Arvo All...
Yesterday I got Shane to come over and for no other reason other than interest on his part, together we removed and replaced the timing belt on the bike that was on the bench on the maintenance day. It'd been decided a time back that I would replace the timing belt at 135,000km, as Shane isn't the bikes original owner and its history isn't completely know, so for $55, cheap insurance.
Anyway, while doing this it occurred to me that perhaps when explaining the various ST1100 components I had got out, one of which being the cam belt tensioner, I perhaps may have mislead people into thinking that it actually moves / alters its tension as time goes on.
This is not so. It is fixed.
I thought, as all of you have got
pre-loved ST1100's of which a lot are ex service bikes (Police, Ambo's, Escorts etc), the point I was attempting to get across by having a cam belt tensioner on display was that at so point in the past, it may well have been altered, adjusted, moved and by various means if previous methods that have been posted both on this forum and others are to go by! Therefore, my point was that of bringing up an awareness of what to look for:
- in relation to cam belt tensions (loose / tight),
- the position of the tensioner,
- the length of time and distance the belt had been on and,
- overall belt appearance
The hole on the
left...
tensioner spring anchor - the slotted hole in the
centre...for
tensioner fastening bolt - the hole on the
right...
for pivot point dowel.
So as you can see from the above pics..once the tensioner fastening bolt has been tightened to to its 35ft/lb...the cam belt tension
is fixed.
THIS IS WHY THE OEM OWNERS MANUAL AND THE SERVICE MANUAL RECOMMENDS AN INSPECTION AT 100,000KM. Also, it is not uncommon for duty motorcycles (like Police, Ambo's etc), to have additional inspection and service intervals.
THE ST1100 CAM BELT IS NOT A SET, FORGET AND REPLACE EVERY 150,000KM. It requires an inspection at 100,000km to
assure it will maintain serviceability
in order to reach 150,000kmHence my rationale for a little house keeping.
So apologies if I inadvertently gave the wrong impression, that the tensioner was in is some way dynamic. It isn't.
Cheers, the can :-)
