[BrendonMLambert]

Sorry if im answering my own question here but id just like some confirmation as ive only had chains to worry about for the past 5 years. Im currently trying to figure out why my pully sounds like it squeaking so I pulled off the cover and found some odd looking wear on belt. Just a long stripe on both sides that looks like its exposing fabric. I also noticed my rear pully is pretty gouged up. Im thinking the gouged bits might have caused the stripe but I just want to be sure. I also think maybe the shop didnt properly align my rear tire (which may be causing the pully squeak) and now the belt is pulled too far to one side. Im replacing the belt and rear pully regardless but I would like to confirm that im not missing anything else that could be causing my issue.

 

[Heftysmurf]

Some belts squeak and some don't. There is belt dressing and others have rubbed soap on the side of the belt and it has stopped the noise. You may also want to check the tension as that will make it squeak as well.
The belt looks fine in the pic and is somewhat centered. It doesn't have to be 100% in the middle as long as it is not rubbing or riding up on the side of the pulley.

 

[freeezzzz]

The problem is with the stock muffler. Install a straight through exhaust and the problem will go away))

PS
The belt looks to be in condition I would call "new"

 

[BrendonMLambert]

The problem is with the stock muffler. Install a straight through exhaust and the problem will go away))

PS
The belt looks to be in condition I would call "new"

Actually have one already 😂 Yeah buddy just showed me they come with a stripe of exposed fabric. Ill try the soap and see if it works. Thanks yall!

 

[random_guy]

My history of bike drive trains was shaft, then belt, then chain, then belt. When coming back to the belt from chain, I found it a bit unnerving on how tight the belt is over a chain. If you think it's "snug" per chain standards, then it's WAY too loose per belt standards. Grab a belt tension tool and do a proper verification of tension before making a personal judgement call.

And welcome to the forum! Share some pics of your bike! We love pics!

 

[2NDWFE]

Yup... Belt looks good as new. Try to get it centered.. you'll spend a bunch of time trying to get it "perfect".... Then you'll ride and look at it and it'll be off a bit.. happens to me every time. Another place for the belt to make a "squeak" is the plastic rollers in front of the main (front) pulley. Mine are deleted cause I did the front pulley mod. . I've had no noticable belt noise. Then again, I've got baffle-less street sweepers with no turndown tips... I don't think I could hear a freight train

 

[arizonawarrior]

Tips and Tricks:

Warrior Maintenance & Repair Documents

This area is a storehouse for General Warrior 'Maintenance & Repair' Help Files. 1. This Table of Contents. 2. Stock Turn Signal Bulbs by Model Year, plus UK notes. Replacing the Flasher. 3. Stock Warrior Tool Kits, 2002, 2003-2005, and 2006+, Plus Other Tools. 4. Changing the Motor Oil and Oil...

www.rswarrior.com

One of the pdf attachments is just what you need to get your sea legs on this beasts drive belt.

+1 with those who say the belt pics don't seem to show damage or cracks. But you mentioned maybe some tooth marking or wear. That can make noise.

Check out the S&S belt, assuming stock set-up which appears the case from your pics: S&S-Gates X3N Carbon Cord Drive Belt #106-0359 (130T 14mm 1-1/8").

 

[arizonawarrior]

Keeping this separate from above: also inspect your front pulley cavity for debris, red dust, motor oil, or a loose front pulley, etc.

 

[freeezzzz]

On my previous bike, I've heard a creak or some kind of howl through the noise of VH bigshot without muflers. It seemed to me then that the noise was coming from the front. I checked everything there, over front half the bike - it did not help. Then he went through the entire rear end, suspension, transmission from the drive pulley to the wheel - to no avail. I'm so tired of looking! And then I bought a communicator and started driving with music. And I forgot about the problem)) After I replaced 2 belts on this bike, I did not hear any noise. Nothing else changed. I think it has something to do with the belt. The last belt I used on that bike for 32,000 km I removed after the accident and carried it with me rolled up for several years. Last year I broke the old belt again (87000km on it) and put the previous belt with 32kkm. And already clocked 12,000 km with him(44000 on it now). There was no sound. Two different bikes, same belt, no sound.

 

[DFW_Warrior]

My history of bike drive trains was shaft, then belt, then chain, then belt. When coming back to the belt from chain, I found it a bit unnerving on how tight the belt is over a chain. If you think it's "snug" per chain standards, then it's WAY too loose per belt standards. Grab a belt tension tool and do a proper verification of tension before making a personal judgement call.

And welcome to the forum! Share some pics of your bike! We love pics!

I always ran mine LOOSE. The one thing that will kill a belt is being overly tight. How loose did I run mine you might ask? When I put the bike up on a lift, I didn't have to loosen the tension adjustment blocks on the axle to remove or re-install the back wheel. That belt went 40k miles until I sold the bike and still looked and worked like brand new.

Side note, way back when we did the Warrior meet up at the Dragon and went to the drag strip, there were two broken belts that happened. Both happened when overly tight belts were pulled to their breaking point under suspension compression at the same time as being under engine load. Just remember, loose belts are happy belts.

 

[arizonawarrior]

^^^^^^ What Bill said ^^^^^^^

 

[freeezzzz]

I always ran mine LOOSE. The one thing that will kill a belt is being overly tight. How loose did I run mine you might ask? When I put the bike up on a lift, I didn't have to loosen the tension adjustments to remove or re-install the back wheel. That belt went 40k miles until I sold the bike and still looked and worked like brand new.

Side note, way back when we did the Warrior meet up at the Dragon and went to the drag strip, there were two broken belts that happened. Both happened when overly tight belts were pulled to their breaking point under suspension compression at the same time as being under engine load. Just remember, loose belts are happy belts.

My experience with this bike has led me to the same conclusion

 

[random_guy]

I always ran mine LOOSE. The one thing that will kill a belt is being overly tight. How loose did I run mine you might ask? When I put the bike up on a lift, I didn't have to loosen the tension adjustment blocks on the axle to remove or re-install the back wheel. That belt went 40k miles until I sold the bike and still looked and worked like brand new.

Side note, way back when we did the Warrior meet up at the Dragon and went to the drag strip, there were two broken belts that happened. Both happened when overly tight belts were pulled to their breaking point under suspension compression at the same time as being under engine load. Just remember, loose belts are happy belts.

I was pretty specific in how I commented on this:

" If you think it's "snug" per chain standards, then it's WAY too loose per belt standards. Grab a belt tension tool and do a proper verification of tension before making a personal judgement call. "

When I had my chain bike, I was appalled by how loose the chain was. I ruined a chain because I overly tightened it. I can't imagine that a belt tensioned to the same spec as a chain would survive for very long. I was ONLY speaking to that aspect of belt tensioning. I completely agree that a belt that's too tight won't be long for this world but a belt that's too loose will also suffer the same fate.

My current belt has a little over 30k on it and still looks new. There's a belt tension spec for a reason. Once you get comfortable, you can tweak it to your liking as I know some run looser than spec, but I don't think that's how we should guide a new Warrior owner when it comes to this topic. Follow the manual, manufacturer recommendations, and general best practices. I will always default to that for new owners until the appropriate level of experience and knowledge is built up to support deviating from those.

 

[DFW_Warrior]

I was pretty specific in how I commented on this:

" If you think it's "snug" per chain standards, then it's WAY too loose per belt standards. Grab a belt tension tool and do a proper verification of tension before making a personal judgement call. "

When I had my chain bike, I was appalled by how loose the chain was. I ruined a chain because I overly tightened it. I can't imagine that a belt tensioned to the same spec as a chain would survive for very long. I was ONLY speaking to that aspect of belt tensioning. I completely agree that a belt that's too tight won't be long for this world but a belt that's too loose will also suffer the same fate.

My current belt has a little over 30k on it and still looks new. There's a belt tension spec for a reason. Once you get comfortable, you can tweak it to your liking as I know some run looser than spec, but I don't think that's how we should guide a new Warrior owner when it comes to this topic. Follow the manual, manufacturer recommendations, and general best practices. I will always default to that for new owners until the appropriate level of experience and knowledge is built up to support deviating from those.

Yeah, but then we also tell everyone that the manufacturer doesn't know what's best when it comes to air fuel ratios, intakes, oil, filters of all sorts, tire sizes, wheel widths and more.... I'm just consistent and add belt tension to the list. LOL I ran mine looser than spec since the time I bought the bike and and everyone I knew that ran them loose to "really loose" never had a single problem with them, ever. That is the good thing about this forum though, we can just agree to disagree.

Side note, I'm actually really happy that you only ruined a chain by over tightening. Most folks take out the countershaft seal, and sometimes if they are really feeling sporty they take out countershaft bearings and damage the transmission.

 

[arizonawarrior]

I'm a fan of using all the usual specified steps starting with finding the belt's tight spot by using the 10-pound belt tension gauge and checking several spots in the belt's rotation. By finding the tight spot and using it as your test point, it's easy to set belt tension. And obviously the belt tension will mostly be running looser than spec. But not loose enough to skip teeth or whine / squeal from under-engagement. And I never need to treat the belt to silence it.

So my generic take-away from this conversation is that i agree loose is better than tight. And heck, a little looser is better than even a little tight (as evidenced by spec to find the tight spot first). And it seems to hold true for most every belt driven mc, and for most industrial machinery. Go figure.

I guess I think that even though sometimes the manufacturers don't know what's best on this bike (like tires and oil filters and several other things), I think mc and belt manufacturers know more about belt drives than we do.

I can't count the number of members here who suffered bearing failures and middle drive failures because their belt was a little too tight. Fewer have ruined belts or pulley teeth from being too loose. But both failures are expensive and both ruin a good day of riding. All for lack of a $30 mc belt tension gauge.

So why not go ahead and use a gauge and follow spec like the real bike and machinery professionals?

Adding: alignment of the rear wheel so the rear pulley is in line with the drive belt is the other critical step discussed the the service manual and in the pdf linked above. When it's aligned and tensioned correctly, it's possible to remove the rear wheel without touching the tensioning blocks. But if the tensioning block(s) are not correctly set then it's necessary to align while tensioning. Also, tensioning blocks need to be matched pairs and made for specs on this beast. Notice the left and right graduated puller blocks have different part numbers and each is made to fit it's side. If not correct, then you can't trust the graduated alignment marks are physically a matching pair. Bad alignment makes noise and wears the belt edge hard against the rear pulley flange. Belts will by nature run near, or soft against, the rear pulley flange. And a little marking of the belt edge is normal. The matching graduated puller block pair, the axle and fasteners, and the belt tension procedure all work together. Once it's all golden, it's rare you'll need to align as long as you don't need to disturb the tensioning block adjusting nuts.

Puller Blocks:
Left 5PX-25388-00
Right 5PX-25389-00

When held in place it's clear which goes where. In stock arrangement, the left side block is notched to accommodate the axle's head. The right side block is flat to allow tightening the nut.

 

[random_guy]

Last bit of input on the side notes… everyone knows the manufacturers are held to tight emissions requirements. That’s why they have to neuter bikes before selling them. All the stuff we do to them isn’t because we know more than a manufacturer. It’s because we want to unlock the true potential and reverse the neutering the government demands.

Some stuff is just for looks, though.

 

[freeezzzz]

Also need to remember about the condition of the pendulum axle support bushing. This is the third point of triangle.