Gates timing belts for ST1100

How many people who have replaced the belt - just because - have also replaced their water pumps and tensioners and pulleys? Did you replace all of those on your three ST's UP? I figure not too many do, so the number of broken belt stories are certainly minuscule to all of the dubious belt only replacements that have occurred and gone on for another 100,000 miles. I'm just knocking wood and carrying on with the belt as is. Jim Van would probably not approve.
 
I did based on bike age only- when I did, both were supple and not cracked and even had the Honda name and part number on the belt. Hoses were the same...no bulges and in very good condition. Would I do it again? Well, yes I would but I’m a bit compulsive. Is it likely that the belts would have been good for the longer term? Very likely yes.
 
Erdoc48 said:
I did based on bike age only- when I did, both were supple and not cracked and even had the Honda name and part number on the belt.
Click to expand...

Just looking for some clarification here. You DID replace the water pump, tensioner and idler pulley, along with the timing belt?

" both were supple and not cracked " Both? AFAIK, there is only one belt, or have you done it twice already?
 
Bush said:
How many people who have replaced the belt - just because - have also replaced their water pumps and tensioners and pulleys? Did you replace all of those on your three ST's UP? I figure not too many do, so the number of broken belt stories are certainly minuscule to all of the dubious belt only replacements that have occurred and gone on for another 100,000 miles. I'm just knocking wood and carrying on with the belt as is. Jim Van would probably not approve.
Click to expand...
Nope, I only did the belts. But I did check the other stuff and it was fine.
I figure at 200,000 miles I'll replace the other stuff just for good measure … ;)
 
Erdoc48 said:
I did based on bike age only- when I did, both were supple and not cracked and even had the Honda name and part number on the belt. Hoses were the same...no bulges and in very good condition. Would I do it again? Well, yes I would but I’m a bit compulsive. Is it likely that the belts would have been good for the longer term? Very likely yes.
Click to expand...
Same here. I bought a very low mile 1991 in 2015 that had sat in the po's garage for 20 some years. Based on my GL1000 experiences during rebuild, I changed the timing belt and inspected everything. With under 17000 miles and long storage, I expected to see some indication of age. Nothing. If I had examined both belts in complete darkness, I couldn't have felt a difference between the original and the new. Pulleys were smooth, nothing loose, quiet and no corrosion. Same with the water pump...no leaks either. Could have saved this time. But...now I know the condition.
 
Bush said:
Just looking for some clarification here. You DID replace the water pump, tensioner and idler pulley, along with the timing belt?

" both were supple and not cracked " Both? AFAIK, there is only one belt, or have you done it twice already?
Click to expand...


Sorry, I wasn’t clear- I only changed the belts, hoses, elbows under the carbs and the O rings on two ST1100’s, the 1994 and the 2000- I did not change anything else such as the idlers or the water pumps on the 2 bikes as the bearings of these items seemed quite normal (and at the time, the bikes only had 35/33K miles respectfully). Also, I changed the carb boots when doing the work- at such a low mileage, I couldn’t justify digging deeper into the bike to replace parts that likely did not need changing and only did this because I assumed the rubber after so many years might be degraded, but I did not notice any degradation on the belts or hoses of the bikes.
 
I replaced my timing belt, rebuilt the water pump, and replaced the idler & tensioner pulleys at the same time ( around 82K miles, if I remember correctly ). If you are going in there, might as well change everything. And I added an additional timing belt guide plate too, on the front of the right camshaft timing belt gear.

Now I should have no problems for at least another 82K miles. Seven of us are going around all the 5 Great Lakes ( an IBA Great Lakes 100 ride ) at the end of the month. Don't want to break down on that ride.

From what I have discovered doing some research on auto timing belt reliability, the test data indicates auto timing belts seem to fail ( kinda like fatigue failure ) at around 120K miles. I wouldn't go longer than 100K miles, even if the teeth still look good and the belt is still supple.
 
Last edited:
Asterysk said:
Is the Gates belt better than the Honda one ?
Click to expand...
No one knows since there are rarely, if ever any ST11 timing belt failures. I just put the Gates on my ST11 at 110k miles. The stock one i pulled off 'looked' perfect.
 
Jim Van said:
Good idea and that's an interesting request. I heard of a guy in the UK who had a friend that traveled to Detroit on a regular basis for business. He had his friend stop in at "Triumph Only" ( now "British Only" ) in the Detroit area ( used & NOS parts for all British bikes ) with a list of parts he needed for his Triumph. I bought some good used transmission gears there years ago for my 1971 Bonneville. He also told me there were a greater number of Triump's exported to the US than bought in the UK.

If a person was traveling to the UK, they could buy, say, 25 Gates timing belts in the US and then set up a table outside the airport baggage area and sell them for a decent profit to help pay for the beverage bill accrued on the plane.
Click to expand...
I've been told that 6000 cigarettes bought at the duty free in orlando will pay for a return flight to the UK 880 dollars to be precise
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom