Factory primary belt drive

[79Shovel]

Any of you know any secrets for replacing the rubber elements on the compensating sprocket. Need about 1/8 inch compression to fit all four pieces......Bill

[Older-twin]

Yes, I have a way to do it.  I don't know if it is "right" as directed by the MoCo but it worked beautifully for me.  It requires having an old splined shaft in hand, locked onto a pair of Vice Grips.  You can probably get one from a local shop that works on Shovels alot.  Or, I used an old 10 spline input shaft removed from the front of a Ford T4 four speed transmission.  A piece of flat steel ground to fit may work also, but be careful not to mess up those splines.

What I did was lock the pulley unit in a vice so the inside is facing up to you.  Then assemble two identical rubbers opposite each other together with the splined center unit in their respective places.  That is the easy part; the harder part is now you have to take that splined shaft in the set of Vice Grips and turn the splined insert with so much pressure that you compress the installed rubbers enough to allow the other set to fall into place.  This takes a little muscle and dexterity if doing it all by yourself.  If you can get some assistance in dropping them in place then all you have to do is twist the shaft to compress the rubber blocks.  It has been a year or more since I did them, but think I may have installed three blocks easily and then compressed those to install the fourth block.  I did it by myself and it took a couple tries to get the operation done smoothly, but it does work good.  Make sure that you align them well so they sit flush in the "cup" so they don't cause any bad vibrations when you first start the bike after reassembly.  This requires applying and releasing pressure on those installed rubbers while moving them into their final resting position.  Good luck.

[79Shovel]

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to scout around for a shaft that will work. Thanks again....Bill