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Now HERE'S an interesting one, belt adjustment...

J

jdeatsch

Member
So I happened to glance at the rear of my bike today when it was up on the bench (adjusting clutch, fiddling with headlight, just toying...) and noticed the belt was way off to the left on the rear sprocket. It was pushed up against the flange.

Now I know that things move around depending on a lot of things and it ain't a big deal but I did find that, when I checked, the 'dimple' in the swing arm is .078" or 2 mm closer on the left side than the right side of my 2010 Dyna.

SO, the lesson I learned that is if you want to dial your rear wheel adjustment in perfectly you'd better check the measurement that the Moco gave us.

I do hope this helps someone.

Jim
 
The belt should ride on the out side of the rear sprocket. If I'm reading you correctly what you saw is the way it is supposed to be. I may be misunderstanding. :dknow
 
jdeatsch said:
when I checked, the 'dimple' in the swing arm is .078" or 2 mm closer on the left side than the right side of my 2010 Dyna.
Click to expand...

Jim, I don't understand. Don't you have a Hollow axle on your 2010 Dyna along with a 1/8" holes drilled in the rear fork about 3" from the axle.?

Where are you measuring from?
 
Wild, exactly so. To the left but it was HARD to the left, scrubbing on the outer flange of the sprocket. Now it just rides on it but I can move the belt easier, away from the flange.


Yep Hoople, that's why I said:

"when I checked, the 'dimple' in the swing arm is .078" or 2 mm closer on the left side than the right side of my 2010 Dyna."

Someone screwed up, not by much, when they drilled the dimples. SO, I measured with calipers and that's how I got the 2mm difference. Now the axle is 'square' with the transmission output shaft and things are better.

Before I checked the adjustment I noted that the belt was riding to the outboard, rear sprocket edge. It still is but now it's not got such a large amount of pressure to that edge.

After I adjusted things I rode for 10 miles and all is well in Dynaville.

Interesting. I wonder how many other's have the same issue on various models.

Jim
 
JD,
Are you telling me that the distance from the CENTER of the swing-arm PIVOT to the 1/8" hole is Not equal on both sides? That distance is appox 16" in my case (2009 FXDL). My swing-arm pivot has no "dimples". One side is a Hole and the other side has a chrome cap.

I assume you had the rear fork swing arm removed from the bike when you measured this.

Plz bear with me. I want to understand this and what you are saying.
 
Hey Hoop,

What I'm saying is that from the hole in the swing arm itself (not the swing arm bolt) to the rear of the swing arm (where the axle adjusting allen bolt is) is different on either side.

This is the hole/dimple that we are supposed to put our "L" shaped wire into (with a sliding o ring) to check axle alignment.

tn394s3.jpg


N'est ce pas?

Jim
 
Jd, If your saying that the distance from the 1/8" hole to the REAR END of the swing-arm is different from side to side,, I would not EXPECT them to be the same length, They MAY be, but it really makes no difference if they are.

The 1/8" holes are not drilled in relationship to the trailing End of the swing arm. There would be no purpose in doing that. They are Drilled in relationship to the imaginary center of the swing arm bolt.

Who cares what the overall length of each side of the swing-arm is. One side can be a 1/2" longer than the other side. That does not make a difference. What matters is the distance from each 1/8" hole to the IMAGINARY CENTER of the Swing-arm bolt or shaft. They MUST be equal from side to side.

Once that is established, you can measure from the 1/8" holes to the center of the hollow axle (using HD aligning plugs), for a proper alignment.
 
JD, I don't know if you also have a hollow rear axle but take a look at entry point #24 of this link. If you do have a hollow axle, how are you establishing a true center line of your axle for measurement?

I may be totally not understanding what your approach to rear wheel alignment is. This is the way I worked around the problem & adjustment.


Service manual Type-O ? Alignment - Harley Davidson Community
 
I ain't as smart as I once was but I are now.

I GET it, yep, truly Hoople, you made me see the light.

The 18.5" measurement is the same on my bike, of course, and now I'm onto the deal with the dimple in the swing arm to the center of the axle.

THAT is what I'm measuring of course, but NOW I've checked from the center of the swing arm bolt to the dimple in the swing arm. They are the same measurement on both sides.

Therefore: the measurement from the dimple to wherever the axle center should be is peachy.

Thanking you kindly Sir.

Jim
 
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