SuzukiSavage.com - Belt tension gauge

sscala Junior Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 54 NY Gender:	Belt tension gauge 10/25/12 at 11:23:10 How does the belt tension gauge that came with the toolkit work?
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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28886 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Belt tension gauge Reply #1 - 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.
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Charon Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 1811 Harvard, NE Gender:	Re: Belt tension gauge Reply #2 - 10/25/12 at 12:03:05 The Owner's Manual explains its use. Read it.
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Gyrobob Serious Thumper Offline Posers ain't motorcyclists Posts: 2571 Newnan, GA Gender:	Re: Belt tension gauge Reply #3 - 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.
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justin_o_guy2

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Re: Belt tension gauge
Reply #4 - 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.,

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Charon Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 1811 Harvard, NE Gender:	Re: Belt tension gauge Reply #5 - 10/26/12 at 06:02:34 justin_o_guy2 wrote on 10/25/12 at 21:46:37: ...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.
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Cavie Full Member Offline My wife made me do it Posts: 107 Port charlotte Fl Gender:	Re: Belt tension gauge Reply #6 - 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.
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Digger

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Re: Belt tension gauge
Reply #7 - 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:

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!

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2001, Metallic Glacial Blue, Raptor Petcock, Verslavy (first hole) (otherwise, mechanically, the bike is stock), 13,xxx miles
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Dave YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 18099 Camp Springs, Kentucky Gender:	Re: Belt tension gauge Reply #8 - 10/31/12 at 13:35:35 verslagen1 wrote on 10/25/12 at 11:28:22: very poorly. Now you've done it! I was hoping to put my belt gauge in the marketplace and make a lot of money!
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WD

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Re: Belt tension gauge
Reply #9 - 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...

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