Too soon for Sliders and Replace belt??

Hello all.

I am trying to decide if it is too soon to install 24 gr. Dr. Pulley Sliders on the Swing. I currently have ~5400 miles on her. It is a 2004 I bought last year, so the belt is 9 years old. I am wondering if I should replace the belt too since I am in there. Should I wait to do both at the same time at 16,000 miles?? Any comments would be great.

Thanks again everyone.

Happy riding for those of you who are still not snow/salt covered.

Replace the sliders now. No need to do the belt for another 10K miles.

The difference in the performance will be worth it.

Cheers,

The strength of the belt is not the rubber.
But the very strong fiber KEVLAR cords in the belt.

- No need to replace before 16000 mls.

- I find the stock variator parts fine.

Eddy

I have 31k kl on belt and rollers ,I do a oil .an diff oil change , belt and rollers inspection every 10k kl. I rotate the rollers 1/4 turn and everything is good .95% is HWY riding.I will order new belt and sliders for next oil change. I still get 65+ mpg . It all depend's on your driving habits ,and comfort zone.I ride a 09 swing. Some change belt's at 16 k miles others have more then double that distance with no problems.

Hmmm, that kinda depends: 5400 miles is nothing, so I wouldn't replace the belt for that reason. But then 9 years is a long time.

You can also replace those variator sliders anytime you fancy. So you could use that opportunity to inspect the belt. You are not going to find any measurable wear on the belt, but you should closely inspect it for small cracks and 'dry rot'.

Or you could replace the belt and sliders now and have peace of mind going forward. Reset the "V" light when you change the belt and it will be good for another 16000 miles from whatever the odo reads when you reset the light.

Save the old belt for an emergency spare. HTH

Tim

PS: Please say "Hello" to Col. Bob, El Jeffe of the Minn-Max group for me.

Having now near 300,000 miles with rubber band drive scooters...I have some experience #1 bike is older #2 Age replace belt for piece of mind. I have had good luck with only OEM belts and rollers changed at makers mile recommendation. Only suffered one broken bent underway. Recently rode my Burgman 400, 20,000 miles on original belt, belt made it, warranty paid for outer rear bearing, front pulley, rollers...belt replacement my cost as it is wear item.

Since I do not like to walk or have trouble far from home: change belt.
Trouble on the road=expensive and of course dealer will not have required belt in stock. I carry spare.

Short of it: I would do the sliders now. Keep your rollers for backup. Don't do the belt.

I just recently switched to Dr. Pulley sliders on my 2012, at about 5100 miles (26g; I love them).

When I did this, the belt was about 1/4 the way between the new measurement and the out of service measurement (note that it's a strange procedure to check for belt wear, it's not just measuring the width). Definitely measurable wear, but not anything to worry about and I'd be shocked if anyone found enough to be concerned about at 5xxx miles. But it's never a bad thing to check things out when you are in there - I just wouldn't worry about it too much if I didn't have a good way to measure it. I believe that Honda says you should start checking belt wear at 12,000 miles and replace whichever is sooner: the measurement exceeds the wear limit or 16,000 miles since last change.

At 4,000 miles you're supposed to check out the clutch for wear so you might do that when you are in there. I did that - found no measurable wear on the bell, and about 6% wear on the clutch shoes (.19mm of wear compared to Honda's provided "new" measurement). That's mostly high speed highway driving.

I clean that air filter in the variator anytime I can.

I don't know about the belt's age affecting wear, so I'll let others speak on that.

When you put it back together, suck the belt into the clutch by squeezing the top and bottom of the belt together as you're putting the variator together (the video of the Italian dude doing it shows how to do that). I'd minimize turning of the crank (particularly backwards, as many suggest - engines generally don't like to be turned backwards, even though the Silver Wing seems to be pretty hard to destroy this way). Squeezing into the clutch pulleys gives you plenty of slack. Oil the threads on both the crankshaft and the variator bolt, and use exactly 76 ft lbs of torque. Don't take any shortcuts on this part or you'll ruin the bolt and possibly a whole lot more (over torquing is just as bad as under torquing here, even if you don't strip anything - the head of that special bolt is slightly undercut to provide positive locking of the variator and will deform with too much torque, causing your variator to come apart later)

Thanks everyone for the replies. I am going to do the sliders and hold off on the belt til 16,000 miles. I ordered a set of 24 gr. sliders and should be here early next week. Thanks again everyone. Take Care.

I am a small guy. If you drive mostly conservative, your belt will easily last over 20,000 miles. I have over 100,000 miles on Silverwing and all my belts broke well over 25,000 miles.

If you are a heavy set and drive it hard, I will change it at 20,000. I don't personally don't know anybody who broke a belt at 16,000.
LN

LN did you get any damage to your Swing when you broke the belt or did you replace before belt fell apart ?Did you do belt inspections .

Leave old belt on.....ride a lot.....carry new spare....dealers will not have one in stock for emergency.

I don't waste time checking/measuring.....just change at recommended miles. One broken belt in near 300,000 miles. Had spare/Helix/=easy change with carried tools

I don't change rollers----want something with difference performance than SilverWing, buy a motorcycle.

It is not like on the car that has a timing belt. There nothing to be damaged inside. It may take a little to clean up. It will look like your belt had exploded. When I know it is time to change it , I carry all the sockets with me. If you go to an autoshop it takes seconds to remove the drive pulley with an air gun. My second Silverwing has 26,000 miles on original belt.

If you live in a dense area with a lot of traffic, i will change the belt at 20,000 If you are in the middle of nowhere ... let it break.

Drive safe.

LN