photojoe FSO
Serious Thumper Alliance Member
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I did warn you to brace yourself
Posts: 1379
New Jersey
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You might consider buying a Clymer manual on Ebay. I got mine for around $10. I don't just read it before doing repairs or maintenance, I keep it in reach and read it when I'm lounging around.
The belt squeal/chirp will drive a person insane. The 90 degree tension testing method is just twisting the belt with your fingers. If you're able to twist it 90 degrees, your tension should be close to correct.
The squeal/chirp can be caused by a number of things, usually a mis-aligned rear wheel or incorrect belt tension. The Clymer has step-by-step guidance on how to adjust the tension/rear wheel. It's fairly straight-forward. When I did mine, I first removed the front pulley cover and noticed that the belt was hugging the outside of the pulley, but it was hugging the inside of the rear pulley. There was also a ton of crud in there which I cleaned out. Canned air is good to have around.
You need to loosen the rear axle nut, and adjust the tension using both nuts on either side of the rear wheel. I will allow the more experienced wrenchers to chime in with their approach to tension/alignment as my approach didn't work very well. The belt was still chirping away. What did get rid of it? I used a toothbrush and a container filled with warm water and dish soap. I scrubbed the inside of the belt and dried it with the canned air as I went along (found a tech tip online using this approach). Then I sprayed the inside of the belt with Suzuki brand dry silicone lube. I also shot just a bit of canned grease in the rear of the pulley, careful to not get it on the belt.
This approach goes against everything I've read, and the more experienced wrenchers will probably give me hell. But for the time being, my belt chirping is gone. Time will tell.
Oh, and watch those cover bolts, they snap easy if not torqued to spec. You'll feel like it needs "one more turn" to tighten, and that's when it'll snap on you. If you don't have a torque wrench, buy one. You're gonna need it.
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