I try to keep my bike in excellent condition. Lately, when I accelerate I'm hearing a chirping or "skittering" noise that sounds like it's coming from the front brakes. My pads look okay so I'm at a loss. It won't make the noise when I twist the throttle in neutral, only when moving. Could this be the drive belt needs adjustment and maybe I'm only hearing it from the front end of the bike? Has anyone encountered this problem and have an answer or suggestion as to what it might be? Thanks, Joe in western NC
2012 Triumph Thunderbird 1600 ABS
- Thread starter Joe S.
- Start date
Help Support Triumph Motorcycle Forum:
If you look at the rear pulley and the belt is not centered, and rubbing on one side, then more than likely it's the annoying belt chirp that these bikes are notorious for.
I had to jack mine up, loosen the axle nut and do minute adjustments on the adjusting bolts, spin the wheel each time, to get it "right".
Bit of a PITA, but not too difficult.
I had to jack mine up, loosen the axle nut and do minute adjustments on the adjusting bolts, spin the wheel each time, to get it "right".
Bit of a PITA, but not too difficult.
At least on mine and many other's birds, belt squeak is never gonna go away. You can adjust the belt till it's gone or use wax or food grade silicone spray (do NOT use non food grade...has acetone) but those will only be temporary solutions. I spent years trying a zillion things and mine just cannot be made quiet for more then a short time before it returns. Some seem to have a much easier time of it but i think those are later models where i think triumph may have quietly changed something w/o letting consumers know so as not to be inundated with requests for warranty fixes. You get used to it tho. I don't even think about it anymore.
Flynstone
Member
It’s the belt and the Triumph design is poorly executed. With only a tension nut on the outside of the adjuster the axle moves when tightened so the belt is out of alignment. My solution was to use a die grinder to flatted the inside surface where the adjustment bolt goes through. Then add a nut on the inside of the adjuster. In this way, once the belt is properly tensioned and aligned it stays put when you tighten the axle. Never had a squeaking belt again.
good luck
Flynstone
good luck
Flynstone
There was a guy on the 1600 forum (hasn't been there for a long while now) who works as a machinist who made adjusters for the Tbird that don't have that problem. I have a set on mine. But the issue i always had wasn't so much the adjusters as getting it right w/o readjusting it several times. It's just so friggin touchy. My final solution was don't loosen the adjusters when changing tires. When re installing the wheel you just use a lever on the axl to pull the wheel back against the belt tension to get the axl thru. So i literally almost never have to adjust the belt and when i do i barely adjust it in the required direction and it never takes one shot. The main problem with the d@mn thing is how touchy it is. But i can get mine quiet but it always changes a hair by itself as things wear and starts again. It's an individual thing....some of them have no issues or at least minimal, some, especially the first runs do. Mine is one of the first ones sold in the USA. I think i may have been the second person to get one. Later years people seemed to have much less problems which i think was likely due to some change triumph made after a lot of people complained about it.
Appreciate all the responses regarding the squeak. I've since had it at the Triumph dealership and they made minor adjustments to the belt each time. The squeak remains! Mechanic said it sounds like metal-against-metal but they couldn't find anything. I'm positive the squeak is coming from the front wheel. Could it possibly be a wheel bearing? I love the bike but I can't not hear this annoying squeak - even with earplugs! Thanks in advance. Joe
Ok, since my reply i have a different take on this because about 2 months ago i replaced my belt. It was still usable but at 85k miles i figured it;s time to do it b4 it breaks. Well, i did it myself and in the process i discovered something that i think is a triumph screw up. There is an adjuster you have to loosen to get the swingarm out and when you put it back the adjuster is supposed top be torqued to 6 nm which is like nothing. So i did that and it just felt like it should be tighter. What that adjuster does is to hold the arm in place with no L/R wiggle and without binding the swingarm. So when i felt 6 nm is just too loose it occurred to me theres a simple way to know if it's right....simply grab the ends of the swingarm after you tightened the adjuster and try and pull it left to right and see if theres any play. There was, and a fair bit !!! So what i believe was happening all these years with belt adjustment being so hard to get right and always squealing is that when you twist the throttle it pulls the wheel alignment slightly to the left. So the teeth are always getting shifted in the pulley grooves.
Sure enough, put the bike back together and adjustment was far more stable and easier to set, and in the maybe 1000 miles i have put on it since no more squeal ! When its cold it sometimes squeals very slightly till the belt warms up in about 2 minutes then stops. So thats what i believe is the issue. You can try it....take the wheel off, remove the shocks so the swingarm is free of everything but the swingarm axl. Grab the end and move it left-right and see if theres play. If there is, remove the swingarm nut and tighten the adjuster a bit at a time tested after each tightening till theres no more play then put it all back together and adjust the belt. The adjuster requires a tool but you can make one or use a huge screwdriver. It's just like a hollow threaded tibe with grooves on each side for about a 1" wide blade to fit in. I made a tool to do it by cutting a slot in a socket and putting a piece of maybe 1/16" thick metal about 1" by 1" and gluing it in the socket slot. When u see the adjuster you'll understand and know how to make something to do it.
What did you torque it to if not 6Nm? Was it loose because something is worn?
I didn't torque it to a specific torque, i just turned it a hair and checked play a number of times till it no longer had play. And no, nothing was worn, it just takes more then 6 nm to eliminate play. Triumph's spec is faulty IMO as most all Tbird owners will tell you is also the case with thier belt tension spec which no one follows. It's way too tight. If you followed the online chatter when the bike debuted which i did, chirp and "wandering" was epidemic. Most every one had a wandering belt and chirp. Mine does neither now and i attribute it's now former issues to triumph's spec. Remember, triumph had no experience with belts till the Tbird and they did a lot of foolish things like suggesting people set the belt using the marks on the swingarm, and if you are familiar with the thunderbird belt system you'd know ho ridiculous that is. Barring sheer luck theres no way to even get it close like that.
IMO triumph should have written NO torque spec for the swingarm adjuster in the manual but instead simply outlined what i did....tighten it gradually checking often till there is zero play. A torque spec in this case is not a accurate way to set it.
Oh, and in by second to last post in case it isn't obvious, i meant to type TUBE, not TIBE. But the post won't allow me to edit it.
What would you guesstimate the new torque to be?
Got it thanks. As long as the bolts yield point isn’t exceeded. I suppose there would be other ways to write that spec, perhaps close to what you did. Torque to 6Nm then check and increase torque gradually until the result is achieved. If there is a yield point to avoid, example, do not exceed 10Nm.
No idea but not a lot. Probably qo maybe, i duuno. I did this a couple months ago and i don't recall exactly. All i know is whatever it is it's not a lot because all you are doing is making sure theres no play. It doesn't require much, but if u leave it at 6nm theres quite a bit of play and there should be none. That may vary from bike to bike but thats the point....its not a place to recommend a torque setting because the belt system is so incredibly sensitive to the slightest variance (I cannot express that enough) that any play in the swingarm is going to cause issues.
I would just suggest that anyone who removes thier wheels themselves to get new tires or whatever, next time just go one more step and remove the shocks and check play. It takes another couple minutes to remove the shocks and the reward may be great. As you can imagine, swingarm play is not a good thing in any respect, not just in regards to belt chirp/stability.
OK. Thanks, Dazco.
