SuzukiSavage.com - Lateral belt position

wombat Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 109	Lateral belt position 09/05/12 at 13:10:07 My belt seems to favor one side of the rear pulley and always rides there. Is this oaky. Should the belt sit exactly equidistant between the ridges on each side? If so, how is this adjusted?
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rfw2003

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Re: Lateral belt position
Reply #1 - 09/05/12 at 13:16:02

Sounds like you don't have the rear wheel in straight and square. Simplest way to figure this out is to use a tape measure and go from the swingarm pivot point to the center of the axle on each side. If you measurements are diff then the rear wheel isn't square and the belt will ride to one side or the other of the rear pulley.

R.F.

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28884 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Lateral belt position Reply #2 - 09/05/12 at 13:39:08 The adjustments are finer than you can eyeball with a yo-yo. Loosen the axle nut. jack the rear end up. check belt tension. rotate the wheel in one direction and tighten the side the belt rides to. rotate the wheel the other direction, try to center the belt for both directions. recheck tension. done.
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SALB

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Re: Lateral belt position
Reply #3 - 09/05/12 at 13:48:14

The pulley has a little bit of give because of the rubber dampeners inside. I've never been able to get mine perfectly centered, but as long as it's not rubbing on the side of the belt, it's not a problem. Measuring, as RFW mentioned, will get you closer than the little adjuster marks Suzuki supplies.

PS: Verslagens method works really well, too!

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LouSiana

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Re: Lateral belt position
Reply #4 - 09/05/12 at 13:57:01

If the belt isn't squeaking, you don't have to do very much...

Back on the swingarm you have two adjusters. Loosen the rear axle, loosen the checknuts of the adjusters, take off the cover from the pulley.

Then you take an absolutely straight stud or beam or a level, connect it with the outer rear pulley rim (under the swingarm) and let it point to the rim of the front pulley. Adjust the right adjuster for correct beaming, adjust the left to set the tension of the belt. Both will affect each other but you get the idea, I think.

Make one more test: Try to swing and rock the rear pulley with your hands. If this is possible because it has slack, change the rubber absorbers behind the pulley or apply thin sheet metal to the absorbers. Then the adjustment of the belt is more steady!
Also make sure that the front pulley is tightened very good! If it comes loose, the toothing of the pulley and the axle will be ruined.

Even with the best adjustment the belt will travel a bit from one side rim to the other because the load torque changes with acceleration and deceleration.

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Gyrobob

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Re: Lateral belt position
Reply #5 - 09/05/12 at 14:50:07

If you center the tire on the swingarm, all you have is a tire centered on the swingarm, which is only an approximation of the belt being centered on the pulley.

Find a good straightedge. Aluminum bar or angle from Home Depot will do,.. just make sure it is stiff and absolutely straight.

Place the bar on the pulley. The bar should be exactly parallel with the edge of the belt, or the belt will ride to one side of the pulley.

If you feel like being even more precise, take off the drive pulley cover, and place a bar on both pulleys at once to make sure they are parallel.

I use the method above to check the alignment of the belt with the pulley, but I also cross check the rear wheel alignment by running a string (or a straight board) from beside the front tire to beside the back tire to make sure the wheel/tire situation is parallel as well. You have to account for the difference in the width of the tires. My Avon Speedmasters are 4" wide rear, and 3.5" wide front.

These bikes were made with an awful lot of variation from one production run to another. I would not be surprised if there were a lot of variation (meaning many thousandths of an inch) in the dimensions of one swingarm to the next. Those indented alignment marks on the rear of the swingarm are not very precise at all.

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ralfyguy

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Re: Lateral belt position
Reply #6 - 09/05/12 at 15:38:18

In my case there is about 3mm or 1/8" difference between the markings on both sides when adjusted correctly. I also noticed that outside temps affect where the belt rides due to thermo expansion of the materials. The industry standard in Germany states to make fine adjustments in a 68F/20C environment. So i waited for a day like that and did the Verslagen method with spinning the wheel and observing the belt.
Once I got it right, in the mornings when cool it tended to run on the inside, around lunch it ran in the middle and late afternoon when it was hot out, it ran on the outside. You will never have the belt run 100% exactly running in the middle at all times. That's why I tried to find the way in the middle and it works pretty good.
Now whenever I have to take the wheel out, I measure the distance from bolt head to adjuster body on both sides and write it down. This way you just pop the wheel back in and adjust it to what you measured with a caliper before and be done with it. No more messing with adjusting. Worked for me.

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