Timing belts

[Tourus]

   I ride a 2000 Tourer and she has 84,600 miles on her. I was changing my plugs and thought it would be a good time to change the timing belts. Not so fast Steve first you need the belts. I go to the local NAPA store and they don't have them in stock so they check other stores. There's another store close by but he only has 1 but will check other stores and call me back. I decide to call Honda shop which is only a few miles away just to see if they have them and how much they want, $69.99 each but don't have any in stock. NAPA calls me back, the closest one is in Atlanta $39.99 each. I call Grumpy to see if he has any and he doesn't at the time but tells me to just look mine over real good for signs of wear and adds that Honda says to inspect them at 100,000 miles, mine look great, put cover on install new plugs, change oil and I'm good to go.

Later I decide to go online and see if I can find Gates T275 belts. AMAZON $16.89 each free shipping so before you get ripped off check Amazon or other online sites, big price difference and they will be at my door in 4 days, I just thought I would pass that on.

The first NAPA store said they have not ordered any since 2016

Steve (AKA/Tourus)

[Forge]

I ordered l my Gates belts from Amazon and with Prime shipping actually got mine in only 1 day. I have been happy and never looked back.

[saddlesore]

Been there, done that.  I ride a 1999 standard with 168,000 miles on it.
I've changed the belts before but yeah it's a good idea to replace them even if they look good. 
I had one break on me a couple of weeks ago.  The belt was shredded and the valve stems are bent.  I'm hope that replacing them and the belts will get it back on the road. 

[Tourus]

 That's what concerns me, the fact that they are 18 years old or are they? The bike had 53,000 miles when I bought it  and I didn't get any service records and the man I bought it from was having signs of dementia so they may have been changed at 50,000 miles. Still for my own piece of mind I think I need to change them. The inside on the cover is sprayed with a black undercoating I guess for making it quiter.

Is that how they are suppose to look?

[old2soon]

            When I changed out my belts on my 99 I/S while I can NOT splain it Lucy there Was a difference in the feel and look of the new belts versus the old belts. The old belts are ready and available in my "spares stash". Order them so they are in your stock and the next time you decide to change out the belts you'll have them on hand. After I cleaned up the old spark plugs and regapped them they did not "look" that different from new. They-old spark plugs-also reside in my spares stash. RIDE SAFE.

[The emperor has no clothes]

That's what concerns me, the fact that they are 18 years old or are they? The bike had 53,000 miles when I bought it  and I didn't get any service records and the man I bought it from was having signs of dementia so they may have been changed at 50,000 miles. Still for my own piece of mind I think I need to change them. The inside on the cover is sprayed with a black undercoating I guess for making it quiter.

Is that how they are suppose to look?

I’ve only had mine off once. But I don’t remember any coating on the inside.

[Forge]

Some guys use that coating as a sound deadener. I picked up my ‘99 Interstate this past February and it only had 10,700 miles on it. It had been sitting for at least the last year and a half. I’ve seen where some guys are almost in your face about waiting until 100,000 miles until you change them regardless of age because Honda says 100,000 miles. I changed mine anyway to be safe. There weren’t any signs of cracking, but they did feel drier and a little less flexible than the new ones. Maybe they were still good, but it’s my bike and I will change whatever I want to on it. I personally think it is wise for you to do it as cheap insurance. A broken belt can mean expensive repairs or even a catastrophic engine failure that isn’t worth fixing.

[Tourus]

That's what concerns me, the fact that they are 18 years old or are they? The bike had 53,000 miles when I bought it  and I didn't get any service records and the man I bought it from was having signs of dementia so they may have been changed at 50,000 miles. Still for my own piece of mind I think I need to change them. The inside on the cover is sprayed with a black undercoating I guess for making it quiter.

Is that how they are suppose to look?

I’ve only had mine off once. But I don’t remember any coating on the inside.

Thanks for responding to that question, the coating made me think that the belts had maybe been changed by previous owner, there were 2 before me. Seems like the inside of my alternator cover also had a black undercoating on it.

[Valkorado]

Been there, done that.  I ride a 1999 standard with 168,000 miles on it.
I've changed the belts before but yeah it's a good idea to replace them even if they look good. 
I had one break on me a couple of weeks ago.  The belt was shredded and the valve stems are bent.  I'm hope that replacing them and the belts will get it back on the road. 

Wow!  Ya don't hear of that happening often, but I'm sure that didn't make it suck any less!  Maybe that'll be an eye-opener to the staunch 100,000 mile die-hards.  When did you last change the belts, and did you use OEM or Gates?

That's exactly why I replaced mine on the Interstate recently.  I do so appreciate my engine, and these bikes ain't spring chickens anymore! 

I'll replace the belts on the Tourer next...

[Jess from VA]

Mine were replaced because of age, not miles.

Big Bill was at the house, and he's the man.     Rebuilt my tensioners too.

For instance, would you trust 20 yo condoms?    

[saddlesore]

Been there, done that.  I ride a 1999 standard with 168,000 miles on it.
I've changed the belts before but yeah it's a good idea to replace them even if they look good. 
I had one break on me a couple of weeks ago.  The belt was shredded and the valve stems are bent.  I'm hope that replacing them and the belts will get it back on the road. 

Wow!  Ya don't hear of that happening often, but I'm sure that didn't make it suck any less!  Maybe that'll be an eye-opener to the staunch 100,000 mile die-hards.  When did you last change the belts, and did you use OEM or Gates?

That's exactly why I replaced mine on the Interstate recently.  I do so appreciate my engine, and these bikes ain't spring chickens anymore! 

I'll replace the belts on the Tourer next...

Going back on my records I found I changed the belts around 75,000 miles
I have to take a closer look to see if I changed them besides that. 
I used Gates belts.  They were kind of noisy at first but they quieted down after a bit.

[Robert]

The belts dri out and can break and if installed correctly will be noisy at first kind of like a whine at idle. To much whine means they are to tight and eventually all noise goes away if done correctly, so the undercoating is not necessary. The Valk is so easy on these belts that its really not a problem and it seems the tensioner have more problems than the belts do.

[Tourus]

 Just got home and my belts are here. Like I mentioned before ordered through amazon $16.89 each free shipping. I had prime for the 30 trial that had 1 day shipping but after the 30 days there was a charge to continue having it so I canceled it. If you just use their ground shipping its free just take 3 or 4 days to get it. Does anyone think that since my timing cover has a undercoating on the inside that a po would have done that when they changed the belts or is this something that po might have done to quiet the belts. Like I said before I didn't get any maintainance record. The first week I owned it I changed all fluids and serviced rear end and have records of everything that has ever been done.

Let me know if your cover has undercoating and if you did it or it was like that when you got it, I'm just curious if this is a common thing.

Thanks, Steve

[..]

Just got home and my belts are here. Like I mentioned before ordered through amazon $16.89 each free shipping. I had prime for the 30 trial that had 1 day shipping but after the 30 days there was a charge to continue having it so I canceled it. If you just use their ground shipping its free just take 3 or 4 days to get it. Does anyone think that since my timing cover has a undercoating on the inside that a po would have done that when they changed the belts or is this something that po might have done to quiet the belts. Like I said before I didn't get any maintainance record. The first week I owned it I changed all fluids and serviced rear end and have records of everything that has ever been done.

Let me know if your cover has undercoating and if you did it or it was like that when you got it, I'm just curious if this is a common thing.

Thanks, Steve

Got a link to Amazon seller?

[Valkorado]

Just got home and my belts are here. Like I mentioned before ordered through amazon $16.89 each free shipping. I had prime for the 30 trial that had 1 day shipping but after the 30 days there was a charge to continue having it so I canceled it. If you just use their ground shipping its free just take 3 or 4 days to get it. Does anyone think that since my timing cover has a undercoating on the inside that a po would have done that when they changed the belts or is this something that po might have done to quiet the belts. Like I said before I didn't get any maintainance record. The first week I owned it I changed all fluids and serviced rear end and have records of everything that has ever been done.

Let me know if your cover has undercoating and if you did it or it was like that when you got it, I'm just curious if this is a common thing.

Thanks, Steve

Nope, there is no undercoat on the inside of the timing cover on either of my bikes.  Yours was probably put on by the po  to muffle noise like you guessed.  I did put some sound reduction tape under the blingy things like tranny covers and spark plug valances that does seem to help a bit.

I also replaced my tensioners on the Interstate, they're only bearings after all...

[FarmerRick]

Just got home and my belts are here. Like I mentioned before ordered through amazon $16.89 each free shipping. I had prime for the 30 trial that had 1 day shipping but after the 30 days there was a charge to continue having it so I canceled it. If you just use their ground shipping its free just take 3 or 4 days to get it. Does anyone think that since my timing cover has a undercoating on the inside that a po would have done that when they changed the belts or is this something that po might have done to quiet the belts. Like I said before I didn't get any maintainance record. The first week I owned it I changed all fluids and serviced rear end and have records of everything that has ever been done.

Let me know if your cover has undercoating and if you did it or it was like that when you got it, I'm just curious if this is a common thing.

Thanks, Steve

Got a link to Amazon seller?

https://www.amazon.com/Gates-T275-Timing-Belt/dp/B000CRDMS8

[..]

Just got home and my belts are here. Like I mentioned before ordered through amazon $16.89 each free shipping. I had prime for the 30 trial that had 1 day shipping but after the 30 days there was a charge to continue having it so I canceled it. If you just use their ground shipping its free just take 3 or 4 days to get it. Does anyone think that since my timing cover has a undercoating on the inside that a po would have done that when they changed the belts or is this something that po might have done to quiet the belts. Like I said before I didn't get any maintainance record. The first week I owned it I changed all fluids and serviced rear end and have records of everything that has ever been done.

Let me know if your cover has undercoating and if you did it or it was like that when you got it, I'm just curious if this is a common thing.

Thanks, Steve

Got a link to Amazon seller?

https://www.amazon.com/Gates-T275-Timing-Belt/dp/B000CRDMS8

 

Ordered.

Free Shipping Sept 4 - 7.