Subject: RE: Gen Belt, Wobble, & Idle Question
Author: David Otis
Date: Jul 12, 2002, 5:41 AM
Post ID: 1710589785
I'm here, working too hard too long all of which may be fruitless as the
company may go down and put me in the un-employment line. Whwn you
called last night, I was trying to fix my phone lines as the wiring to
the house has messed up.
Keith Ruff wrote:
| "Patience" is trying me again. On my way home from work yesterday minding my own business, about 2-3 miles from home, I hear "bang"! Followed by gen light coming on, followed by the in-mistakeable smell of burning rubber. Ah s--t! Gen belt just snapped/torched! I limped home, let her cool down, and popped off the belt cover. Wow! Was there a belt in there? A bunch of fuzz wrapped around the generator and splinters of what used to be a belt wrapped around the pulley. What could have caused this? I called Gordon at MG Cycle and we seem to feel it was a loose belt. Gen was just rebuilt and installed by my mechanic friend only a few hundred miles ago, belt was new. I called him and he does recall the shim method of tightening the belt, but didn't know how tight to go, says perhaps it was too loose. I wonder if this was all of the noise I was hearing up front? Sounded loud and tinny up front when the engine was revving a bit, valves sounded OK, but I had deduced that the noise was coming from the generator/belt area. Perhaps it was loose and bouncing around in there? How do I check for the infamous generator bracket cracking? I grabbed the gen by the pulley last eve and pushed on it in different directions and didn't feel any obvious play, so I'm hoping it was just a loose belt. Can anything else cause this problem? Perhaps the belt was mis-aligned or something? On another note (I noticed this on Cam's bike too) at higher speeds (60-70+mph) the Ambo seems to float a bit, and the rear tire seems to wander left to right. Is this the infamous wabble? What would cause this? I'm thinking my windscreen may be catching the wind and lifting the front if the bike up a bit which is causing a lessened contact patch on the front wheel which then causes the bike to wander. I guess a test would be to take the screen off and rip down the highway and see? As for the idle question, I noticed for the 1st time yesterday that the idle problem I was having when the bike warmed up only happens when I hold the clutch in when stopped. Noticed this by accident during my ride to work yesterday. When I stopped at a light, I was a few cars back, I had the clutch pulled in and had to blip the throttle to keep her from stalling, then threw her in nuetral and let the clutch out and the idle jumped up a bit and was perfect. What causes the idle to drop down a bit when the clutch is pulled? Well, I guess I'll dive into the bike and overcome my fears of messing it up as the two "mechanics" (Guzzi dealer and my friend) have seemed to mess up what they have touched. Will install the belt, check/adjust the timing, install new points and wires, and see what happens. Hey, has anyone seen or heard from Dave Otis? Sent him an e-mail and tried to call him twice but have not heard from him. Keith Ruff 71 Police Ambassador - NJ |