Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[mistasam]

I made a little how-to vid for this, if anyone was wondering how to use a belt tension gauge:

[MajorMajor]

That was great, thanks.

[Shadow]

Nice editing and use of different views.

There's a trick to the alignment. Information dump:

While tensioning with snug axle bolts roll wheel forward and track flush with inside of rear sprocket
once tension is set and tracking is  flush to inside, setting axle nut to 75 lbs will tend to nudge belt approx 1mm to the outside for proper alignment, the belt will track exactly centered on the wheel sprocket with a 1mm gap to either side of the belt relative to the sprocket.

Measure tension by rolling wheel forward while plucking bottom side of belt or using tension gauge several revolutions. Note tension will be expected to vary slightly as wheel is rotated because front and rear sprockets are only round to a certain design tolerance. tighten alignment jam nuts before tightening axle nut to torque spec.

Using a scissor lift center stand is an easy method to lift the bike. I bought a Rage Powersports BW-1604A which is the same as I have seen used at Zero HQ but it's basically the same device by any manufacturer. I like it, the usefulness is easier than a rear stand to operate solo and it is more compact than the rear stand although much heavier.

Lubricating the belt a light application to the lower triangle area and then roll the wheel forward three or four revolutions to disperse lubrication to all areas in contact. Note that Gates mfg of the belt has not tested this use of lubrication and as an mfg advises explicitly to not do this. Blast off / super blaster dry silicone lube wiith orange top. Note I heard this description but I could not match with a specific lubricating product.

Alignment of the belt is critically tough to get correct, and needs to be done everytime adjusting tension.


*Update* Picture of properly aligned belt:

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Sweet. I've linked all this from the wiki now and written it up with Shadow's notes:
http://zeromanual.com/index.php/Unofficial_Service_Manual#Belt_Adjustment

[mistasam]

Whoa, awesome!  Thanks for the tips, Shadow.  That's really great stuff to know.

[clay.leihy]

My belt was always against the flange on the rear pulley. I recently aligned it per these instructions and it broke a couple days later. I think I'll stick to the instructions in my owners manual now.

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

[JaimeC]

I suspect that had nothing to do with the belt breaking.  There's nothing in these directions that would imply placing undo stress on the belt.  In fact, it highlights the exact OPPOSITE because the belt will no longer be wearing against the flange.

[clay.leihy]

I suspect that had nothing to do with the belt breaking.  There's nothing in these directions that would imply placing undo stress on the belt.  In fact, it highlights the exact OPPOSITE because the belt will no longer be wearing against the flange.

I think I'll pick up a laser level (or at least a string) and check the alignment properly. (http://ww2.gates.com/IF/facts/documents/Gf000275.pdf) I don't feel entirely comfortable just changing the angle of the rear pulley to make the belt ride differently. What if the whole thing needs to be shifted over? Spacers behind the pulley? Somehow shift the wheel over a mm or so? Could we be throwing off the wheel alignment trying to center the belt? Why isn't centering the belt in the manual?

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

[Shadow]

Why isn't centering the belt in the manual?

The manual is lacking in many regards. My source of information is detailed notes made while a Zero factory guy looked over my bike's drivetrain. If the motor mount bolts are tightened to spec and the sprockets are free of debris the only alignment should be to the rear sprocket so that it rides centered.

If your belt was tweaked to one side then it probably wore into an uneven shape.

[clay.leihy]

Why isn't centering the belt in the manual?

The manual is lacking in many regards. My source of information is detailed notes made while a Zero factory guy looked over my bike's drivetrain. If the motor mount bolts are tightened to spec and the sprockets are free of debris the only alignment should be to the rear sprocket so that it rides centered.

If your belt was tweaked to one side then it probably wore into an uneven shape.

Put on my new belt, adjusted tension, played with right adjuster to make sure it wasn't up against the flange, torqued everything down, and lo, both adjusters are pointing to the same mark. It's not centered on the rear pulley but there is a good fingernail gap by the flange. I think we're good.

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

[calamarichris]

To the OP: thank you for this excellent video, but it appears that you are turning the left adjuster nut down (counter clockwise) at 1:38 and the right adjuster down (which is clockwise on the opposite side) at 1:42. Doing this would result in your rear wheel being misaligned. Did you correct this after the video? If you are backing both adjuster nuts out the same amount, you would actually have to turn the right adjuster nut up (counter-clockwise, backing it out).

Hopefully your belt is still rolling fine and you can check your rear wheel alignment with a lazer or the classic string method. Thanks for the awesome videos--been learning a great deal on them!

And it probably doesn't matter, but we're also supposed to put our finger inside the loop of the Krikit, thus:

[Stivikivi]

Has anyone ever aligned the bell on the front pulley?

As I see you need to adjust the motor by 4 screws on the right and left side. Right?