Free spirits belt tensioner failure.

[Bad Karma]

Check this failure out!

OK guys,

Ever seen this before?

Info: Previous owner installed sometime before 10,xxx miles.
bike had 18,xxx miles when it let go. I wasn't even riding hard or fast, thankfully!!! And was able to limp it home with a loose belt.


Some of you may notice a few things about these pics that are unsettling. And by that I mean the way the bracket was made.

If you look at where the sliding roll pin is used. It is located near the thinnest point of the radius of the hole = Fail.

Also looking at how thin the ED (edge distance) is at where it broke. There is no clearance issue with the belt or bracket where it broke... So why would you have such a small ED at the point of stress?? AND then drill a hole in it for a pin!?!? Makes no sense to me. Having worked in sheet metal and with milled aluminium, this really scares me to be riding on at 100+mph. This certainly wouldn't pass muster at work, Or any machine shop I know of.


Thoughts Plz?

,Cheers

P.S Can any one tell me who makes this (is Free Spirits HD?) or give me a e-mail to contact manufacture?

 

[50dro]

That sucks man! Free Spirits is an Italian Company. Here's their site.

Good luck! Let us know if they take care of you...

5-0dro
www.5-0dro.com

 

[JOEL9]

Is it the pic or did that thing get hot? it looks burned around the break area.

 

[Bad Karma]

Yes. The heat of the muffler did change the colour of the anodising. That bracket sits close to the stock muffler. Shouldn't have weakened the aluminium though.

 

[redrider]

Just installed one of these on my xb ! You have a very valid point about pin location wonder what the warr. is on these things. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[JOEL9]

Did the pulley wheel come off and hit the road? i'd check it good for damage (dings, nicks etc) if your going to re-use it.

 

[Bad Karma]

@ Joel9 No it didn't thankfully, Just hung there till I took it off. At first I thought the spring just gave out. Didn't see the separation till I got it off.

@ 5-0dro Thank you for the site link. I just typed up an E-mail and will let everyone know what I hear back.

 

[Lesley]

I just typed up an E-mail and will let everyone know what I hear back.

Please do. [up]

 

[nitto12ss]

Your not alone on this one. I'm on my second tensioner.

My failure was similar to yours.

 

[onelogue]

Wow that sucks! Nitto, did they replace it for you?

 

[nitto12ss]

Never contacted them, I picked up another one in the classifieds from a forum member.

 

[BuddhaBuell]

wow that sucks!

anyone ever see the OEM belt tensioner do that?

 

[djohnk]

Man that's a crazy place to put that pin. They are almost asking for it to fail.

 

[crxtasy169]

50dro there a new project for ya!

 

[garyphantom222]

This makes me think twice about getting one of those,it makes me wonder where quality has gone on not only that part which I know is an Italian company but on a lot of things we buy,oh wait a lot of it went overseas.

 

[Lesley]

This makes me think twice about getting one of those

Me too!! I don't think I'll be ordering one ever now. My money is way way too hard to come by for me to spend all that much on a part to have it fail.

I think I'll just eventually pick up another OEM tensioner and have it anodized [up]

 

[50dro]

50dro there a new project for ya!

Thanks but I'm not convinced on this one...Free Spirits makes some nice stuff and there's always debate on the value of having it. I've definitely considered it but I'm not so sure I'm gonna get into this at this time...Baby steps! LOL Thanks again!

 

[vtech007]

This was going to be one of my next upgrades but now I hesitate a bit. I like the benefits having the spring providing constant and consistant tension on the belt. Aesthetics of it are an important plus but a secondary consideration for me. Do let us know when you here back from Free Spirits. Hopefully they will be proactive or at least reactive and implement a design revision based on feedback like this from the field.

 

[BuddhaBuell]

personally I like the looks of the Free Spirits tensioner but the OEM one seems to work very well, I also have not heard of any failing like these ones did and for what your paying for you get a little bit of bling with that nice little spring...
also would Erik not have incorporated this design or something similar into Buells belt tensioners if it was such an improved design over his idea?

is it worth it?

not to this cat
[smirk]

 

[Loki]

Biggest reason i always wanted one... Stoppies.