I have a howl or whine when I gear down, and had this thought that the belt might be rubbing on my rear tire, by moving from side to side asI gear down? has anyone had an unusual noise like this?
Check your belt tension. Look for witness rub marks on the tire and on the belt guard. Check the condition of your pulleys. Check your primary chain adjustment.
How many miles on the belt and pulleys? Does it stop if you pull the clutch in?
Worse case? It's your Transmission Mainshaft Bearing if it's a BT. :emoGroan: Ugh!
Fingers crossed that it's your belt rubbing!
Humm,,,,,, it does stop when I pull the clutch in.
Any recent changes? Like a tire replacement? My first guess would be a drive belt that is to tight.
Back in the early 2000's a Buddy of Mine had a 95' FLHTC. He took it to a Local Indy for some "mods" and had the Belt and Tranny Pulley replaced while there. After a couple of years, the Bike would "chirp" on a Downshift, and occasionally on an Upshift. Drove Him nuts. Constantly checked the Belt for alignment/tension and all that. Checked all kinds of things. Still chirped. He and I finally had enough and took it all apart. Unknown to Him the Indy replaced the Tran Pulley with an Aluminum one when He worked on it. A Steel Pulley had been on there. Just normal riding the Belt picked up road sand, and what-not. The outer third of the Pulley towards the lip...the teeth on the Pulley had been worn down and were much "sharper" than they should be. The inner 2/3 of the Pulley was OK, considering. The road grime/sand acted just like emery cloth and ground down that section when the Belt would go around with the sand, etc. on it. That caused His Belt to really not ride properly on the Pulley, and actually started wearing that section of the Belt down. We replaced the Tran Pulley with a Steel one and replaced the Belt as well. No problems ever since that ordeal, and He still has that Bike.
Prior to Us repairing it, He took it back to the Indy and bitched. The Indy "fixed" it right on the spot. He got a tube of HD "Poly-oil" and smeared it all around the Belt. I don't know if Poly-oil is still available from HD. Not that I'd use it. It was a clear grease like a tube of toothpaste. No chirp for about a day, and then it was back. I think the Poly-oil was more of a bad move than a help. The Poly-oil on the Belt and Pulley contained more road grime/sand on the Belt. The chirp got worse after that "repair".
For what it's worth...that Indy went out of Business after a few years. He moved Out of State and got a new job.
I believe that Poly Oil was made for use on the primary belt on a Sturgis model.
I put an aluminum front pulley on my wife's Sportster a few years back. Made it 3000 miles or less (Sturgis and back). The well known pulley source said, "We stated it was lighter, not that it would last." :angry:
Quote from: fbn ent on June 22, 2022, 03:39:42 PMI believe that Poly Oil was made for use on the primary belt on a Sturgis model.
:up: It was. I still have a tube.
Quote from: Ohio HD on June 22, 2022, 07:21:36 PMQuote from: fbn ent on June 22, 2022, 03:39:42 PMI believe that Poly Oil was made for use on the primary belt on a Sturgis model.
:up: It was. I still have a tube.
Wasn't the poly oil actually meant for use on the rubber cushion "compensator" on the primary belt drive models?
Quote from: xlfan on June 22, 2022, 10:53:19 PMQuote from: Ohio HD on June 22, 2022, 07:21:36 PMQuote from: fbn ent on June 22, 2022, 03:39:42 PMI believe that Poly Oil was made for use on the primary belt on a Sturgis model.
:up: It was. I still have a tube.
Wasn't the poly oil actually meant for use on the rubber cushion "compensator" on the primary belt drive models?
It was, to help reduce wear and stop squeaks. It was also used to reduce wear on the belt as well. Used to brush it into the parts with an old tooth brush.
A long time ago...PolyOil was specified by the Motor Company as a belt dressing. No longer available.
A local dealer told me it was superseded by Harley "Assembly Lube". Make of that what you will.
I recall a fellow that was washing his Softail bike daily and he had a similar squeak. It disappeared with a light shot of WD40 so we determined it was squeaky clean. To confirm it is in fact the belt you could try the same thing or take a candle and rub wax liberally throughout the belt and rear pulley teeth. I keep a candle in my tool box and used it often to stop a belt growl or squeak with great success. The wax imbeds and doesn't gather road grime.
One thing I've done to try and stop belt squeak was to take a bar of soap (fresh bar, not one softened by water), and run it across the edge of the belt that's running against the pully. I've had some stop squeaking forever, and others you had to apply soap again. Actually most the time is just went away after the first time applying to the belts edge.
I have had luck with roughening up a bit the edge of the belt that is running against the pulley with some emery cloth, when squeaking that edge is kind of hard and "polished".
vernyou didn't mention the model. Are you sure the wheel are aligned properly?
Maybe it"s something else,,, but I will try the lube just to see if it works. it could be an alinement issue, I'm going to ride it till it breaks. In all other respects its a nice ride , stock shove motor, 5 spd trany, softail and a modified frame. what could posibly go wrong!
thanks to all the replys and thoughts on this subject. But heres the scoop! I was begining to sound like my bike .
The problem was me , I didnt pay enough attention to the parts thay I had bought, theres always a reason why they are for sale, but I have been lucky. the clutch hub bearing was on the way to the scrap yard along with the main bearing in the final drive. There were lots of clues like fillings in my primary oil, but I was clueless. I was not looking forwartd to pulling the tranny and was looking for an easy fix. But I did pull the bike apart and am replacing all the bearings in the tranny and primary, its not so bad once i get into it. Lookinhg forward to a smooth shift a clean clutch and no noise in the spring.
:up: Thanks for the update