Chain or belt

[gpp3442]

CHAIN
BELT IN THE PRIMARY- KEEPS THE FLOOR CLEAN.

[jimmy]

i run a belt drive on my 56 pan 25tooth cammed up a little , linkert carb, std heads . the sweet spot is about 65, at that speed the engine is smooth and singing its beautiful song. around town i use third gear alot. i notice that when i gas it hookup is more instantaneous. the belt is quiet and no chain jerk. ive had lots of bikes with chain primarys and they are fine but i sure like my belt drive. by the way i sure get a kick reading the forum . snow is on the ground panhead is in the garage cant wait for spring . it will be awhile here in alaska

[King]

Hi Jimmy

When you said "25 tooth" have you found that magical 25 tooth equivalent motor pulley or are you using a a 25 tooth tranny sprocket?
My preference is belt drive but to get the highway performance I require I have gone back to a chaindrive with 25 tooth engine sprocket and 25 tooth tranny sprocket. 65-70 seems about right now.
Have a good hibernation!!

King

[VintageTwin]

Hi Jimmy,
Can you explain your motor pulley tooth count and clutch drum tooth count and trans. tooth count more to the tooth? Thanks for the hope of having a low rev putt in 4th gear. Committed to belt here.

[jimmy]

hey this is jimmy up in alaska sorry about not getting back to you sooner about the belt drive on my 56 pan.im using a B.D.L. enclosed primary kit that i ordered from v twin for my year. ive got a 24 tooth tranny sproket stock clutch and a 51 tooth rear . i dont have a 25 tooth that was a slip of the finger. im a terrible typist i wish i could be a little better at it , only potential secertaries took typing class looking back it might have been a good way to meet the ladies. another thing i wanted to mention i put a pair of S T D heads on my pan and i put about 20 miles on then broke a valve spring and bent a valve after tearing down i found another spring with a crack i sent them back and after two weeks they determined faulty springs caused the problem they replaced the springs and the bent valve but i didnt get any thing my time and labor even though it was there fault. after that no more problems and the bike runs beautiful. i just had to put my two cents worth about the S t d heads. talk to you later

[PanPal]

Has anyone ever used this style? I have been using this type of belt drive for several years (Not on my bike though) and the belting tooth design seems to hold up better that the straight tooth style belts. There may also be more choices for sprocket ratios. No need for flanges on the sides of the pulleys.
[url]http://www.goodyearindustrialproducts.co....od-eaglepd.html[/url]

[VintageTwin]

who makes pulleys with the same pattern?

[PanPal]

Same people! But they will not bolt right on. A set up would have to be manufactured from the stock pulleys. I purchased all parts through Applied industrial technologies, formerly Bearings and transmissions.

[adjustaglide]

Ya know, I was just wondering if a taller (17 or18) inch rear rimtire would make finding a ideal rpm/mph ratio easier. Then fine tune her using a smaller countershaft
sprocket. Whadda you guys think? I run a Primo belt with a 25 tooth and would like a little taller gearing,( a 26T is in the works for the next 6 months of winter in Saskatchewan ) and I would like to see what old blues" would look like runnin 18" rubber. ya never know till you try, do you!

[sleeper]

adjustaglide-
The tire height is a variable for tuning the gearing.
If you are running 'modern rubber' they are about 25.4 "
tall. While an Avon SM Mark II 'full profile' is 26.4" overall difference of 1" better for lower RPM's on hi-way.
Reguardless of the rim size, the 'tire height' is the determining factor.
Generally, a taller rim is still about the same by smaller tire height. Once you look at those figures, you can decide.

[mbskeam]

hello
I have seen this on a bike this last may at the bike show . the guy has a shop (north coast thunder bikes) he and his wife race a fuel sportster. I got a flyer on the drive set up , but can not find it.This was on a project shovel head that was for sale at there display. This belt set up looked bitchen. I can get the info from them if anybody wants it.
mbskeam

[108]

I have had a 1 3/4" belt in the original tin primary cover on my + .020 "48 FLH with tank shift and short stroke clutch for over 20k. It's probably the single best thing I ever did to it! Of coarse no more chain oil plus a big improvement in ease of shifting . I have settled on 25T trans sprocket as the all around best (at least for my combination) Remember ,when you gear up for lower highway rpm, you sacrifice ease of take-off and acceleration rate. Thats why they invented over-drives!

[gordon]

Well I got a 28 tooth eng pully a 44 tooth clutch basket a 24 tooth trans sprocket and a 51 tooth wheel sprocket . the bike is not done yet but when it is i will let you all know how well this combo works.
Gordon

[rigidpanman]

im not sure it is covered here,what are the stock numbers for all the various sprockets on a 1949 fl pan.thanks

[cadillacman58]

I converted to belt last year on my 1963 Duo-Glide and does not have any trouble with the rpm,it feels the same as with the chain. The trouble i have is that the belt breaks right off after about 850 miles,i think first that the clutch was broken but after i take of the cover i find out that the belt was broken. The engine and trans lines up ok and there is no other fault as i can see,how long is the normally lifetime of a belt ,its no trouble to change it at the roadside but it is no fun with the comments from the damn bypassing riders of Japanese custombikes that not understand that this is a over 40 years old veteran . I used to rides around 70 mph at the highway and drives around 1000 miles every season and dont have any bigger troubles , the panhead works very fine but a 5th gear would be nice sometime.
Cadillacman58