Subject: Gen Belt, Wobble, & Idle Question
Author: Keith Ruff
Date: Jul 12, 2002, 5:25 AM
Post ID: 1710589469
"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