Drive Belt Adjustment

You will be able to apply the proper torque and the back end will not come off the ground. Be sure to have wheel chokes at the front wheels, front and back of the wheel. This will ensure the Slingshot does not move forward or back as you apply high torque to these bolts.

You can raise the back of the Slingshot at the back of the Swing Arm where the Big Rear pulley is located. I have a motorcycle jack that one rail will fit between the wheel and pulley Position Jack just far enough in to catch the back of the swing arm and you only have to lift just enough that you can spin the wheel around. 1/2 " or 3/4 " will do the job. Any small jack that you can fit in there will do the job. I like my motorcycle jack as the lift rails have rubber strips on top and will not mare the bottom of your swing arm.

I am attaching a photo that will show the position of my Motorcycle Jack Rail under the swing arm. Hope this helps.

You want the belt in the normal driving position to check the tension and Alignment. This is the position the belt will be subjected to in normal driving conditions, so best place to check adjustments.

frehleycomet, what are you actually trying to do? Drive belt adjustment is far from being a precise operation, close enuff is good enuff. My suggestion would be to first check the belt taughtness while the SlingShot is just sitting there, belt needs to be "cold", (.63-1.0 inches between 60-80 degrees.) If that is OK, then leave everything else well enough alone unless you are having noise issues. If there are drive belt noise issues then just scrub the belt very well before attempting any adjusting. In other words, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

You may want to check out this thread: Drive Belt, FYI, What it should not do back there!

Bill

FYI, by the way, there is over 600 pounds sitting on that back tire, IF you do decide to do any adjusting, you are torquing to only 195 ft/lbs, just saying...............

Do you have a maintenance manual?

Bill

Quote from frehleycomet

So putting a jack or Jack stands under the swing arm will not affect the adjusting of the swing arm?????

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As to your original question no you will not lift the rear of the slingshot when you torque everything down.

The swing-arm is relatively thin hollow cast aluminum ... never place a jack or jack stand directly under any part of the swing-arm unless it is only to hold the weight of the swing-arm itself.

When supporting the weight of the Slingshot support it only under the frame, and preferably at the corners where several frame tubes meet.

To adjust the belt tension there is no need to jack up the rear of the SLingshot at all, it can be left completely on the ground.... if you want you can use a jack to lift the rear slightly for access and take some pressure off the swing-arm when you loosen and re-tighten the swing-arm pivot nut but even that is not necessary. The angle drive adjuster bolt is accessed through a hole behind the passenger seat. All adjustments need to be done with the slingshot completely settled on the ground as it would be in normal driving. Even better with someone sitting in the driver seat and some weight in the passenger seat if you normally ride with a passenger.

Its a simple 10 minute procedure once you have your tools out, no need to complicate it with a bunch of extra steps/equipment, and IMO no need to even touch it unless its tighter than 3/4" or more than 1-1/2" slack. As always with the belt cold and dry.

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Quote from Orangeman

.The swing-arm is relatively thin hollow cast aluminum ... never place a jack or jack stand directly under any part of the swing-arm unless it is only to hold the weight of the swing-arm itself.

Interesting, of course as you reinforced my previous statement, the SlingShot needn't to be raised to check belt tension. But, if adjusting belt location on the rear pulley, the swing arm holds the weight of the SlingShot just fine normally, a jack under the swing arm with a cradle or buffer, (2X4?) so you can rotate the tire while maintaining belt tension, should not create any excessive stress I would not think?

Bill

Quote from wjfyfe

Interesting, the swing arm holds the weight of the SlingShot just fine normally, a jack under the swing arm with a cradle or buffer, (2X4?), should not create any excessive stress I would not think?Bill

Best practice is to avoid it altogether its not designed to carry weight in that manner.........

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OK, even though this thread is a bit old, this just seemed to be place to ask my question where I have come to understand belt tracking alignment by visualizing the swing arm being pushed back and forth upon the pivot shaft so to align the belt on the rear sprocket. Now Bill Hahn has come up explaining that adjusting the pivot shaft alone "flexes" the frame to change the angle of the angle drive, thus altering the rear sprocket alignment? I am confused "again?"

Bill

The swing arm moves left or right on the swing arm bolt.

Would be the same if you could adjust the rear wheel belt sprocket left or right.

Never recall meeting Bill Hahn.

But, based on his past performance here and on the dark side forums...

If Bill Hahn is selling it, don't buy it.

Quote from airoutlaw

The swing arm moves left or right on the swing arm bolt.

Would be the same if you could adjust the rear wheel belt sprocket left or right.

Never recall meeting Bill Hahn.

But, based on his past performance here and on the dark side forums...

If Bill Hahn is selling it, don't buy it.

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That is how I have come to believe adjusting belt alignment worked, but I could have learned wrongly. Having never had any dealings with Hahn himself, I have witnessed all the negative reviews about him over the years. I was thus intrigued that he appeared to be pretty knowledgeable of the workings of the SlingShot with the discussions he has initiated. When this idea that the belt alignment was accomplished by "flexing" the frame of which the angle drive is mounted kinda made me step back a bit, however.

Bill

I know this is an OLD thread, but I seem to be experiencing the same issues. I finally got my Slingshot back on the road after taking way too long to finish swapping my old angle drive for a new one. I have now reset both the belt alignment and the belt tension 3 times. This last time, I loosened both the pivot shaft nut AND the two bolts that secure the angle drive to its mounting bracket. I loosened the two angle drive bolts because my belt also seems to be tightening up during test rides. Assuming I correctly read/understood @wjfyfe's comment on TDS, I also made sure the pivot shaft nut was loosened as I found it difficult to tighten the pivot shaft against the bearing before trying to adjust the belt alignment. I aligned the belt so it was pretty close to the inboard side of the pulley with just a slight amount of pulley teeth visible before the test ride. I also adjusted the belt tension to roughly 3/4" deflection. Even then, the tensioning nut was still loose enough to turn easily, so I tightened it enough to not turn easily after I had secured to the 2 bolts that lock the angle drive in place. I'm guessing that this tightening might have contributed to the tight belt I noticed after each ride. After adjusting the drive belt to ride near the inner pulley side, I also noticed the pivot shaft was rotating CCW until the ratchet rotated up against the back of the cockpit tub, presumably causing the pivot shaft to loosen and affecting the belt alignment, although I still saw the belt tracking towards the inner side of the pulley when I rotated the rear wheel by hand.

Here's a pic of the belt alignment BEFORE my test ride -

Here's a pic of the belt alignment AFTER my test ride of approximately 90-95 miles -

As I posted above, I have redone the belt alignment and belt tension 3 times now and after each ride the belt has shifted in a similar manner. I hear some noise that might be due to the new angle drive slowly breaking in, but I do notice what I believe is belt noise when accelerating or at a steady speed that stops when I allow the Slingshot to coast. I measured the belt tension had decreased to around 1/2" after allowing the belt to cool overnight.

Based on what I've read, I've been redoing the belt setup in hopes of eliminating the belt noise. Any help in identifying what my problem might be would be greatly appreciated.

Looks good! I still haven't revisited mine. Highs in the low 40s today and windy. Brobably not today.

Because it was cold today and forecast to be nice Thursday, I decided to adjust the belt today and go for a ride Thursday. Top two photos before adj (riding outboard) and bottom two after (center favoring inboard) as suggested in the manual.

My second attempt worked like a charm. The manual states to loosen and temporary retorque the nut to 20 ft lbs. I found that to be way too much and the nut better just snug and backed off just a bit (if needing to move the swingarm to the right. Also the manual states to loosen the the hex side (counterclockwise) to move the swingarm in a way to position the belt more inboard. This was backwards. I needed to turn the hex clockwise to shift the swingarm to the right (aft looking forward) bringing the belt inboard.

It was cold 39 deg on the test ride and it appeared to be better. Typically, when temps are below 50 is when I have issues with belt whine so I'm anticipating it to be better at warmer temps.

wjfyfe thanks for the tip posted somewhere prior. the manual was somewhat misleading.

Ok, I've now adjusted the belt alignment and tension 5 times! Unfortunately, I'm getting the same belt movement after each test ride that I showed in my earlier post! I've carefully followed each step in the Service Manual, but the step that requires me to torque the pivot shaft to 40 lb-ft bugs me since turning the pivot shaft affects the belt tracking on the pulley. My belt tension did get a little tighter after doing this step and I'm pretty much at the 5/8" deflection instead of the 3/4" I was hoping for.

To say I'm frustrated is not even close to how I feel, but I'm getting more proficient in the entire process. I'm sure my Wife won't think this problem justifies a 4-wheel conversion, but I'm certainly starting to feel tempted...

If I have time after my medical appt tomorrow afternoon, I guess I'll try again tomorrow or Tuesday.

Of course, if you adjust the pivot shaft, (on the driver's side), you are going to change your alignment. Honestly, you need to get your nose out of the manual, all it will do is continue to confuse you. Set your alignment where you like it, (it sounds like you have this part figured out), then just loosen the "nut" on the pivot shaft, (passenger side), just enough to allow movement of the angle drive when adjusting the tension, set your belt tension, and then tighten every thing down without turning the pivot shaft.

Again, patience my friend, one of these days that "AHAH!" moment will happen and the light bulb will come on. it took me over a year or more of trial and error to finally figure this out!

Bill

Quote from wjfyfe

Of course, if you adjust the pivot shaft, (on the driver's side), you are going to change your alignment. Honestly, you need to get your nose out of the manual, all it will do is continue to confuse you. Set your alignment where you like it, (it sounds like you have this part figured out), then just loosen the "nut" on the pivot shaft, (passenger side), just enough to allow movement of the angle drive when adjusting the tension, set your belt tension, and then tighten every thing down without turning the pivot shaft.

Again, patience my friend, one of these days that "AHAH!" moment will happen and the light bulb will come on. it took me over a year or more of trial and error to finally figure this out!

Bill

I understand about the manual, but I had not done the pivot shaft torquing the previous 4 times and thought I'd give it a try despite my concerns about affecting the belt position. Neither Sam Owens' nor Just Jay's YouTube belt alignment videos mention torquing the pivot shaft, so I hadn't tried it previously. I'm supposed to close on a land sale next month and I'm really getting tempted about the 4-wheel conversion since I'm definitely getting sick of adjusting the belt alignment and the additional wheel with a locking rear end will help with traction for my turbo setup and permanently eliminate dealing with the darned belt issues.

I'll be focusing on replacing four bathroom faucets over the next few days, but still hope to try the belt alignment and tension tomorrow during breaks from the plumbing effort. At least I'm getting faster at the belt process and now all I need to do is actually get it to work properly. Your tip about loosening the pivot shaft nut has made the process easier.