosen the rear axle bolt and adjust the axle alignment stops on the swing arm ends so that (1) belt tension is such that you can twist the belt 90deg. with your hand without strain and (2) the belt is running as close as possible to the center of the pulley and not rubbing on either side wall. The tic marks hammered in the swing arms above the adjusters will get you in the ballpark. Make sure the axle is hard against both stop bolts before you tighten the axle nut back. It is cut and try interspersed with test runs around the block until the noise is gone.

Misalignment can cause noise from both pulleys.

Cleaning dirt off the teeth in the belt with water and a brush has been recommended but the advice is not to use belt dressings, lubes etc.

I recently examined the original belt on my '87, bending it open to look for cracks and missing rubber in the teeth. Nothing. Good as new, 28 years old with 5K miles on it. It has had zero maintenance.

Title: Re: How close are 4th and 5th gear & belt squeak
Post by verslagen1 on 08/12/15 at 23:00:38

belt alignment...
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1260147857/0

Title: Re: How close are 4th and 5th gear & belt sque
Post by Dave on 08/13/15 at 04:05:06

Recently when trying to align my belt, I found that it was running along the outside edge of the pulley. In order to move the belt over toward one side, you need to move that side of the axle forward. So I loosened the axle, then backed the right side adjuster out a small amount and reset the lock nut, and then took a plastic hammer and tapped on the end of the adjustment screw to move the axle forward until I heard the adjuster bolt contact the back of the swing arm, and then tightened things up. I rode the bike and there was no change. I tried this routine several times with small adjustments to move the belt farther inward without much success.....then all of the sudden it moved too far. I then reversed the procedure and made a lot of little adjustments....and it took a lot of adjustments to get it right. I was a bit confused as to why I made so many small adjustments both ways before any movement of the belt alignment would occur.

It turns out that what was happening is that when I would tap the right adjuster forward by tapping on the end of the adjuster - I was not moving the axle - but moving the adjuster a bit as the axle has just a little bit of play in the hole. Eventually the adjuster was tapped far enough forward that it again contacted the axle - but on the backside of the axle....and on the next adjustment it move the axle too far. So then I had to make several additional adjustments to get the adjuster to again be "pulling" on the axle.

So.....If you do move an adjuster....tap forward on the end of the axle to get it to move and take the slack out (don't tap on the end of the adjuster bolt). If you always tap forward on the axle (regardless of which way you are moving the adjuster bolt), you will take out the slack in the axle hole and the adjuster will always be snugged up against the proper side of the axle. That way small adjustments to the adjuster will also make small adjustments to the axle angle.

Kris01: You should mail me your pulley and let me look at it. Maybe I can see if there is something different about your pulley. I used a new one on my bike as the available used ones were nearly the price of a new one.

Title: Re: How close are 4th and 5th gear & belt squeak
Post by Kris01 on 08/13/15 at 17:01:58

I just might do that, Dave. Let me see if I can scrounge up a box and I'll get back in touch with you.