4. Remove the side covers and inspect the drive belt alignment. If the
drive belt is not centered on the one-way pulley, there may be
excessive noise created. Reposition the drive belt by carefully
walking the drive belt towards the appropriate direction with one
hand, while spinning the flywheel with the other. Take caution to
avoid pinched fingers.
5. Verify that the drive belt is tightened to the proper tension. A timing
belt gauge is very useful for this measurement. The proper factory
setting for the drive belt tension is 130 lbs plus or minus 10 lbs. If a
belt tension gauge is not available, there should be about .25 inch
deflection when pressing down firmly on the drive belt.
6. If problem persists, verify whether or not the noise is coming from the
crank pulley wheel bearings or the flywheel bearings. To verify
whether the crank or flywheel bearings are defective remove the side
covers and accent piece. Carefully turn the crank arms. Take caution
to avoid pinching fingers. Once the flywheel is spinning at a fairly
fast rpm, listen carefully to both sets of bearings (crank and flywheel
bearings). If it is still not apparent which set of bearings are defective,
place your hand on the bearing housing (cup that bearing is positioned
in) on the flywheel and feel for any excessive vibration or clicking on
both the right and left bearings housing. If there is not any vibration
in the flywheel bearings, if is more likely that the crank bearings are
defective. Replace as necessary.
When replacing either the crank or flywheel bearings, be sure to remove
any excess loctite after removing defective bearings and reinstalling new
bearings. Make sure that both the inner and outer diameters of the
bearings have fresh loctite applied before reinstalling new bearings.
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