ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ => Topic started by: Spenny818 on April 01, 2014, 05:58:43 AM
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H guys,
I just got back from my first ride on my gently used 2013 S ZF11.4. Unfortunately I only got 80km before the belt broke. The bike only has 2300km on it so I was quite surprised it only lasted this long. The dealer is 3.5 hours away for me, but they have agreed to ship me a replacement belt. Anyone have any experience replacing the belt themselves? Or is this something best left for the dealer?
Thanks!
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Should be as easy loosening the rear wheel nut and following the direction in section 5-15 of the manual and slide the rear wheel forward to shorten the distance between the two sprockets, then place the new belt on the front sprocket, then on the rear and adjusting and tightening to specs. I have 5800 miles on my 2013 S and the belt has stretched a tad, but isn't frayed or worn.
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Would you not need to remove the swingarm from the frame to get the belt over the motor pulley?
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Yep, the swing arm must come off. To get the swing arm off, the motor either has to come completely out or just released from the frame to allow for clearance for a wrench to loosen the swing arm bolts. It's a length process. I'm surprised your belt failed so early. Did debris get caught in it? Was the tension correct? My belt has 15k miles on it and shows no sign of wear.
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I agree. You would think that either the belt picked up a rock, or there is a defect in one of the sprockets, or that the belt was defective, or it received a cut when the bike was being assembled. In any case, I would think that this should be covered by Zero's warranty, considering the low mileage. A belt failing that quickly would not be normal wear and tear.
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Zero has agreed to replace the belt under warranty. They sure do have excellent service! As far as the circumstances on how it broke, I'm not sure to be honest. I was just out riding in the city, came out of a corner and rolled on the accelerator. There was no power and I noticed the speedo shot up to 130km/h. It was on pavement so I can't really see it as being debris. I have never checked the tension on the belt since I just picked it up from a dealer 2 weeks ago. Anyways, I was sent the dealer instructions on how to install the belt, and it looks like I will just need to remove the rear fender, the rear brake pedal bolt, and the rear swingarm bolts. This gives you enough room to pull the swingarm away from the frame and slide the belt over the motor. I'll keep you posted on how the home install goes!
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Well dang. It looks on my bike like the belt would just slide between the swing arm and the sprocket without removing anything, but I guess not. It sure would be close. Seems like you could twist the belt sideways a little and still get it into place without taking off the swing arm. No?
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You aren't thinking this through dkw. The belt is continuous and the spar where the swingarm attaches to the shock prevents you from putting it around both sprockets.
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Yeah, its the big difference in changing belts and chains.
Chains you can break, connect the new to old, pull the new one through, remove the old chain and then rivet the new chain, without taking anything else apart (other than loosening the tension on the wheel)
Belts on the other hand require a strip down of the rear of the bike. :(
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Oh, right. Bummer. Replacing the belt is not user friendly. At least the belt is meant to last at least 25,000 miles according to the manual. Seems like someone could come up with a master-link kind of like zip ties to make it easier.
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Harley used to make an emergency patch for their belt drive when it was first introduced. But I hear it didn't work all that well and H-D owners discovered that their belts would last a lot longer than they had expected and eventually forgot about belts breaking.
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I'm not sure if this is true of all Zero models but on the FX there are set screws in the swingarm nuts on the inside. Yes, they put set screws into threads! Face, meet palm. Don't forget to undo those before you try to crank out the swingarm bolts, you'll see the allen head on one of the faces of the nut. My factory chain lasted a very short time but the belt never showed any signs of premature decay.
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My belt broke today too, in the middle of the traffic on my zero S 2013, 2000 km or so...
And I just had it back since 2 days after the main board burnt and waited 3 weeks to be replaced. I really feel tired with all this...
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I am still waiting on my belt to come in. Hoping to have it in the next day or 2. I have the swingarm pulled apart so that once it comes in I just need to pop the belt on and reassemble. While I've got it apart, would anyone be interested in photos of the install process?
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Photo would be nice.
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I agree. A couple of photos would be helpful. :)
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(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/14/pa4y4y6u.jpg)
This is the bolt for the swingarm pivot. The collared nut fits inside of the bearing, and has to be held with a 24mm wrench to spin it off. The bolts are identical on both sides. I found it easiest to just take the set screw out entirely before attempting to take out these bolts.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/14/e4ymemeb.jpg)
To remove the bolt on the right side, you have to take out the bolt for the rear brake pedal as well. It's just a clearance issue. I just left the pedal hanging there and the bolt came out no problem.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/14/by8yvehe.jpg)
This shows the left side, with the swingarm pulled back. To install the belt, you basically just have to pull the swingarm back enough for it to slide through this gap. The shock linkage holds everything together, so you don't actually have to remove the swingarm or rear wheel.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/14/ujuzy2e7.jpg)
Finally, this is the broken belt. It didn't show any signs of unusual wear, it just snapped.
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As far as the step by step instructions for the install:
-Loosen the rear wheel and slide it forward in the frame
-Remove the rear fender by taking out the 4 hex bolts securing it
-Remove the rear brake pedal bolt (I believe it was a 15mm)
-remove the set screws from the swingarm bolts on both sides, then remove the bolts by holding the inside nut with a 24mm wrench, and a 10mm hex on the head. This was the hardest step, because there is not a lot of room to manipulate in the rear assembly - especially with a 24mm wrench!
-The swingarm will pull back enough for the belt to fit through the frame. Simply slide it over the motor pulley, replace the swingarm bolts, then install it over the rear wheel and tension accordingly.
These instructions are for a 2013. I am told that on the 2014 model, the nut is welded inside the swingarm, and they omitted the set screw design. This will make the job much easier as you just have to turn out the head with a 10mm.
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Thanks Spenny818, that is a great write-up and the photos really help to illustrate the work. Do you have any idea about the tightening torques for the fasteners that need to be reinstalled? What is the swing arm bearing like? (Is it a roller or plain bearing?) I assume that it should be re-greased upon assembly of the swing arm bolt.
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All of the torques should be in your owners manual. The swingarm pivots are 75 lb/ft, as well as the rear wheel nut. The rear brake pedal gets torqued to 34 lb/ft. I'm not sure on the bearing, but I believe it was a roller bearing.
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The belt came in today and I have everything back together. I'm definitely jealous of you 2014 owners that have the inner nut welded to the frame! Just working on getting the belt aligned now and then we should be back in business. It would be nice if I didn't have to do this for another 40,000km...
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Is it something easy / that can be done quickly ?
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Definitely not a road side job. I would allow an hour at least to install it. The process should be more streamlined for a 2014 however.
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Hmm, I'm looking at getting a 2014 FX, maybe I should get a chain fitted on it right away...
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I imagine that getting the belt and its sprockets aligned perfectly with the use of the axle adjusters is critical to belt life. That adjustment is likely to be well worth taking extra time to get just right. Not having adjusted the belt yet on my 2014 bike, I assume that the best way to do this is to measure from the center of the swing arm bolts to the center of the axle bolts and verify that both measurements are exactly the same. Of course, that assumes that the motor is not cocked slightly in its mounts.
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The way to properly align it is to look at the belts position on the rear sprocket. You don't want the belt rubbing against the outer guard, as this will wear the belt unevenly. It took me about another hour of adjustment to get this perfect. Getting the alignment right, as well as the belt tension is quite a craft! I would make some adjustments, then roll it back and forth in the garage a few times, then check the belt position. The issue I was having was that when I torqued the rear axle nut, it would change the alignment. I ended up having to over adjust it, so that when I torqued it the belt was properly centered. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/15/a2aqare3.jpg)
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Great job, Spenny. Time well spent. :)
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Very interesting. My belt broke exactly the same way yours did, at 2000 km only. Did Zero do anything (free belt, compensation,...) to compensate for the faulty part (and the days of bike unavailability+time to change the belt) ?
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I received a free belt and gauge. Never asked for compensation because it's still winter weather here in the great white north. I also didn't mind doing the job... I like getting my hands dirty and figuring things out.