drive belt replacement
- Thread starter oldscoolz
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wijogrultra
New Member
I see this is an old post but I've found some good information here. I'm replacing the drive belt on my 04 Ultra. I've got outer and inner primary's off. And the clutch and compensator. Looks like I do have to remove the left side swing arm bracket as well as the left shock and tire. ( I'm replacing both sprockets) Has anyone done anything with the swing arm bushings?
Welcome aboard....the entire swingarm needs to be removed to replace the belt....as far as the bushings, I'm not quite sure I understand your question? The pivot shaft will slide out from the right side....hopefully it's not seized though. They can be a bear at times to remove....make sure to coat it with anti seize when putting it back together. After removing the rear wheel and shocks, Check the bushings and rubber isolators for excessive lateral movement as well as no evidence of play when you try to twist the swingarm. My bushings and isolators were still in good shape on my 2003 with about 40k on the clock. I did end up installing Sta-bo bushing isolators as well as a True-trak while I had it apart to firm up the rear since I was beginning to notice a little rear end wiggle when hitting tar snakes or grooves in the road. As a sidenote, I did the Sta-bos first and still noticed it, then ordered the True-trak....it was only while awaiting the True-trak did I notice that the pivot shaft wasn't properly torqued down by the previous owner. Grabbing the swingarm from the end and twisting it revealed that there was some serious play in it. Once I torqued the pivot shaft nuts down (behind the chrome caps on the brackets) it eliminated all the rotational play....I threw the T-T on there since it was already ordered. Hope that helps and that you're following and using a service manual.
wijogrultra
New Member
I'm taking the rear tire off this weekend and will check the swing arm then. I was planning on removing the swing arm but saw some guys saying you could slide the pivot shaft the the right and remove the left bracket and squeeze the belt by. I will remove the whole arm and check everything from the shaft to bushings. Thanks for the input. I couldn't find any videos of someone doing this job. Just bits and pieces of steps.
dolt
Well-Known Member
You don't have to remove the swing arm to replace the drive belt. You can do as you mentioned; slide the pivot shaft out, rotate the belt about 45* and slide it between swing arm and frame. Don't know how many miles on the bike but doubt that shaft or bushings need replacing. However, replacing the rubber isolators would not be a bad idea; not expensive and worth doing.
More importantly, since the inner primary is off and parts are cheap, replace all the seals behind the inner primary and maybe the inner primary bearing. If the race looks OK, you can reuse it. Tape the splines on the main shaft to avoid nicking the IPB seal when installing the inner primary; very easy to do and it will leak if nicked.
That swingarm only has maybe a sixteenth of space if that between the frame rails....it's a pretty tight fit. Not sure hwere the info came from that you can sneak a belt by came from....but it's nothing I've ever been able to do. Removing the side brackets does nothing as far as gaining clearance to get a belt by. All the brackets do are center and support the outer rubber isolators....sliding the pivot shaft a little to the right and removing it completely is really no extra work. Besides, you'll probably find a ton of road grime on the front of the swingarm that you'll want to clean and removing it is the best way to accomplish that. I sprayed the bushings out with cleaner and compressed air and relubed them with a little grease while apart. Factory service manuals are available online if you're savvy enough to search and find a download for free from the big G. Worth the money even if you have to pay for one....they're invaluable when it comes to working on your own bike. We can't post them on here or I'd send you a pdf of that section. It's really pretty straightforward and not that difficult to take the swingarm off though....unless the shaft is seized as I mentioned....then a serious beating and a lot of colorful words are going to be in order. A replacement shaft and Isolators won't break the bank by any means either if yours is toast. Good luck with the job and just let us know if you get stuck on any part of the job....we're here to help.
Dolt...I value your knowledge and I just did this job about two months ago....just don't see how I could've gotten that drivebelt between the swingarm end and the frame???? I can understand getting it around the front sprocket if the inner primary wasn't removed but.......In any case....completely removing it once everything was pretty much apart added minimal time to my job. If you can indeed use that trick, I stand corrected but just can't see how or why there'd be that much space between the frame and swingarm from an engineering standpoint????
Edit: Disregard....my apologies, memory is coming back and the tight interface was between the inner swingarm and the transmission boss now that I think about it. Mind is in first gear and typing in fifth, lol. There may be enough space as you mentioned. But, I'd still just yank it to check everything anyway and clean it well
Last edited:
dolt
Well-Known Member
Dolt...I value your knowledge and I just did this job about two months ago....just don't see how I could've gotten that drivebelt between the swingarm end and the frame???? I can understand getting it around the front sprocket if the inner primary wasn't removed but.......In any case....completely removing it once everything was pretty much apart added minimal time to my job. If you can indeed use that trick, I stand corrected but just can't see how or why there'd be that much space between the frame and swingarm from an engineering standpoint????
Edit: Disregard....my apologies, memory is coming back and the tight interface was between the inner swingarm and the transmission boss now that I think about it. Mind is in first gear and typing in fifth, lol. There may be enough space as you mentioned. But, I'd still just yank it to check everything anyway and clean it well
Not recommending one way or the other; just advising that it is not necessary to completely remove the swing arm on a softail or bagger to change the drive belt; have done it several times. If a high mileage bike, completely removing might be worth the added time and effort to check things out; dealer's choice.