Alternator belt whinge!

[milleplod]

I thought I'd do the belt today, after (eventually) sourcing the correct one. I've watched a video on YouTube showing just how easy the job is....hah, jobs on there are always made to look easy!

Front cover removed, main plugs out, big adjustable at the ready....old belt off.....here goes. I looped it round the top pulley, part-way onto the bottom one and turned with the spanner. Crikey, it worked....its on! Except its not on properly, its actually sitting slightly off the pulley as not all the ribs are in the grooves. Bugger. Off it comes....by which time my bloody knees are throbbing, my neck's got a crick in it and I've took a chunk out of a couple of knuckles when the spanner's slipped off the nut. Belt back on again.....perfect this time. Except....peering into the gloomy depths up at the top end, I can see that the belt is one rib out up there! B****rd!!

My commitment threshold is very low recently....so I'm now off to meet the Mrs at the local for an hour. I might re-attempt it after a couple of pints of Hobgoblin Gold.

Pete

[Boxered]

Ahh yes, brings back memories of this years welsh trixter weekend at Criccieth
my alternator belt disintegrated on the sat morning ride out, luckily it went very early on and I was able to ride back to the hotel, I (we) managed to source a replacement and fitted it in the hotel car park with the help and tools of the hotel handyman (top bloke).
Got mine on at the first attempt by using a pallet knife slotted in between the pulley and the 1st groove, this acted as a guide as I wound the pulley and it just popped on perfectly.
There is now a brand new shiney pallet knife sitting in my toolbox

Steve

[milleplod]

The bloody thing's on now, 2 pints obviously helped! All I did was turn the crank pulley anti-clockwise, it slipped on no bother at all.....all my clockwise attempts failed!

Pete

[dave the german]

Steve did you not have to change yours not long before that? Possibly when you had an oil seal go?

[Boxered]

I did indeed Dave, 1st belt change was done at @24K service, that was the one that disintegrated about 3k later when the crank seal failed, which pissed oil all over the belt,pulley etc. me and my mate Matt replaced the seal and new belt sourced from motorworks, winding the belt on was a right pain in the arse, I never double checked that I had received the correct belt, I just assumed it was right, with hindsight I reckon the belt was too small and that we damaged the belt trying to lever it on, it took two of us and some serious leverage to get it on, the contrast with the belt that I (we) fitted in Criccieth is marked, this one was actually smaller in diameter but being elasticated was so much easier to wind on, so much so that I didn't even remove a plug to enable rotating the crank, a BFO wrench ( and special tool #2 pallet knife) was all it required. I'm pretty sure that when I checked the mileage between 1st failed and 2nd was only 8K ( I know< I must try harder )
Steve.

[dave the german]

I think this is where the main dealers come into their own - give a reg or VIN and let them identify and (hopefully) they get it right

[milleplod]

I got myself thoroughly confused regarding which belt I needed for my ST - the original one had '592' on it, so I assumed that's what I'd need. I bought 2 that were wrong! I then eMailed Continental, and got this reply -

"The Elast designation on a Contitech belt is to show that it has elastic cord members in the belt, this allows the belt to be fitted by stretching into place without any tensioning device or moveable pulleys. Not all manufacturers, especially OE, clearly show on the belt label if the belt is elastic and this can cause confusion. This is especially important as Traditional and Elast belts cannot be interchanged.

To add to the confusion some manufacturers use the production length as the part number and others use the fitted (stretched) length. Because of this it is important to use the cataloguing system to identify the correct belt and not to use the numbers from the old belt.

The Contitech belt will show for information both production and fitted lengths so the belt that you have will be:

4 [number of ribs] PK [rib profile designation] 592 [fitted length] (582) [production length] ELAST [elastic belt brand name]

I have been told previously by our product managers that BMW always gives the production length for elastic belts while we always give the fitted length as our primary number.

The BMW belt 4PK592 equals our 4PK611 (592) ELAST. Production length in brackets.
The BMW belt 4PK582 equals our 4PK592 (582) ELAST. Production length in brackets

Please also note that in many cases a special tool is required to install the Elast belt correctly without damaging the belt or pulleys.

I hope this helps you to identify the correct belt for your bike."

So, I bought a 4PK611(592) ELAST off eBay for a tenner.....and that explains why I couldn't find a 4PK592 other than at a main dealer.

Pete