Drive Belt Replacement On A Harley Davidson Touring Model

A Tiny Rock and A Broken Belt

Who knew a tiny rock could lead to so much work! Last month Scott and I had his bike tore down to replace his rear tire, at that time he checked the rear sprocket and the drive belt. Everything looked fine. Fast forward one week and he notices his battery tender had gone out. He rides up to our local dealership to buy a new one and at some point, a rock gets between the rear sprocket and the drive-belt and caused a break in his drive belt. Thankfully the belt didn’t completely break on him!

Replacing the drive belt is a major job and the dealership charges a lot of labor for the repair. As with most maintenance and repair jobs, we decided to perform the work.  It took us 10 hours to do the repair and record the process. I should note I record, take photos and assist as needed, Scott does all the actual mechanical work.  As always, I learned a few things and got to take lots of pictures! This was the first time I got to see what the inside of the primary looked like! Scott knows how weird I am about that sort of thing so he paused during the work so I could take pictures.

Drive Belt Replacement On A Harley Davidson Touring Model

Scott broke the process up into several videos and placed them in the above playlist. You can find a tool and supply list along with detailed instructions over on his blog, Ride It Wrench It. Like I mentioned, this is a full day of work so plan on getting everything ready at least a day or two before you plan to do the work. Also, make sure you have the service manual for your motorcycle.