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[Richard230]

I asked my dealer to order a belt tension gauge (as shown in the owners manual) for me. I received a message last night informing me that she was told by Zero that they were temporarily out of the gauges. However they were kind enough to provide a link to the gauge at Amazon.  So I ordered one today. A great price! But only one appears to be left (after I got to the trough).  If you want one here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Gates-91107-Belt-Tension-Tester/dp/B000MUTAGS

[Richard230]

I received the Gates belt tension gauge today. Attached is a photo.  The 2012 S & DS Zero owner's manual tells you how to use it.

[Richard230]

I was worried that my belt seemed a little loose, when I pushed it down with my thumb. So I got out my tension gauge and followed the procedure shown on Page 5-12 of the owner's manual to check the belt's tension. The gauge worked perfectly and the tension turned out to be 25 kg.  20 to 30 kg is the correct tension, so the belt is adjusted perfectly as it came from the factory and has not appeared to have stretched during the past 600 miles.

[craigq]

Hey Richard, could you post the section on checking the belt tension? The section in the XU manual seems incomplete:

• Remove the key from the key switch.
• Press the Tension Tester steadily to the middle of the upper side of the belt. The “lip” will lead the tester on to the belt.
• Slowly increase the pressure on the tester, until you hear a clicking sound. Do not increase the pressure after the tester has clicked.
• Remove the tester carefully from the belt. Avoid rough movements of the tester, as this would change the results of the measurement. The measurement should be in the range of 20-30 kg.

Does the S/DS manual list a measurement for the distance of the belt to the swingarm when the tester clicks? The belt could be anywhere depending on how tight it is adjusted, 1 mm from the swingarm if it's loose, or only 1 mm of deflection if it's really tight, and that tester could show 25kg for either situation...

[Richard230]

That is exactly what my manual says. I just stuck the gauge approximately in the middle of the belt run (as close as I could get, without my finger fouling the belt guard) and pressed down until I heard the click. I figured that was good enough for government work and it was a lot easier and more accurate than my usual method of checking chain tension, by pushing the chain up and down and trying to measure the slack. I have never felt that I did that very well, but on the other hand, I have never had a chain problem caused by incorrect slack.  So I guess it is close enough.   

[craigq]

Thanks Richard. Zero's procedure doesn't make sense. With "X" amount of pressure you should be able to measure "Y" amount of deflection (or distance from the swingarm or some other point of reference). For example, with my WR250R 36lb of force at a specifiied fixed point on the chain should result in a distance between the swingarm and chain between 8-13mm. The other typical measurement is the amount of total vertical deflection (what you referenced as pushing the chain up and down measuring the slack).

With dual sport bikes and 10+" of suspension travel chain slack can have a big effect. An example, see what a rock in a rear chain guard does to the chain angle and swingarm:
http://wr250rforum.forumotion.com/t4825p40-swingarm-eaten-by-chain

[Richard230]

The nice thing about the Zero is that the counter shaft sprocket is concentric with the swing arm pivot and therefore the slack and tension of the belt will not vary as the rear wheel goes up and down.  I'll bet you wish your dirt bike had a set up like that. (I think BMW used it on their recent X 450 and I think ATK had a similar system years ago.).

The clicking of the tension gauge is what makes applying the correct amount of pressure to the belt easy. You just push down gently until it clicks and then read the tension on the top of the gauge. Sort of like using a clicker torque wrench. It is a very simple device and I can only hope that it is constructed so that you get the correct results.