So I'd already been hearing the "Wheel of Fortune" noise from the belt pulley area on 99 #2 for about the last week (150 miles or so) and was considering the sprocket and chain conversion anyways...

And the "Wheel of Fortune" thread got me to thinking I'd better check the situation out before I made any other plans for that bike. Looks like I may have dodged a bullet on this one. When I first removed the pulley nut, the splines and pulley all seemed to look good. Then I remembered to remove the bend-over locking washer so I could see the gears mating better.

Then things didn't look so good, and tapping on the pulley with a dead-blow hammer made it wobble. Scenes of splitting crankcases and changing shafts next winter started dancing through my head. (A real nightmare!) But then I know that taking a close-up picture of small details like this can tell more than the naked eye:



Looks like the shaft splines may have survived. Sure glad I didn't ride it any farther before checking it. That might have torn everything up real good!

The way it is; Looks like I might be able to clean up the shaft and get me some sprockets and chain and have me some highway gearing going. I've seen O-ring chain on eBay cheaper than anywhere else so far; but I might lean towards an all-in-one matching tempered alloy kit if anyone knows where to get them reasonable?  

Were you getting any slippage? I am getting slippage like a bad clutch but i've already replaced most parts in that area and i'm trying to figure out if there is anything else that could be slipping.  The belt is one of them.  However, I feel that if my pulley or belt were wearing down it would be all or nothing.  Was your bike still pulling when you accelerated or did you have time when the engine RPM would increase but the speed wouldn't?

toddlamp8 wrote on 06/18/08 at 13:56:21:



Nope, no slippage at all yet. I'm not a regular at smoking burnouts, but I do regularly launch the bike fairly hard and shift hard. Frankly, I'm surprised that pulley has held up for at least a couple of hundred miles since I had first noticed noise from it.

I assumed that there was just a slight pulley mis-alignment causing the belt to ride up the edge of the pulley some; and that was causing the noise. I had no idea how serious the problem was getting. It now appears that my complacency was heading me for serious trouble!  

For diagnostic purpose, if you have a "slipping" problem; I'd not look at this problem for that symptom. I'll bet when this gear goes, it strips all at once. As it appears mine was on the verge of doing.

D@mn you guys and your problems...

It's like a guy at work having a heart attack.  Within 2 weeks, everyone in the building is having their cholesterol checked.

After reading the post, I went down to the garage.  My trusty torque wrench in hand, I proceeded to pull the pulley off my bike.

Wouldn't you know, but mine was loose too.  I had the wrench set to 65ft/lbs (never reset it from my last project) and it never clicked when I started to back the nut off.

Fortunately, it wasn't loose enlough to introduce much free-play, but I have been hearing the 'wheel of fortune' sound comming from that pulley for a month now.

I pulled the lock washer off and inspected.  Hooray, no wear on my splines or the shaft.

I put it back together, added some red thread locker to the shaft, retorqued the nut and took it for a ride.

No more 'wheel of fortune' sound!  No more belt noise of any sort.  Most important, no more vibration through the foot peg!

I know this one is going on my list of nuts to check at every oil change.  I'm afraid to think how much it would cost to replace that output shaft....

Man, what a great Fu$%ING site this is.  Everyone shares tips and tricks and it looks like a few people have averted disaster because of it!

I am hoping to be a Savage owner next week. People with bike for sale are due back from trip on Tuesday and I am not going to leave them alone till I have their bike in my garage. My torque wrench is waiting!

Just ran out and checked for a loose nut on my '02. Looks like the only one is in the seat behind the handle bars. I set my tourque wrench at 85 ftlbs and tried to tighten the pully nut and nothing even moved. Feel a lot better, you know it's one of those things that I've been meaning to get around to and finally did.

Hey Rockin_John, make sure you order a new seal for the driveshaft when you order the new pulley. It doesn't cost that much, and will save you having to take it apart again when it starts leaking oil after a couple k. I found out the hard way.  :'( Also get a new lock washer and nut too. Don't trust the old nut is not stripped or cracked that might caused it to loosen to begin with.

Reelthing wrote on 06/18/08 at 15:00:22:



They ship with the back wheel on......front fender, and front wheel, handlebars, and sissy bar are off.    rear tire nested, front axle bolted in the crate and stablilized by a bracket at the bar clamps.