Drive belt guard on a trike ?

[RoadKingTrike]

A sad, sad tale to tell. Last week I kicked up a stone which found its way onto my drive belt, on to the rear sprocket, and caused the belt to jump right off ! In the middle of nowhere, Ohio. 100 miles from home.

I won't bore you with the attempt to get roadside assistance.

But I have a question. On my Road King with the MotorTrike conversion, the lower span of the drive belt is exposed quite a bit because the OEM lower guard was removed to fit the trike kit.

Has anyone fabricated or fitted a guard to shield the lower part of the belt after their kit was installed ? Or does any of the other kit manufacturers offer this ?

Any thoughts ?

 

[LarryA]

reply

Don't know anything about available stone guards........but rock came from front wheel most likley....maybe think about a mud flap up there. I don't have one,and get lots of gravel on my floor boards,going to get one installed someday. Larry

 

[Jack Klarich]

The Parts catalog from HD shows only the chrome cover that goes over the factory cover on touring models

Guess that leaves us trikers out of luck

I am going to look @ making 1

 

[rhino 2]

The Parts catalog from HD shows only the chrome cover that goes over the factory cover on touring models

Guess that leaves us trikers out of luck

I am going to look @ making 1

Unless its completely sealed, Its gonna be a rock catcher/ holder/grinder.....:Shrug:

 

[Jack Klarich]

Unless its completely sealed, Its gonna be a rock catcher/ holder/grinder.....:Shrug:

Not much of an open span on a Freewheeler

I will measure it out Monday

 

[Lee H. Mann]

Don't know anything about available stone guards........but rock came from front wheel most likley....maybe think about a mud flap up there. I don't have one,and get lots of gravel on my floor boards,going to get one installed someday. Larry

Ten years ago, most trike manufacturers suggested belt guards be installed on their belt drive conversions.

Opening access to the belt and pulley assembly for ease of belt change, pretty much killed that.

If you had an enclosed belt and pulley location, putting a guard around the lower belt area is a good idea.

 

[Phu Cat]

Thankfully you only had the belt jump off. Back in my two wheeler days I had a belt break which left me in the same stranded position but I was lucky enough to be in the middle of Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

But getting back to what you need, this is what I did when I discovered our '12 Triglide didn't have a belt guard either:This actually was sold as a mud guard but is stiff enough to stop any rocks from bouncing toward the belt I hope.

I looked thru my records and could not find receipt on buying this mud guard, which is unusual, but started looking on the net when I found this: https://www.chilhowee.net/mud_flaps.html displayed on a red Indian fender which looks like it may offer better protection than mine.

I originally had no intention of drilling new holes in a perfectly good metal fender but was able to get the mud guard lined up OK without having to.

If you can find a better way to fabricate a guard that protects the whole rear belt area you'd have my, and likely every other belt drive bike owner's, undying appreciation for many, many years to come!

PC

 

[Jack Klarich]

The Freewheeler ft fender can use a bit of help

It is bobbed pretty short and slightly belled at the bottom

I dunno if a flap would look right

IMO a Roadking fender would fit HMMMMMMM

 

[Jack Klarich]

No good place to bolt on a guard, Maybe a brush like UPS trailers have over the tires

 

[jackthemachinist]

Has anyone fabricated or fitted a guard to shield the lower part of the belt after their kit was installed ? Or does any of the other kit manufacturers offer this ?

On my DFT conversion to a '97 FLHTC, I modified the factory lower belt guard and fabricated a bracket to mount it.

I'd post a photo if I could figure out how.

Not easy to get at, but the basic modification and fabrication were not difficult.

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

This is an issue on the Tri's as well.

This what a tiny pebble did to my 15 belt.



This is the pebble.



Fortunately, no damage to the pulley, but the belt had to replaced (under warrantee thankfully) at I wanna say the invoice came to $1500. Took three days.

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

I was told there was no rock protection available, and installing a home made one would void the warrantee, but, anything short of washing the dang thing voids the warrantee.

 

[Phu Cat]

I don't see how they can say anything you put on the bottom of the bike that might keep stones away from getting into the belt would automatically void the warranty. Doesn't make sense, you're trying to help them avoid a warranty issue. Go figure.

PC

 

[rhino 2]

I don't see how they can say anything you put on the bottom of the bike that might keep stones away from getting into the belt would automatically void the warranty. Doesn't make sense, you're trying to help them avoid a warranty issue. Go figure.

PC

Like i mentioned before, Any kind of shield that doesn't completely enclose the belt will hold stones and or debris's and can cause more damage, A open belt will just throw the stones free, I ride down gravel roads often...And i ratter have the stones bouncing off instead of gathering on a shield and then the stones will grind into the front and rear sprockets.... :Shrug:

 

[RoadKingTrike]

Like i mentioned before, Any kind of shield that doesn't completely enclose the belt will hold stones and or debris's and can cause more damage, A open belt will just throw the stones free, I ride down gravel roads often...And i ratter have the stones bouncing off instead of gathering on a shield and then the stones will grind into the front and rear sprockets.... :Shrug:

And yet all belt drive motorcycles are delivered with a rock guard to shield the belt. I'm going to stop by my MotorTrike installer and see if I can score a discarded belt guard and do some fabrication.

 

[Phu Cat]

I agree Rhino, anything that encloses the belt has the possibility of bouncing a stone back on to the belt after it's bounced off. However, if I could fabricate a piece of material that ran from side to side there'd be no chance of anything getting even close to the belt if I can close it in the front. Therein lies the problem. Looking at the bottom of the bike makes that job seemingly improbable. There's just too much 'clutter' for lack of a better word. That's why I'm hoping the mud guard will help with holding down stones that might otherwise be kicked up. I sure would welcome any ideas from other riders. I'm not surprised a belt replacement cost $1500. There's a lot of labor involved to remove and properly replace the rear end.

PC