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[Zelidar]

I am closing in on 68'000 km and over the past weeks I notice a new noise coming from the motor. I first thought I had a problem with a ball bearing but, after a visit to the shop yesterday, it turns out the ball bearings of the electrical motor are good.

To my surprise, the source of the noise is the belt sprocket which had come a bit loose on the motor shaft. Somehow, lubricant plays a role in mitigating that noise emission. The mechanic told me this was a known issue for my bike. It appears that the washer n° 8 is made of aluminum and, overtime, got deformed and flattened so as to no longer correctly perform its duty: firmly tightening the sprocket onto the motor.

The first batch of motor sprockets didn’t anticipate that issue, but newer ones do. Since my dealer didn’t have one of the new ones at hand, he added another washer in the back of the sprocket (visible in red and much larger than shown here) to compensate for the lack (or loss) of width of washer n° 8.

The noise is gone, now waiting for the new sprocket to become on stock. Hope that my motor shaft is not too worn out already, it did feel rough on my finger.

[ESokoloff]

There are products available to mitigate the effects of damaged shafts.
I’m not going to recommend any as I wouldn’t want to give bad advice. 

Henkel Loctite is one source so research online or find a bearing supply house & ask them. 

Good luck & share what you find out.   

[Zelidar]

There are products available to mitigate the effects of damaged shafts.

Thank you. Good point. I will make sure they won't be out of stock of that .

[karlh]

The first batch of motor sprockets didn’t anticipate that issue, but newer ones do.

Do the newer sprockets have the same part number as the old ones?  If so, how does one tell the difference?

[Zelidar]

Do the newer sprockets have the same part number as the old ones?  If so, how does one tell the difference?

Good point! According to the part catalogues available on AF1 Racing, it is the same part number 30-08210 for all years:

https://www.af1racing.com/ProdImages/st3/SRF2020.pdf
https://www.af1racing.com/ProdImages/st3/SRF2021.pdf
https://www.af1racing.com/ProdImages/st3/SRF2022.pdf

I will update this post once the replacement has been done.

[Zelidar]

A new sprocket and a new belt were mounted last week. The mechanics told me he kept the custom-made washer in place. The old sprocket had 71'516 km, the old belt 39'355.

So far so good, no noise whatsoever. From now onward and every couple of months I will spray some silicon on the belt, also as a way to clean it up.

[ryanast]

Thanks for this post, I’m having a very similar issue. I noticed the sprocket on my 2020 SRF had some play. I was hearing some noise while decelerating (it would get worse with stronger regen). I took the bike to my local Zero authorized shop and they want to replace the motor ($3500).

Was your mechanic a Zero mechanic? I’m thinking I may need to find a shop that is outside Zero’s network. I’m guessing Zero may have a policy that disallows them from working on or repairing motor components so the only option is full replacement. (Pure speculation though).

I know this is an older post but I hope you get a notification and have a moment to reply. Thank you!

[zeronimbus]

if your pinion has play, you shouldn't wait too long, because it could get worse and seriously wear out the motor rotor.
if I were you, I would buy a new pinion, the screw and the aluminum washer new, and you mount the pinion with loctite.
I changed everything recently and it's not complicated to do with a minimum of tools.
3500 dollars for a new motor without having seen the condition of the motor rotor, they don't take any risks at zero, from the moment the sucker pays lol

[Zelidar]

Was your mechanic a Zero mechanic? I’m thinking I may need to find a shop that is outside Zero’s network. I’m guessing Zero may have a policy that disallows them from working on or repairing motor components so the only option is full replacement. (Pure speculation though).

Yes. They could have told me that the motor bearing was going bad and I would have believed them, but they didn't.

If yours objects, I would ask again or try (if you can) another Zero dealer, from experience they are not all equally good.

I remember that, once you remove the belt, one could feel with the hand that the pulley wasn't firmly attached anymore. Any good mechanic with the right tools should be able to help with that, and if you can source a new pulley you'd solve your problem for good.

I know this is an older post but I hope you get a notification and have a moment to reply. Thank you!

Sorry for the late reply, in the winter motorcycling takes a backseat in my mind.