Having a great day until....

[ultrafxr]

How tight are you guys running your belts ? I run mine at between 3/8ths and 7/16ths and the tight spot. This is what the harley shop manual calls for. After riding for awhile it's really tight while hot but it's right where they say to run it.

It is normal for them to tighten up when hot.

My '18 TG just crossed the 20k mark and I've done nothing to the belt. From new it seemed very tight to me and I checked it when it was stone cold. I had two different techs look at it and they said it was A-OK and that it would stretch a bit with some miles on it. With 20k it does not appear to have stretched a bit as it is still tight. But I've inspected TGs of several different friends and are all tight. 3/8" ain't much at all and it is darn difficult to get an accurate measurement. . . and it looks a bit intimidating to me to adjust so I'm just going to leave it alone.

It's a heck of a lot tighter than I ever ran on my two wheelers but perhaps I didn't know how to adjust them properly and ran them too loose. But I never had any problem and put well over 60k on them all and over 80k on two of them. Honestly don't know if it really is all that critical as long as it's not so loose that it can slip.

[kingfish108]

Drive belts dont snap for no reason. There had to be a hole or another issue to cause it to break .

Glad to hear you had plenty of help.

The break on mine was almost straight across. Only way it could have straighter is if it had been cut. I had new shocks installed at 27.7K and have been wondering if the belt tension was too tight with the new shocks since they raised the rear end up about a 1/2 inch.

[rhino 2]

The break on mine was almost straight across. Only way it could have straighter is if it had been cut. I had new shocks installed at 27.7K and have been wondering if the belt tension was too tight with the new shocks since they raised the rear end up about a 1/2 inch.

I doubt it... There are hundreds of trikes with raised rears [Inch and 1/4 lifts]...

I do know at least with the early Spyder's the factory spec's in the belt was too tight and that in turn took out front sprockets , And in some cases also the shaft [Main shaft] that held the sprocket.....

I had that happen to mine....The belt was fine with no damage to it..

[kingfish108]

[trikermutha]

The break on mine was almost straight across. Only way it could have straighter is if it had been cut. I had new shocks installed at 27.7K and have been wondering if the belt tension was too tight with the new shocks since they raised the rear end up about a 1/2 inch.

Break like that seems to be related to over tightening. As long as there is was no visible damage to the belt.

[kingfish108]

I got a call late Friday afternoon that my trike was repaired. I picked it up Saturday (in the rain) and rode it home. They are closed Sunday/Monday and I didn't want to wait till Tuesday. Really glad to have it home in the garage.

The new belt was installed in just under 7 hrs. Total bill with labor, parts, fluids, shop supplies was $1125. I had planned for the bill to be more, so I am happy.

I think if I had truly been on a trip, they would have worked me in sooner. My only real complaint (besides the belt breaking) is the amount of time it took to get the belt. I am going to order a spare belt. I have always found that the best way to prevent broken parts is to have spare parts. May never need it and that's OK with me.

Learning from this experience, unless very prohibitive, if I break again I will have it towed back to my home. Save a lot of time waiting for a ride, time going to pick up and miles on car.

Going to have a great weather week, so tomorrow looks like another road trip.

[ShapeShifter]

Glad to hear you're back in the saddle!