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Can't shift into gear

Hornet said:
IT'S THE BELT! I thought for sure it couldn't be because I rolled it back about 15 feet into the garage and didn't notice anything. Got home, tugged on it and it came right out!
Phew.

Okay. Now how do I replace a belt?
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Unless you have a lot of taking apart and back together with a bike, I wouldn't MONKEY with it yourself.... OTHERS here will probably say different,,,,, I would take it to a HD dealer and pay them to do it.. belts about 200 to 250 and the labor about 300....

It is a lot of work and if you are NOT mechanical from what it sounds like,,,, i would NOT do it.

the job includes a lot of special tools and knowledge...
BITE THE BULLET AND PAY.... put the two ends of belt together and see what gave way.... a rock sometimes does it but MOST belts are broken by abuse...
letting out the clutch hard,,,,, HARD and that type of thing.... I went thru a couple of belts on HOT sportsters in my younger day...... MY FAULT, ALWAYS!!!!!

MY Older days were caused by a rock pushing thru the belt..STAY OFF GRAVEL ROADS and YOU might STILL pick up a rock...

the belt will tell you a few things , look at the teeth on the belt.... any missing or torn out?

If you look at the LEFT on engine (belt) side of bike...... THE WHOLE chain case, OUTER cover has to come off then the clutch/chain/compensator and sprockets. then the stator starter gear and shaft...... then the INNER primary case needs to come off... seals need special attention and knowing how to apart and together so they don't leak a MUST...... TOO MUCH FOR A BEGINNER in my book.... I wouldn't want to tackle it MYSELF IF I didn't know how THEN HAVE PROBLEMS LATER....

IF YOU UNDERSTOOD ALL I JUST SAID AND KNOW WHAT I MEANT, THEN get a full HD manual of your bike and have at it...


good SKILL with it...
I won't wish you LUCK as YOU had YOUR LUCK when it broke at first ride OUT the garage,,,,, NOT stranding you along the road someplace...

Mine BROKE and I had to get a tow truck!


signed....BUBBIE

Hornet said:
I only have 6,600 miles and the finger of blame wants to point to someone right now. There's no wear on the belt, just a clean break. I just had two new tires put on last week. Any chance something was done wrong during the install that would cause the belt to snap? Improper tension or something?
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IT is hard to see a clean break from HERE. Does it have a smooth end on each and did it just break STRAIGHT across the belt in between the teeth of the belt?

DO you have any KIDS that could CUT the belt??

I had a sportster belt break the same way YOURS DID so before BEATING UP ON SOME ONE, BELTS JUST BREAK AT TIMES!!! consider AT LEAST you were home....

I put my sport away into the garage the night before.... JUST beat a storm and was really getting on it ...... NOT A DROP OF WATER hit me...... pheeeewww beat that BUGGER.
THEN the NEXT DAY, backed out the sport and started it warmed it a little, put into first and took off..... belt spun off and lay on the road... bike moved 2'....
SAME AS YOURS,,, clean break and I thought HOW LUCKY,,,, and IT BEING a sportster, NOT A BIG JOB like a twin-cam or BIG bike.. and in 1 hr most a new belt was on but I had to wait 3 days to ship the belt to me...

HD SKILL I HAVE AND THE LUCK ALSO ON THAT ONE!

signed....BUBBIE
 
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Surely it's under warranty?
If it's a clean break then any fingers should point toward a manufacturing defect.(a rock or damage is a different story)
Take them both back to the dealer and express your dissatisfaction with H-D's much vaunted quality control.A belt must last more than a lousy 6600 miles,with the first couple of thousand probably easy miles.
 
biscuit said:
Surely it's under warranty?
If it's a clean break then any fingers should point toward a manufacturing defect.(a rock or damage is a different story)
Take them both back to the dealer and express your dissatisfaction with H-D's much vaunted quality control.A belt must last more than a lousy 6600 miles,with the first couple of thousand probably easy miles.
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Warranty?. The bike is an '06. I could see 26, 28 months.. but 4 years.
 
Gotta admit, an extended warranty is looking better all the time.
5 bills just for a belt...man-O-man.:p
 
Bubbie, Thanks again for all the input. Yes, I was fortunate to have this happen in my driveway and not sitting at a red light somewhere. I did some searching and decided this isn't a DIY project for me. So here are some pics for what it's worth:
beltresize2.jpg
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beltresize5.jpg
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Okay, time for some forensics. Check this one out. Notice the teeth are worn out a bit on the left side? Only 13 teeth on the whole belt have it - the most wear showing right at the break (top tooth in this pic), and the wear decreases on each successive tooth. Same pattern on the other end of the belt.
Any theories?
beltresize11.jpg
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That looks alot like a dry-rot break to me. In your last picture there looks like not normal wear on the side of the belt. If you can rotate the rear wheel & see if the side flange may be bent alittle on the sprocket. It looks to me like something was chewing on the side of the belt.
 
I guess it's just one of those things that happens. I'll accept that.

Buuuut, just for arguments' sake, would it be plausible to suspect that considering the timing of this in relation to the tire change two weeks ago, that it might likely have resulted from damage caused to the side flange during install as opposed to slowly wearing down over the past year?
Just throwin' ideas out there.

And if there is a bend in the flange, would that account for the wear only extending along a 10" span of the belt? I guess if the rotation of the wheel consistently strikes only the same area of the belt with each go-around.
 
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It may be the pictures or my eyes but your belt looks to be only about 3/4" inch wide. How wide is your belt?
 
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