Timing belt change - Full walkthrough

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Oct 31, 2017
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Toronto, Canada
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99 ST1100 ABSll
Hi all,
I've been lurking for about a year now. I picked up my 1999 ST1100 ABS over the winter and have had it stored since.
I plan to get it on the road this month. Not knowing when/if the timing belt has been changed, I plan to do it and all the required maintenance e.g. the timing belt to get the bike up to date.
I know there are a number of videos for the timing belt change out there, but the video in this thread seems pretty good. Can someone that has done the procedure comment on it? I also have a Clymer manual.
This will be the first of many questions over the next while!
I will post pics of the bike when I get it out of storage.
---David
 
Joined
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Fort Worth, Texas
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91 ST1100/06 ST1300
Well done video.
If you are doing only a belt change/valve clearance check, it's not necessary to remove more than the bodywork (maintenance covers and the large side covers, belly, bags and rear side covers, triangle shaped piece, storage trays not in order here, follow the Honda manual) and radiator.

No exhaust bolts, no clutch cover or slave cylinder, no oil/filter, etc.....although I did all that afterward since I was going through a 20 year garage queen.

The two cam pulley covers remove easily, the main belt cover MAY hang up on the lower center pulley but gentle persuasion with a screwdriver will fix that. Grind off the interfering material in the bore of the inspection hole with a Dremel...will pop right back on.

Once the front belt and pulley covers are off, follow stuartadiar's video.

There is an engine-on-the-bench video on Youtube. It shows every belt related task and adjustment with no obstructions to peer around, so I watched this one several times before starting the actual job. All the verbiage in the manual was made clear. The view in stuartadair's video is what you will actually see.

Thanks, Stuart!
 

John OoSTerhuis

Life Is Good!
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Bettendorf, Iowa
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1991 SSMST1100
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1058
A couple of points:
- no need to remove the muffler, clutch cover, or frame piece to do a timing belt replacement.
- it’s easier to remove the left driven pulley than the frame piece.
- the timing cover can be wrestled up and out past the crankshaft bolt, trim it to ease the reinstall.
- count the belt teeth between the driven pulleys on the old belt before removing, duplicate the count when installing the new one. All the marks will then line up perfectly, first time.... truST me.
- install the new belt counterclockwise starting at the drive (crank) pulley.
- don’t follow the manual to move the tensioner before removing the old belt (turn the crank), it may jump some teeth. BTDT Just move it by hand. BTDT
- follow the manual’s instructions carefully for final tension pulley/bearing adjustment.

Edit: man, how do I say this delicately.... that ST has been ridden in some crappy road conditions/weather...

John
 
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Auckland, New Zealand
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2005 ST1300
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8901
count the belt teeth between the driven pulleys on the old belt before removing, duplicate the count when installing the new one. All the marks will then line up perfectly, first time.... truST me.
Can you clarify what you mean here? As you know I swapped my water pump out a week or so back and did have to fiddle around a bit getting the timing marks to align again properly as the right pulley seemed to be a tooth out, probably because I did not keep enough tension on the belt under the idler and over the left pulley.

I agree that the timing belt can be changed without touching the frame, exhaust or clutch.
 
Joined
Mar 13, 2012
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soCal
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'97 ST1100
STOC #
687
Can you clarify what you mean here? As you know I swapped my water pump out a week or so back and did have to fiddle around a bit getting the timing marks to align again properly as the right pulley seemed to be a tooth out, probably because I did not keep enough tension on the belt under the idler and over the left pulley.

I agree that the timing belt can be changed without touching the frame, exhaust or clutch.
He means to align the cam timing with the belt still on, and then before removing the belt count the number of belt teeth between the alignment marks on the two cam pulleys.
 

John OoSTerhuis

Life Is Good!
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Bettendorf, Iowa
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1991 SSMST1100
STOC #
1058
He means to align the cam timing with the belt still on, and then before removing the belt count the number of belt teeth between the alignment marks on the two cam pulleys.
What Doug said. I counted 51 on mine. The right driven pulley will seem to be off of the mark initially but will line up when the belt is tensioned. Believe me, this technique will preclude any worry of misalignment.

 
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'97 ST1100
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687
What Doug said. I counted 51 on mine. The right driven pulley will seem to be off of the mark initially but will line up when the belt is tensioned. Believe me, this technique will preclude any worry of misalignment.

In my case, using the Gates belt, I could never get perfect alignment with mine, and I had it stretched as tight as possible between the two pulleys. I don't know if there's a slight dimensional variation with the Gates belt, or what, but mine wanted to align 1/2 tooth off, no matter how hard I tried to stretch it. So after several unsuccessful attempts to stretch it into perfect alignment, I finally settled on leaving it 1/2 tooth off in the "short" direction, (maybe just a bit less than 1/2 tooth) so that if the belt ever stretches over time it will move closer to perfect alignment rather than further away.

That small amount of variation is of no consequence to the engine, and I don't think I was doing anything incorrectly, because you just can't be off by 1/2 a tooth, the belt obviously only adjusts in 1 tooth increments. I backed off and re-applied the tensioner a couple times just to make sure there wasn't something mis-aligned, but it never seemed to make any difference. Also, the spring tensioner doesn't really affect the distance between the two cam pulleys anyway, it only controls the slack between the right cam pulley and the crank pulley, the tension in the belt between the two cam pulleys is controlled by the upper tensioner, which isn't adjustable.

I never thought of it until now, but the other variable in the equation was I replaced the water pump at the same time. Since the belt wraps around the WP on its way to the left cam pulley, I wonder if I re-installed the new WP just slightly differently than the original one. I can't recall if it was doweled for alignment like a cylinder head, but I think it was, so it should have been aligned the same as the old one, but I can't say for sure. If it wasn't doweled, or if the new pump was slightly different in impeller pulley dimension, that could also explain a slight difference in belt alignment, since that will affect the belt distance from the crank pulley to the left cam pulley. But again, that shouldn't affect the distance between the two cam pulleys, which is where I couldn't get perfect alignment after aligning the other two points (crank and one of the cam pulleys) so I don't think that would explain it either.

And I think I loosened the upper tensioner pulley once too, just to make sure it wasn't installed out of alignment. That has a fixed bolt hole, so not much can mis-align there.

So if anybody else runs into this weird alignment issue, don't sweat it, that was 4 or 5 years ago for me, so if it was going to matter I'd know by now.
 
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8901
I'm no stranger to slight timing misalignment. My VTR1000F runs two, long cam chains, and after 75000km I think these have stretched enough that there is no way to align the cam sprockets exactly with the crank timing mark. On that, my timing is out by half a tooth no matter what I do. Bike runs great anyway.

Thanks Doug and John for your clarification.
 
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A couple of points:...................Edit: man, how do I say this delicately.... that ST has been ridden in some crappy road conditions/weather...John
That is the biggest single problem with fully faired bikes. Too many owners will not look under her skirt. Road grime/chemicals accumulate over time and will eventually lead to corrosion. The result of corroded thises and thats make the plastic removal time well worth the effort.
 
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