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Bad Alignment?

90FXRS

90FXRS

Junior Member
Contributor
Went out today and stopped by a friend's house. As he was backing his bike out of the garage I noticed the belt moved across the rear pulley. I asked him to push the bike forward and the belt moved the other direction. He just had new tires installed at the dealer. Did they not properly align the back wheel?
 
Not necessarily... when the wheel rolls in the opposite direction the belt will change location on the pulley. Easy enough to check via measurement to the pivot point on the swing arm on both sides.... to center of axil.

PS what part of Indiana are you in?, my daughter & her husband live in Evansville. We are going for a visit later this year.
 
From what I have read here that is a normal condition. My FLST and my cousins FXRS both do the same thing. Belt moves to the outside of the pulley in the forward direction and to the inside in reverse. I don't recall which thread it was where I read this but I'm sure with a search you can find some information about why this is the case.
 
90FXRS said:
I noticed the belt moved across the rear pulley. I asked him to push the bike forward and the belt moved the other direction.
Click to expand...

It really depends on how aggressive it drifts. If it drifts the complete "free play" distance in just 2 turns of the pulley, I would say you have a problem.

Some drift is normal. But it should not be aggressive. My belt does not sit "dead center" within the pulley but it also does Not hug hard to either lip.

If you saw a HARD drift to an edge of the pulley, I would check the alinement.
 
Hoople said:
It really depends on how aggressive it drifts. If it drifts the complete "free play" distance in just 2 turns of the pulley, I would say you have a problem.

Some drift is normal. But it should not be aggressive. My belt does not sit "dead center" within the pulley but it also does Not hug hard to either lip.

If you saw a HARD drift to an edge of the pulley, I would check the alinement.
Click to expand...

As usual Hoople's advice is superior. The movement I referred to was a gentle movement over a number of wheel revolutions. Hoople (among others) can always explain things in a very easy to understand way.
 
To add to the answers, the belt will track to the opposite side of the pulley when going forward and backing up , it's pretty much normal.
 
Well he just called and he's all worried about it. It's his first child and being a new parent he's all shook up. I have an alignment tool so away I go to check it out. I went out and looked at the belts on both bikes I have. They seem to track a little from in to out when you roll them forward and backward. I never paid any attention to it since I use the gauge whenever I remove/replace the rear wheel.
 
Only reason I bring it up is because of what I found on my bike when I purchased it brand new. I could watch the belt track fully right or fully left when rotating the rear tire. It would take just 2-3 turns of the rear pulley and the belt would be hugging a lip to the point that I would hear belt noise.

The service manual did say the rear axle should be adjusted to within .030" of each side.

I came up with a very accurate way to aline my rear axle to within a few thousands. From the factory my axle was off the full allowable .030".

I then alined the rear axle to within .005" and it made a huge difference in belt tracking. I just wanted to see how close I could get it to perfect and what effect it would have on belt tracking.

Do the trig on what .030" of axle shift does to tire alinement and pulley shift and you will be surprised. I was.
 
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