front belt pulley ? on sportster

[HDangel]

boy life is giving me lots of opportunity to learn from you guys lately! i'd like to pick your brains again

husbands bike is officially down for a while. it's an '00 1200C.
we replaced the belt just over a year ago (old one had a screw dropped down on it that dug into the belt so we just replaced). since then, the belt has had an annoying noise. his thought was to replace the pulleys.
today he decided to rip into it and find out what he could. i'm damn glad he did! 2 teeth on the belt were ready to let go any time. i don't know if it was a defective belt or what, the teeth looked almost snapped off at the base flat across.

my question is: should his front pulley have any play in it at all? there is just the slightest amount. it isn't making noise or anything. any idea if this is normal or if he should also be looking at the bearings?

2007 just keeps crapping on my parade

[HDangel]

here's a follow up
he dug in a bit further, and found that several teeth on the front pulley are out of square (please excuse my terminology ignorance i'm still learning) that's why the belt was toast. he can't believe he missed seeing it before.
anyway, no question about it... new pulley, new belt needed.
no spring opener, no races on the first for him either.

[wrecker]

hdangel i have always been a firm believer in , if the belt has more then 5000 miles then pulley and belts should be changed together a little more expense about the same amount of labor and a lot of piece of mind

[HDangel]

thanks wrecker. we talked about that last night and he decided from now on when a belt gets changed, the pulley does too.
appreciate the advice

[tradrockrat]

Originally Posted by wrecker

hdangel i have always been a firm believer in , if the belt has more then 5000 miles then pulley and belts should be changed together a little more expense about the same amount of labor and a lot of piece of mind

you don't mean every 5000 miles do you? My belt is the original - pulley too. That's over 40,000 miles....

[HDangel]

i did a double take on the 5k too, that'll add up to about 4 belt/pulley changes per year in our house? :shock:

here's another question for you. does anyone know if front pulleys are interchangeable between year/model of sportster? i'm wondering if a 2002 883 sportster pulley will work on his '00 1200 and the only difference would be the gear ratio? i found a deal and right now just want to get him back on the road (and off my bike) lol

[roadrash5]

You might be able to switch to a chain. good ridin bud had his belt blow did a conversion kit and save $1000.
Bike is a little noisier and chain is a little dirtier !!
RR

[HDangel]

well, we didn't do too badly. i found a lot deal with the belt and both pulleys on ebay and won them for around $75 with shipping. they arrived today, another $5 for the socket rental and BAM! she's done. getting ready for a test ride in about 10 minutes.

meanwhile, here is a pic of the old belt (less than a year old) and pulley. the teeth on the pulley were totally squared out (hard to see detail in the pics) no roundness to them at all. he caught this just in time i think

oh, and now i know how to change belts & pulleys

[Bigshovel]

The wear on your parts indicate too loose adjustment. Might want to check the new ones once you get them installed. :smile:

[HDangel]

thanks BS
he checked it after install and will check it again in the morning (weather was changing fast when we got back from the test ride). we bought the bike used so it might have been prior to our ownership, not sure. glad he's back on the road