Mike , how many miles do you have on your bike ? I've got over 50,000 miles on my 2000 and my belt still looks like new . Even the pulleys look and sound OK and my belt has never jumped cogs .
My alternator bracket is another story . It cracked in the usual area early on but I discovered it in time and had it welded . It has not given me a problem since I had it welded and that was about 45,000 miles ago . I love the looks of the new bracket though .
I understand and believe in preventive maintenance also but sometimes I think some of it is unnecessary . But then again if it puts your mind at ease it's worth it . Can I have your spare parts ?? Just pulling your chain Bro . You know the old saying , "one mans junk could be another mans treasure " .
Mike , I was just kidding about wanting your spare parts . I'm retired but not to the point of begging yet although a few times I was willing to buy certain parts and guys have given the parts to to me for only the shipping cost . I have done the same for several guys over the years also . I keep a few spare parts also just in case because sometimes it seems like it takes forever to get new parts in a hurry . Life is too short to miss out on any riding time especially with our relatively short riding season here is Central N.Y.
When I bought my new belt last summer I found it was blue... I called the factory out of curiosity and they said the difference was cosmetic. I didn`t believe that so I did some looking on Gates site and found the difference is the belt is now carbon fiber instead of nylon corded. If you look at the name on the belt it says GT CARBON instead of just GT. The blue does not wear off but does become discolored to the point you can`t tell it`s blue.
I finally installed my alternator bracket upgrade. It was a easy installation. I found my old bracket to be broken for the second time when I removed it. I don't understand from the break that I have how an alternator could fall off, unless it leads to more parts breaking in the future.
I think the reason mine fell off was because as a new boss hoss owner at the time I was unaware of any problems with the bracket... I had a belt squeal so I tightened the belt... Soon it started again so I tightened it again... And again.. No doubt putting more strain on the bracket.. Possible the bolts to the block were a little loose from the factory. They are grade 8 bolts so are more inclined to break than bend. The roads here in town were being redone so they were all tore up. Possible one broke without me knowing about it. Both bolts eventually snapped off flush with the block. Hell of a bump when you run over the damn thing...
Tom wrote:I think the reason mine fell off was because as a new boss hoss owner at the time I was unaware of any problems with the bracket... I had a belt squeal so I tightened the belt... Soon it started again so I tightened it again... And again.. No doubt putting more strain on the bracket.. Possible the bolts to the block were a little loose from the factory. They are grade 8 bolts so are more inclined to break than bend. The roads here in town were being redone so they were all tore up. Possible one broke without me knowing about it. Both bolts eventually snapped off flush with the block. Hell of a bump when you run over the damn thing...
Thanks for the explanation, that makes more since. I just couldn't see how the alternator would fall off unless the bolts broke or the entire bracket broke in half. Which isn't where my break is at. I am excited about trying the new tensioner as I have always barely had enough adjustment.
The new bracket was designed for use with the serpentine belt but I don`t see any reason it wouldn`t work with a V belt. Anyone else have any input here???
The bracket is made by Boss Hoss to the best of my knowledge. As for the bracket working with a V-belt, I am guessing it would. My questions would be if the spacing of the pulley on the alternator is out far enough to clear the bracket as I believe it is probably a little thicker. Also I am trying to think of an example but normally I don't believe a V-belt has a tensioner running on the back side of the belt they normally go only contact pulleys on the V side. You would probably need a slightly longer belt. If you try it and it doesn't work out I suppose you could always upgrade to the serpentine belt at that point in time. I will try to remember to compares some brackets and spacing on the different bikes next week.
I looked at my alternator and mount tonight, shouldn't be a problem with pulley depth as the cooling fins are in front of the bracket so the pulley will be plenty in front. Only concern I would have is if the V-belt is not constructed to have the tensioner rubbing on the backside of the belt and would cause premature wear, but I think I would give it a try and keep an eye on the belt for a while as I did not like the tension adjustment of the old style bracket.
