[Workinman]

Hey Guys, I have a friend with a 2003 Road Star that has been squeaking like heck from the back wheel for a couple of years. I replaced all the wheel bearings in the back wheel last weekend thinking that was the problem, but the squeak came right back. Today I realized that if I loosen the drive belt considerably, the squeak goes away. Unfortunately, the belt is too loose to ride it like that for very long. Has anybody else had this problem? Is the only option to replace the belt? Any idea how much Yamaha gets to replace the belt? Thanks for any help. We appreciate it very much.

Chris
(New guy)

 

[linerdave]

Belt

Chris,

Sounds like you are on the right track. Although, with a cog belt doesn't seem like it should squeak from slipping or that type of thing. I wonder if the wheel is alligned so the blet tracks right on the pully?

I guess you have rulled out the brake. Doesn't seem like loosening the belt should affect brake noise. You might try dragging lightly the brake to see if the noise changes. Just in case.

Dave

 

[Workinman]

Hi Dave, and thanks for responding to my post.
The belt seems to be tracking pretty straight and there are absolutely NO signs of wear on the belt or the pulley from things being out of alignment.
As for the brakes, I didn't try lightly hitting the brake while it's squeaking (good idea), but I did totally remove the rear caliper and strap it up out of the way while running the bike on a bike jack. No difference at all.
The only way I can get the squeak to stop is to loosen the belt WAY up. Then it stops completely, but it's not safe to ride the bike with the belt that loose. (The bike rides fine with the belt that way, but just knowing the belt is too loose is scary.)
The only thing I can think is it's just a bad belt. (Bike has a little over 24K on it) Unfortunately, I priced the belt on Yamaha's website and it's over three hundred bucks. Plus labor, cuz I really don't want to remove the swing arm on this big beast.
The owner of the bike is gonna call Yamaha dealer tomorrow and see what they say, but I wanted to see if anybody has run into this before and also see if you guys think I'm headed in the right direction.
Thanks again for your help.
Chris

 

[linerdave]

Belt

Chris,

I have seen belts for less money than Yamaha.

This from a Liner site, don't know if it is the same belt as Road star I don't believe it is but, I believe if you give your auto parts store the info they can find you a Dayco Panther belt. Try your Harley dealer.

Yamaha Liner drive belt.

136 tooth
75 inch long
1-1/2 inch wide



Yamaha part: 1D7-46241-00-00 $530
Dayco Panther: DS-197002 $150 - $190
Harley Davidson: 40001-85 $207

 

[Sugar Bear]

Hey Guys, I have a friend with a 2003 Road Star that has been squeaking like heck from the back wheel for a couple of years. I replaced all the wheel bearings in the back wheel last weekend thinking that was the problem, but the squeak came right back. Today I realized that if I loosen the drive belt considerably, the squeak goes away. Unfortunately, the belt is too loose to ride it like that for very long. Has anybody else had this problem? Is the only option to replace the belt? Any idea how much Yamaha gets to replace the belt? Thanks for any help. We appreciate it very much.

Chris
(New guy)

Chris my man, here goes Sugar Bear with one of his out of the loop ideas. On my Silverado, at 50-60 I have a squeak/whistle, thought it was the back brake, wrong answer, wind at that speed caused a noise. Is that anything like you are hearing? Below 50-60 or above, I don't hear it, I finally gave up and figured that's the way it's gonna be. To this day I have not isolated where the squeak/whistle is coming from. Just an idea to look at.

 

[Workinman]

Thanks Dave and Sugar Bear. I've been thinking about this silly thing all day, and I just can't convince myself that it's a bad belt. I swear the squeak sounds more mechanical than a rubber type squeak. Although that has been known to fool people before...
If the guy rolled up today and I had never seen this bike before, I'd say "wheel bearings". My reasoning behind this is that tightening the belt puts a load on the bearings and makes them squeak. Loosening the belt takes the load off and the squeak stops. Unfortunately, the wheel bearings are a week old, so I can pretty safely rule that out. It very well could be the belt, but that is a very expensive fix, and if the bike squeaks after the belt is replaced, I would feel really stupid. And Sugar Bear, it only squeaks at low speed. Once you speed up, it goes away. Maybe thirty MPH or so, and it's gone. And it's a LOUD squeak. Very embarrassing to the owner.
Thanks again for the help.

Chris

 

[linerdave]

Probing in hte dark

Chris,

Couple more thoughts. Sometimes sounds come at us not frome where we think. It would be hard to ride the bike and pin down the source of the sound while riding down the road.

Could the sound be comming from the front pully or a belt guard? As you said it is a toothed belt can not slip. Does not seem like it would squeak.

This sounds risky, but could you safely jack up the back wheel and be sure it can not fall or touch the ground. Run the bike and listen from the side to locate the source of the sound.

Dave

 

[Workinman]

Dave,
I have actually jacked the bike up off the ground (motorcycle/ATV jack) and run it. The squeak is definately coming from the back wheel. I used a stethiscope and listened all around the front pulley area, and it's nice and quiet and smooth.
As a sidenote, I've been giving this alot of thought, and I've decided that at some point someone has installed the wheel and adjusted it incorrectly, leaving it crooked. This, in turn, has caused the belt to wear funny and now it's squeaking. My next step, once I get the bike back over here, is to readjust the belt so that it's squeaking again, and then spray some belt dressing on it. If it stops squeaking, it's the belt. If it doesn't, I need to keep searching.
Also, according to the local Yamaha dealer, they only want two hours labor to replace the belt. That seems awfully low to me. My Buell (earlier tube frame type) called for 5 hours labor, and it was a much simpler bike. Is there something I'm missing here? Is it that easy to remove the swingarm from a Road Star?

Thanks again for your help.
I'll let you know what I find.

Chris

 

[linerdave]

Swing arm

Workingman,
To tell you the truth I didn't know the swingarm needed to come off in order to change the belt. I figured you could slip it off the side of the pully, remove the wheel and pull the belt around the rear of the swing arm. So much for my belt changing.

Wonder if the dealer is cutting you some slack or he's just good. I'm sure it would take me longer tan two hours.

Still some serious money. Guess you will need to go with the expensive belt. Still hope you find a cheaper problem.

Dave

 

[Workinman]

Dave,
An update...
I had the owner bring the bike over today so that I could retighten the belt to the point where it squeaked and then spray belt dressing on it to be sure that it was the belt causing the problem. Well, I not only tightened the belt, but I made sure it was aligned correctly at the same time. I believe the rear wheel has been misaligned for some time now. Anyway, it appears that correcting the wheel alignment has also cured the squeaking problem. I rode the bike for about 10 miles and never heard a "Peep" out of it. The owner then took it for a ride for an hour or so and he never heard any squeak either.
I'll let you guys know if I hear anything start squeaking again, but for now it appears that we can put this one to bed.
If you hear a loud squeak out of your back wheel, check the wheel alignment!

Thanks again for your help, and I'll let you know the final results.
Thanks,
Chris