Belt Position

[Quick-Star24]

Does the belt need to be perfectly centered on the AK 550 or any bike or is it OK to be over on one side a bit?
Not sure how to add photos here....

[CROSSBOLT]

Does the belt need to be perfectly centered on the AK 550 or any bike or is it OK to be over on one side a bit?
Not sure how to add photos here....

No misalignment allowed in any belt drive (ideally) but not to be tolerated at all in a cvt. Some washer was forgotton if any misalignment in a Kymco cvt....

[Quick-Star24]

No misalignment allowed in any belt drive (ideally) but not to be tolerated at all in a cvt. Some washer was forgotton if any misalignment in a Kymco cvt....

Thanks Karl....guess I'll have to make a trip to the closest dealer....

[rjs987]

I get the impression from the first post here that we are not talking CVT belt, but rather the final drive belt on the AK 550.

A CVT belt usually is self aligning in the "V" of the pulleys so obviously no need to worry about that for side to side alignment. Only if a pulley is offset in or out and that's not likely if all the bits are installed right.

The final drive belt on the AK 550 has a clearance tolerance mentioned in the service manual. I looked this up for having the same concern as Quick-Star24. That belt must be at least 1 mm from either side, but otherwise can be anywhere in between. That's about the thickness of the flat prongs on any typical household power cord plug in the USA. The real issue is just so the belt doesn't rub the sides anywhere. If it clears the sides all around then it's good. Mine is also to the outside edge so I measured it in several places while turning the rear wheel to be sure the entire belt is measured on the rear sprocket and I found that it is more than the required 1 mm all around. When I need to replace the rear tire I'll be taking off the wheel myself to take in for the rubber change and will align the belt to center when I put it back on. I've been told by a few dealers that most of the scooters come from the factory that way.

You can see mine in this photo:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/XWcSjwAfKE41cGDS9

btw- since this web site only allows very small sized photo files to be attached and because ALL my photos are about 5 times too big due to my phone camera, and I don't want to take the effort to shrink them to retain the resolution I get, I've decided to post links to my photos on my Google Photos page instead of adding the photo attachment. It's easier to drop in a url, or web, link instead... and faster for me.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Just don't understand the difficulty with photos. Placed this here with my phone.
Stig

[rjs987]

Just don't understand the difficulty with photos. Placed this here with my phone.
Stig

It's the photo file size issue for me. I just don't want to bother with shrinking all the photos just for this one forum when all other forums I am on take them original size.
Limit I see is 1024KB total size for more than one in a post and 1024KB for just one, and my smallest photos are usually 3 times that at least and sometimes 7 times bigger depending on the picture.

[Neil955i]

It's the photo file size issue for me. I just don't want to bother with shrinking all the photos just for this one forum when all other forums I am on take them original size.
Limit I see is 1024KB total size for more than one in a post and 1024KB for just one, and my smallest photos are usually 3 times that at least and sometimes 7 times bigger depending on the picture.

My main issue too Rob. Also, how do you load big pix (like Stig) rather than the thumbnail size I end up with?

[Stig / Major Tom]

My main issue too Rob. Also, how do you load big pix (like Stig) rather than the thumbnail size I end up with?

Any number of "free photo hosing" sites.
Pick where you're posting, "Forums", "avatar", etc. and the recommended size is there after your photo is captured (from your phone or Desktop), click the 'copy',  then paste here with your writing. You can select various sizes once your photo is captured by the site.

Some months ago I discovered that I can take a photo with my phone & edit it some, open the photo host site, capture, and post it on forums......in minutes - while sitting downtown on a bench in the dark.
Do not need to go home and put it through the Dell desktop.

Stig

[rjs987]

I stopped using hosting sites many years ago when they kept changing and restricting how much can be stored there and then started charging just to use them. They started out free and then changed. I decided to just stay with Google Photos since my phone automatically uploads to there and it's free with my Google email and Chromebook account. Less work just to share a link.

[Stig / Major Tom]

I stopped using hosting sites many years ago when they kept changing and restricting how much can be stored there and then started charging just to use them. They started out free and then changed. I decided to just stay with Google Photos since my phone automatically uploads to there and it's free with my Google email and Chromebook account. Less work just to share a link.

Yeah, but links aren't photos.
I prefer my posts to read like a magazine article with pictures.
But, to each their own.
Stig

[Neil955i]

Any number of "free photo hosing" sites.
Pick where you're posting, "Forums", "avatar", etc. and the recommended size is there after your photo is captured (from your phone or Desktop), click the 'copy',  then paste here with your writing. You can select various sizes once your photo is captured by the site.

Some months ago I discovered that I can take a photo with my phone & edit it some, open the photo host site, capture, and post it on forums......in minutes - while sitting downtown on a bench in the dark.
Do not need to go home and put it through the Dell desktop.

Stig

There’s a project for me then, I’ll give it a try when I get some down time!

[rjs987]

Still limited to posting a smaller than actual photo file size.

Posting a thumbnail still is inserting a link that you have to click on to see the original photo so really no difference with what I now do.

[Quick-Star24]

I get the impression from the first post here that we are not talking CVT belt, but rather the final drive belt on the AK 550.

A CVT belt usually is self aligning in the "V" of the pulleys so obviously no need to worry about that for side to side alignment. Only if a pulley is offset in or out and that's not likely if all the bits are installed right.

The final drive belt on the AK 550 has a clearance tolerance mentioned in the service manual. I looked this up for having the same concern as Quick-Star24. That belt must be at least 1 mm from either side, but otherwise can be anywhere in between. That's about the thickness of the flat prongs on any typical household power cord plug in the USA. The real issue is just so the belt doesn't rub the sides anywhere. If it clears the sides all around then it's good. Mine is also to the outside edge so I measured it in several places while turning the rear wheel to be sure the entire belt is measured on the rear sprocket and I found that it is more than the required 1 mm all around. When I need to replace the rear tire I'll be taking off the wheel myself to take in for the rubber change and will align the belt to center when I put it back on. I've been told by a few dealers that most of the scooters come from the factory that way.

You can see mine in this photo:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/XWcSjwAfKE41cGDS9

btw- since this web site only allows very small sized photo files to be attached and because ALL my photos are about 5 times too big due to my phone camera, and I don't want to take the effort to shrink them to retain the resolution I get, I've decided to post links to my photos on my Google Photos page instead of adding the photo attachment. It's easier to drop in a url, or web, link instead... and faster for me.

I'm sorry I have not responded here!

For some reason I am not getting notifications from this site/forum....

RJS, your photo and the belt position is EXACTLY what mine is like....

And I will do the same when I need a tire on the rear.

I hope in the days ahead to learn how to remove the wheels since I want to get them powder coated another color.

Thanks for the response and your thoughts!

Much appreciated!

Jeff

[rjs987]

I'm sorry I have not responded here!

For some reason I am not getting notifications from this site/forum....

RJS, your photo and the belt position is EXACTLY what mine is like....

And I will do the same when I need a tire on the rear.

I hope in the days ahead to learn how to remove the wheels since I want to get them powder coated another color.

Thanks for the response and your thoughts!

Much appreciated!

Jeff

You'll want a copy of the service manual sections on removing the wheels then. I posted links to those here: https://www.kymcoforum.com/index.php?topic=32782.0

I already removed the front wheel to get the tire replaced and it was put back on in time for my long trip last weekend. Wheel performed great.
Next up is the rear wheel. I have over 8000 miles on the rear so far and expect to get it replaced sometime in the next several weeks since there are a few wear bars even with the tread now.