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[Patrick Truchon]

Does anyone recognize that clicking sound?  It only happens when the bike (2013 Zero DS) is coasting.  When it accelerates (even very gently) or when regen braking, it's all fine.  I tried to identify the source and can't see anything obvious.  Any ideas?

Here are four short videos:

Original vid:
From the back:
From the middle:
From the front:


In the last video, I spin the motor really slowly to start with, and I'm not sure if I'm seeing this right, but there seems to be a little bit of wabble.

Here's firepower's original response for the original thread:

I think i remember some of the key way holding the pulley and motor shaft were bit small, this may be causing the sound.

"sent the vid to Zero...had me take it in... replaced front sprocket and woodruff key set under warranty. they were agreeable."

Suggest you also send video to Zero.

while accelerating or decelerating it be pressed hard against the shaft or pully , but while coasting may be alternating between them both causing clicking.

or a loose pulley, set screw may need tightening.

This link shows keyway and set screw locations / examples.

http://www.gatesmectrol.com/mectrol/brochure.cfm?brochure=5247

Also posting this in the zero forum will get more responses / reads

Thanks firepower.

[Cortezdtv]

Is the rear belt lined up I was popping you would stand behind the bike spin the tire one last time, probably the pulley but I would definitely make sure belt is straight and it's not the belt first!!! The first noise sounds like misalignment of the belt you can hear the teeth rubbing. The high pitched probably the pulley

[Patrick Truchon]

Thanks Cortezdtv.

I'll add more videos shortly...

[teddillard]

My ten bucks says it's the rear wheel bearing.   

[Burton]

I would take the belt off, spin the back wheel, then spin motor by hand only!

I bet it is a bearing as well. This would help isolate your problem more.

Or, just let the dealership fix it

[fredx]

I had nearly the exact same sound on my 2013 FX.  Harlan at Hollywood Electrics suggested it might be a loose front pulley, and he was spot on!  I loosened the belt tension, slipped the belt off the rear pulley, and could feel the play in the drive pulley with my hand.

To fix it, I eased the belt tension, slipped the belt off the rear and front pulleys, removed the mounting bolts for the motor, removed the drive pulley setscrew and mounting bolt (yes, it was loose), and removed the pulley and its key.  I applied a liberal amount of Loctite red (no, I never plan to disassemble this) to the motor shaft and keyway, reassembled it, and applied some Loctite red to the pulley bolt threads and setscrew threads, and tightened it all according to spec.  Re-bolted the motor in, put the drive belt around the pulleys, re-tensioned the belt, and test-wheelied the bike.  All good! 

My sincere compliments to Harlan at Hollywood Electrics for steering me right.  I've bought nearly nothing from him (yet!), and I live far away in Colorado, yet he still took the time to give me excellent advice, enabling me to get my baby running quiet and smooth once again.

Hope this helps,

 - Fred

[Harlan]

Thank you Fred for the kind words!

Yes, this does not sound like a bad bearing but a loose sprocket on the motor shaft. I would suggest slipping the belt off the sprockets as Fred outlined in his post above and checking for play in the front sprocket.

[Patrick Truchon]

Thanks everyone for the help.  The bike is still under warranty (I bought it as a factory demo last year) so I'll try to take it to the dealership as soon as possible.  It should help guide the conversation with them though.

In the mean time, do you recommend I stop riding it altogether or is city riding (no highway speed) ok in your opinion?   

On the plus side, I've been cycling to work these past weeks, so that's good for the beer belly...   

[firepower]

That question should be answered by your dealer. If they havent asked you to stop riding after you inform them it should be OK.

[Patrick Truchon]

I had nearly the exact same sound on my 2013 FX.  Harlan at Hollywood Electrics suggested it might be a loose front pulley, and he was spot on!  I loosened the belt tension, slipped the belt off the rear pulley, and could feel the play in the drive pulley with my hand.

To fix it, I eased the belt tension, slipped the belt off the rear and front pulleys, removed the mounting bolts for the motor, removed the drive pulley setscrew and mounting bolt (yes, it was loose), and removed the pulley and its key.  I applied a liberal amount of Loctite red (no, I never plan to disassemble this) to the motor shaft and keyway, reassembled it, and applied some Loctite red to the pulley bolt threads and setscrew threads, and tightened it all according to spec.  Re-bolted the motor in, put the drive belt around the pulleys, re-tensioned the belt, and test-wheelied the bike.  All good! 

Fred, you were spot on.  I took it to my dealership on Friday, and it was ready by Tuesday afternoon (they were closed on Sunday and Monday).  The mechanic read your post and found it was exactly the same problem, and he fixed it pretty much as you described, with a pretty fast turn around time too.
Free plug for people in BC, Canada:  http://www.daytonamotorsports.ca/inventory/v1/Current/Zero
Now, the only thing left to sort out is that somehow, the computer showed that my 2-year factory warranty had expired even though I've had the bike for half a year...  I'm not too worried though, my bill of sale is pretty clear about the warranty, it's probably the computer that's confused.

[fredx]

Excellent, happy to hear you're back in business.  But well, the credit is due to Harlan; he's the guy who steered me right when i found myself in the same predicament.  I'm only the messenger. 

Ride on,

 - Fred

[aaronzeromoto]

Patrick,

It was our fault on the warranty error in the system.  Since yours was a factory demo originally, it had not been recorded correctly.  We updated our records.  Sorry about that, but happy your motorcycle is back on the road.

Enjoy the ride!
aaronzeromoto

[Patrick Truchon]

@aaronzeromoto  No worries, the good folks at Daytona Motorsport (in Surrey, BC) were super helpful and have been excellent at keeping me updated.  I'm sure we'll get this straightened out before I have to pay my visa bill.  ;-)

Thanks for chiming in though.

Cheers!

[ColoPaul]

I somehow missed this whole thread, could have saved me some grief!  I recently experienced the "loose front pulley" problem.   As the various members posted, it sounds like a bearing issue, and I was pretty sure it was a motor bearing - happened with the belt disconnected, sometimes sounded more like a growling noise, and varied under load.  I've always had some noise, but for some reason it got dramatically worse about 3 weeks ago.  I eventually pulled it all apart and sure enough it was the pulley.  After fixing it, my bike is silent again! 

I took some measurements and pictures.  Note the drawing is not to scale!  I first tried just shimming/loctite-ing the key into the keyway, but there was so much slop between the shaft OD an pulley ID, it all broke loose.   So I took it apart again, re-shimmed the key and also added shims (basically an .002 insert) between the shaft/pulley, loctite-ed the whole thing and I think I'm good now.