Drive Pulley Weights Service

Hi,
I'm going to be terminology challenged to describe my question. I'm servicing my 2002 Silverwing...general cleanup, new belt, etc. Everything is going fine...I've even made the tool to torque the drive pulley to 76 ft lbs when finished.

As you know, the drive-pulleys move closer or further apart with the speed of the engine. The faster the engine the closer the front pulleys get which makes the diameter larger so the belt moves "out" and increases the speed of the driven pulley.

This is all done with the help of 8 rollers that are behind the inner drive pulley. I'm assuming that centrifugal force causes these rollers to move toward the outer edge of the inner pulley assembly when engine speed increases...moving that pulley closer to the outer drive pulley (and increasing the diameter of that pulley and the overall speed of the belt like I mentioned...).

My question is pretty simple...after cleaning, do I apply any grease or oil to the rollers and/or the assembly? (or would this "gum" things up....so I should leave dry?).

The Silverwing only has 6,800 miles on it (I'm replacing the belt because its almost 20 years old and it started to squeak). So, I don't think I need to replace any of the rollers. However, on this forum there's a lot of advice about changing the weight of them? Since I mostly ride in the Sierra foothills I'm pretty happy with the performance. (In California you'd take your life in your hands riding even a 600cc scooter on a 6-lane wide Interstate!... ;-).

In this post, if I look like I'm 'splaining how it works I'm more "asking" if I have it right.

Thanks in advance for your advice!
Gary

No grease or oil in belt area rollers are fine. Dry. DR Pulley or Tech Pulley Sliders work great also. Sliders can be purchased in lower weights to make for faster acceleration and lower engine speeds on the top end. Stock rollers are 28 grams. Aftermarket sliders 22G up to about 30G s. Best of both worlds with sliders faster and lower engine speed on highway. Most here use 24-26G and are happy with them.

Service the usual items if not done already. There is a rear gearcase that needs service much easier with belt cover off. 10-11 ounces of any good engine oil 10w/30 or 40 is fine.

Use a shop manual and/or do a youtube search plenty how to videos there, plenty how to info here also, do a search here or on google, google search seems more to the point and will probably bring you back here, IAC most questions have been answered already, Do your research, BTW no grease on any part of front pulley/variator assy or any belt area, if you had any grease or oil residue in cvt case, there's issues.

You've got the principal right TeraGar.
Yep, leave it clean and dry in there, you don't want any grease migrating to the pulley surfaces.
Lightening the rollers means the revs have to be higher to provide the same centrifugal* force, so in effect you are running in a lower gear - which is a good thing for acceleration / pillion use / hills. Dr Pulley slider do the same as rollers but are shaped to allow a lower and higher gear, the various UTubes show it best.

* And before the physicists start, yes, I do know there is no such thing a centrifugal force.

Thanks for the advice! Since there was only a bit of belt-dust in the drive pulley I was thinking that it goes back together "clean and dry" (but thinking about the rollers moving in and out "thousands" of times with no grease had me wincing....but I guess they are designed for that).

I had actually read a lot of the posts about the rollers and sliders (but nothing about the "maintenance" could I find...). This forum has convinced me, while everything is apart, to switch to the Dr Pulley sliders since they seem to work better than the original rollers, even at the same 28g (but I ordered 26g). Seems like moving from rollers to sliders and lowering the weight just a bit is the best of both worlds...

Thanks again!

TeraGar wrote:

Thanks for the advice!   Since there was only a bit of belt-dust in the drive pulley I was thinking that it goes back together "clean and dry" (but thinking about the rollers moving in and out "thousands" of times with no grease had me wincing....but I guess they are designed for that). (Snip)

You could spritz the weight ramps with PB Blaster Dry Lube with Teflon. It goes on wet but dries to a white powder almost instantly.

Thanks again! I didn't even know this stuff existed. This will satisfy my need to "lube it"... .

Now the new weights will slide out so fast I can accidentally launch myself off a cliff! Lol.

I went for 26g weights when I swapped, such a good compromise, nice peppy acceleration.

Hi again....we probably can close out this post but I wanted to give everyone an update:

I bought the Teflon spray that Cosmic_Jumper recommended. Great stuff and definitely fed my need to lube the sliders before re-installation. Interesting though, when I received my 26G Dr Pulley sliders, they were coated in black, which I hadn't seen before...almost as if THEY had a teflon coating (might be just a different color or an improvement?).

The Silverwing is back together and on the road. The acceleration definitely feels smoother and more powerful. The tac/odometer reads about 4300rpm at 65mph and 5000rpm at 70mph...and plenty of rpm's left. (Since I didn't even know about Dr. Pulley when I first took the belt off I didn't know to measure the "before").

Thanks again for everyone's comraderie and help!

The black one's are the new improved style, material. Sliders are nice enjoy. I had over 25K on 26G Dr. Pulley and worked great but changed belt last weekend and put some Tech Pulley 24G in and a new G-Boost belt. Haven't had a longer ride yet but it pulls hard engine revs to 6K on hard acceleration much better.

Mech 1 twa wrote:

 DR Pulley or Tech Pulley Sliders work great also. Sliders can be purchased in lower weights to make for faster acceleration and lower engine speeds on the top end.  Stock rollers are 28 grams. Aftermarket sliders 22G up to about 30G s.  Best of both worlds with sliders faster and lower engine speed on highway.  Most here use 24-26G and are happy with them.

Just to be clear about your comment: were you indicating that higher pulley weights (30gr+) would slow the acceleration but give you lower revs on the highway/cruise...?

In general heavier variator weights will decrease acceleration and lower rpm's at any speed, some markets SW come stock with 30gr vs 28gr(US), the heavier weights will also lower your clutch engagement point(clutch in), suitable for slow speed and heavy traffic areas.
Dr. Pulley sliders act different because of shape/design, usually 26gr is good for acceleration and similar top speed with lower rpm.

That's good, because I am just about to order 35Gr Dr. Pulley sliders to stop my engine running at such high rpms, as the majority of my riding is motorway cruising....  

35gm weights? With those weights I’m afraid that it might take the better part of the day to get up to cruising speed. Great on fuel economy though. Oh, and don’t expect to crank it on to overtake the slow poke ahead either.

I concur with CJ, I would suggest going to Dr. Pulley sliders in 28 or 30 grams max, anything else/heavier will have diminishing returns in fuel economy, etc. been tried/tested before.

My experience with24 & 26 gram Dr Pulley sliders is that the lower weights give you a faster acceleration because it raises the RPM your clutch engages. At 60MPH your RPM is about 500 less than the original 28 gram rollers. It is because of the shape of the sliders that allow the drive pulley to fully squeeze to belt to to outer edge while making the driven pulley to expend allowing the belt to run lower in the pulley.

I replaced the original rollers in my 2004 Swing trike with 21 gram sliders. The rollers had some flat spots and was discolored. Acceleration was much better. I think that the previous owner pulled a trailer because the ball mount showed round wear marks.

That's my 2¢.

zrx212 wrote:

I concur with CJ, I would suggest going to Dr. Pulley sliders in 28 or 30 grams max, anything else/heavier will have diminishing returns in fuel economy, etc. been tried/tested before.

Drive pulley can only expand so far no matter what weight roller slider is in there. 35G will make bike slower. Stay with 28G or less and still get that 500 RPM reduction at speed. Must be some hills in Switzerland ohhhh the Alps.