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1995 900ss cam belt replacement issue

7597 Views 15 Replies 11 Participants Last post by spacey, Jun 6, 2014

dutch900ss

Discussion Starter · Aug 12, 2012

Hi All,

This is a new-to-me bike and sorry if I ask the obvious. I'm in the process of replacing the cam belts since they were 3 yrs old and I wasn't sure how many miles were on them. I've done several searches here and read a lot of good info and watched some tutorials on youtube. Thought I was ready for what looked like a very simple job.

However, none of the posts or tutorials mentioned that it may be difficult to get the belts on and off. The cam belt pulleys on mine have 'rims' that would prevent the belt from coming off during operation (I suppose) but also make it hard to get them off. I'm hugely struggling with the vertical one (the horizontal came off with some force), and worried that it will be pretty much impossible to get the new one on (which will be tighter).

Also, I had to remove the tensioners completely (just loosening was not enough), and thinking that I should probably remove the fixed/idler pulley also to get this done. Am I missing something?

Thanks for feedback!

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dutch900ss

Discussion Starter · #2 · Aug 12, 2012 (Edited)

Ok, done some more reading. I guess my pulley 'rims' are usually referred to as flanges and I am apparently not the only one experiencing this issue

. Sorry for not searching better the first time around. I guess I'll either have to wrestle the belts on or remove the flanges.

Still one question. If the newer ones don't have the flanges, can I just remove them and leave them off? Or is the pulley design different?

duc96cr

· #3 · Aug 13, 2012

I'm not understanding something. With the tensioners slackened, the old belts should come right off over the flanges. Does it appear the new belts are the same length , part number ? Are you sure the belts you bought are correct ? If so, compare part number with the old ones.

HYPERR

· #4 · Aug 13, 2012

Yeah the belts should be easy to take off and on. The only pain with my 900SS is that it is hard to keep the belt lined up as the pulley keeps popping out of position, at least with mine. No such problem with the Hypermotard; the pulley stays still and it is ridiculously easy to do.

dutch900ss

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 13, 2012

Hey guys, from what I read (after posting my first post in this thread

) the pre-96 have flanges on the pulleys that are not present on the later models. In all the tutorials I've seen they apparently use newer (post 95) models to show the trick since it is so much easier without the &^%$ flanges

.

Anyway, in my case it was real easy after I pulled of the flanges. With the flanges on it would probably have been just possible but I'm pretty sure I would have spent several hours and used lots of profanity in the process.

Feels good to have fresh belts on!

ChescoST4s

· #6 · Aug 13, 2012

If it makes you feel any better I was on the other side of the country doing the same thing all late afternoon and early evening today. Finally got them on!

dutch900ss

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 13, 2012

Ha ha, yes feel a lot better now

! Did you end up pulling the flanges (like me) or did you actually manage to get them on with the flanges on?

ChescoST4s said:
If it makes you feel any better I was on the other side of the country doing the same thing all late afternoon and early evening today. Finally got them on!

470four

· #8 · Aug 13, 2012

My 95 SS has flanges on the belt pulley shaft but not at either head pulley?

I can imagine it being a right faff with flanges either end...

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dutch900ss

Discussion Starter · #9 · Aug 13, 2012

470, looks like somebody got rid of your flanges for you....good for you

. Looks like we don't need them after all.

I read somewhere that there could be an issue with belts coming off without the flanges on the head pulleys. However, if the new ones (post 95) don't have flanges, and their head pulleys are identical *is this true??* then I don't see how that could be an issue.

spdfrk

· #10 · Aug 13, 2012

dutch900ss said:
Ha ha, yes feel a lot better now! Did you end up pulling the flanges (like me) or did you actually manage to get them on with the flanges on?

You pulled off the flanges?

AFAIK the only correct options are to :
a. machine the flanges off the pulleys
b. or replace the pulleys with flangeless ones
c. or remove/refit the pulleys each time you replace the belts.

All of these optiosn requires you to acquire the tools to remove/refit the retaining nut.

Forcing new belts on over the flange (using screwdrivers...) is not recommended because of the risk of damaging the new belts in the process.

dutch900ss

Discussion Starter · #11 · Aug 13, 2012

The flanges are removable (although not sure if they were specifically designed that way) and are easy to pull off with needle nose pliers. They do deform a bit in the process but are easy to re-shape and put back on. I guess I should have made pictures but I didn't think of that.

I am still curious whether the flangless pulleys are the same as the flanged ones (but without the flanges). In other words, whether it would be OK to just leave the flanges off and not reinstall them.

spdfrk said:
You pulled off the flanges?

AFAIK the only correct options are to :
a. machine the flanges off the pulleys
b. or replace the pulleys with flangeless ones
c. or remove/refit the pulleys each time you replace the belts.

All of these optiosn requires you to acquire the tools to remove/refit the retaining nut.

Forcing new belts on over the flange (using screwdrivers...) is not recommended because of the risk of damaging the new belts in the process.

bradblack

· #12 · Aug 14, 2012

i pull the flanges off with side cutters and bin them. the non flanged pullies are toothed all the way to the end, but i've never seen any belt damage from de-flanged pullies.

twerth

· #13 · Nov 17, 2012

Thank God for this forum! I had the same problem installing new belts last night. I knew reinstallation was going to be a bugger when I took the old ones off. Spent about half an hour trying to get the new ones on over the flange with no luck so I did a search and found this thread. I popped the flanges off and in two minutes my new belts were on

My bike only has 6600 miles on it so I'm pretty certain these were the original belts. The flanges probably would have been gone if they had been replaced in the past.

shasta mcnasty

· #14 · Jun 6, 2014

If you don't want to take the flanges off, or remove the pulleys (special tool needed), you can just temporarily remove the idler and adjustable rollers (no special tools needed). With those out of the way, the belt isn't deflected on the run between the bottom end pulley and the head pulley, and you have enough slack to get the belts mounted without superhuman effort. Seat the belt fully on the bottom end pulley--make sure it's fully seated! Then slide the belt on one side of the head pulley--again, fully seat it on that side. Then you can gently guide the other side of the belt onto the head pulley. Hand force alone will do it--don't use a screwdriver or anything else as a pry bar. It's really about finesse, not force, once you've got the rollers out of the way

.

The vertical belt is hardest because the pulley wants to spin when the dots are lined up. I put the vertical belt on the bottom end pulley, then completely do the horizontal belt (bottom end first, then head end), then finally do the head end of the vertical belt--easiest if you fully seat on the rear-of-bike side of the head end, then slide around the front-of-bike side--if you do it the other way you're going the same direction as the spring wants to turn the pulley, and it's harder to keep the pulley from turning! This way, the horizontal belt holds the vertical belt in place on the bottom end pulley--otherwise it wants to slide over to the other half of the pulley while you're futzing with the head end.

I know this is an old thread, mainly putting this info here for future searchers...

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Duc94Sp

· #15 · Jun 6, 2014

Had the same problem several years back on my 94Sp. Chucked the flanges and never looked back. Have gone through several belt changes since with no issues.

spacey

· #16 · Jun 6, 2014

When I was changing my belts, Chris at California Cycleworks advised me to remove the flanges and toss them out. Ducati stopped putting them on the later bikes.

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