timing belt replacement - age verses mileage

[Brian]

Okay guys, I have read through a lot of your technical threads here on the timing belt and the adjusters since I noticed a slight noise coming from the front right side. I pulled the front cover off a few hundred miles ago to inspect the belts and the idler pulleys. Comparing the two sides the right side idler had some wobble to it and the belt had a small knife like looking slice at the top edge. I purchased belts at the local NAPA dealer here, and yes they are Gates and yes I found out later that Amazon .com had the gates a few dollars cheaper then NAPA. At any rate the two belts were only $48 bucks, still cheaper then one factory belt. Back to the story after picking up my new adjuster today, dove in to replace belts and the adjuster tonight after work. The belt was actually torn a little over 1/8 of an inch. The adjuster is dry sounding when you spin it be hand and has a very tiny amount of play. My bike is a 97' and just turned over 10,000 miles this weekend. I periodically ride with 4 other Valkyrie owners in our club and we often compare notes. One of these riders were at the bike shop when I picked up my part, he stated that they had just replaced his original set of timing belts on his 97' last week only because he reached 100,000 miles and is heading out west again this summer. Same year a whole lot more miles. I am glad this site had me look up front as I too would have never thought a belt would be cracked with this low of mileage. Thank you all for posting problems and corrections. By the way, my new pingel valve should be here tomorrow since you all have me worried about that too.

[Red Diamond]

10K miles, are you the original owner?

[old2soon]

Mine has got 43000+ miles on a 99. Changed mine out for piece of mind. Belts easier and way cheaper to change than an engine. Can't describe this any better but the new belts just felt better than the ones i took out. No real issues on a visual inspection-but thay were at a minium 12+ years old. Why take a chance. B T W-got mine at oreilly (gates) under $40.00 for the pair. RIDE SAFE.

[BIG--T]

Okay guys, I have read through a lot of your technical threads here on the timing belt and the adjusters since I noticed a slight noise coming from the front right side. I pulled the front cover off a few hundred miles ago to inspect the belts and the idler pulleys. Comparing the two sides the right side idler had some wobble to it and the belt had a small knife like looking slice at the top edge. I purchased belts at the local NAPA dealer here, and yes they are Gates and yes I found out later that Amazon .com had the gates a few dollars cheaper then NAPA. At any rate the two belts were only $48 bucks, still cheaper then one factory belt. Back to the story after picking up my new adjuster today, dove in to replace belts and the adjuster tonight after work. The belt was actually torn a little over 1/8 of an inch. The adjuster is dry sounding when you spin it be hand and has a very tiny amount of play. My bike is a 97' and just turned over 10,000 miles this weekend. I periodically ride with 4 other Valkyrie owners in our club and we often compare notes. One of these riders were at the bike shop when I picked up my part, he stated that they had just replaced his original set of timing belts on his 97' last week only because he reached 100,000 miles and is heading out west again this summer. Same year a whole lot more miles. I am glad this site had me look up front as I too would have never thought a belt would be cracked with this low of mileage. Thank you all for posting problems and corrections. By the way, my new pingel valve should be here tomorrow since you all have me worried about that too.

  Brian do you have the Gates # of the belts?  Thanks

[sugerbear]

Okay guys, I have read through a lot of your technical threads here on the timing belt and the adjusters since I noticed a slight noise coming from the front right side. I pulled the front cover off a few hundred miles ago to inspect the belts and the idler pulleys. Comparing the two sides the right side idler had some wobble to it and the belt had a small knife like looking slice at the top edge. I purchased belts at the local NAPA dealer here, and yes they are Gates and yes I found out later that Amazon .com had the gates a few dollars cheaper then NAPA. At any rate the two belts were only $48 bucks, still cheaper then one factory belt. Back to the story after picking up my new adjuster today, dove in to replace belts and the adjuster tonight after work. The belt was actually torn a little over 1/8 of an inch. The adjuster is dry sounding when you spin it be hand and has a very tiny amount of play. My bike is a 97' and just turned over 10,000 miles this weekend. I periodically ride with 4 other Valkyrie owners in our club and we often compare notes. One of these riders were at the bike shop when I picked up my part, he stated that they had just replaced his original set of timing belts on his 97' last week only because he reached 100,000 miles and is heading out west again this summer. Same year a whole lot more miles. I am glad this site had me look up front as I too would have never thought a belt would be cracked with this low of mileage. Thank you all for posting problems and corrections. By the way, my new pingel valve should be here tomorrow since you all have me worried about that too.

  Brian do you have the Gates # of the belts?  Thanks

here ya go

http://www.jkozloski.com/generic_parts.htm

[Brian]

10K miles, are you the original owner?

I am the second owner. the bike had 895 miles on it 4 years ago when I bought it. It sat for over two years. Needless to say I have many carb and valve issues that required me to take off the heads. All the work on this ride has been done by me. I set the belt tension to the high side of what the book called for.

[Brian]

Okay guys, I have read through a lot of your technical threads here on the timing belt and the adjusters since I noticed a slight noise coming from the front right side. I pulled the front cover off a few hundred miles ago to inspect the belts and the idler pulleys. Comparing the two sides the right side idler had some wobble to it and the belt had a small knife like looking slice at the top edge. I purchased belts at the local NAPA dealer here, and yes they are Gates and yes I found out later that Amazon .com had the gates a few dollars cheaper then NAPA. At any rate the two belts were only $48 bucks, still cheaper then one factory belt. Back to the story after picking up my new adjuster today, dove in to replace belts and the adjuster tonight after work. The belt was actually torn a little over 1/8 of an inch. The adjuster is dry sounding when you spin it be hand and has a very tiny amount of play. My bike is a 97' and just turned over 10,000 miles this weekend. I periodically ride with 4 other Valkyrie owners in our club and we often compare notes. One of these riders were at the bike shop when I picked up my part, he stated that they had just replaced his original set of timing belts on his 97' last week only because he reached 100,000 miles and is heading out west again this summer. Same year a whole lot more miles. I am glad this site had me look up front as I too would have never thought a belt would be cracked with this low of mileage. Thank you all for posting problems and corrections. By the way, my new pingel valve should be here tomorrow since you all have me worried about that too.

  Brian do you have the Gates # of the belts?  Thanks

I sure do, Gates # 275 and NAPA # 250275. Gates are $18 on Amazon

here ya go

http://www.jkozloski.com/generic_parts.htm

[Red Diamond]

10K miles, are you the original owner?

I am the second owner. the bike had 895 miles on it 4 years ago when I bought it. It sat for over two years. Needless to say I have many carb and valve issues that required me to take off the heads. All the work on this ride has been done by me. I set the belt tension to the high side of what the book called for.

Do you think that the extra high tension is likely the cause of the idlers being somewhat worn and rough? Why don't you try book value or less, will probably give you longer life with the idlers and belts. That should not have happen under normal settings, as with your friend's, those belts are good for 100k. I have a friend with over 140k and belts have never been replaced.

[John Schmidt]

You should know in short order if the tension is too tight on the new belts. The tension pulleys will scream bloody murder and you'll wonder where that high pitched howl is coming from. Generally, to adjust them all you have to do is let the springs set the tension. It's never failed me on any of the Wings and Valks I've worked on.

[Ricky-D]

Yes, for the small amount of force needed to turn the cam shaft, the belt is gorilla size.

The design of the drive is to let the spring determine the tension of the belt and the after that adjustment, simply tighten down the bolts of the idler bracket.

All the idlers do is to keep the belt fully on the pulleys, they should not be in any stress other than what was developed by the proper adjustment.

***

[Disco]

I changed mine for peace of mind at 37,7XX miles / 11 years + 11 months.  The old ones were less pliable than the new ones, but showed no cracking at all.   

[X Ring]

The Gates T275 is $15.23 from rockauto.com

Marty

[Brian]

Hey everyone, I may have misled you on the belt adjustment. I adjusted them to the sloppy side of the book suggestion, not the tighter. I have them between 17/64 and 19/64. Used a dial caliper to measure with. I sure did think about just tightening them with the spring tensioners but who knows if the spring tension is correct after 14 years? They really seemed sloppy, I suppose I could have ordered new ones.