Belt Squeal at low speed

[you you]

Ordered the two drive faces items, 22102-K35-V00 & 22110-K36-A00 from Bikerbitz, total £9 for the parts and £35 inc tax, shipping (£19 shipping) < still cheaper than ordering here, just hope they fit!

They're both different part numbers than what I ordered - but it's for a different series of bike - so I'd say that sounds about right.
Keen to hear how you get on with it!

22102-K35-V00 is listed against a UK 2014-2017 LED variator kit, but 22110-K36-A00 is a gamble - seems to be about the same so no idea why so many different versions as the boss p/n seems to be identical. Wonder if the slope angle or something varies a bit.

Agree. I’ve wondered what the reason was for so many part no.s too.

[Coasting]

Ordered the two drive faces items, 22102-K35-V00 & 22110-K36-A00 from Bikerbitz, total £9 for the parts and £35 inc tax, shipping (£19 shipping) < still cheaper than ordering here, just hope they fit!

They're both different part numbers than what I ordered - but it's for a different series of bike - so I'd say that sounds about right.
Keen to hear how you get on with it!

22102-K35-V00 is listed against a UK 2014-2017 LED variator kit, but 22110-K36-A00 is a gamble - seems to be about the same so no idea why so many different versions as the boss p/n seems to be identical. Wonder if the slope angle or something varies a bit.

On BikeBandit I have to select "2013" to get my model; technically it's a 2014 model that I bought in 2015, but there are no models listed for 2014. Their next model is the LED one in 2015 - which is what I'm guessing yours is classed as ... and if so then the part numbers you mention are what I'm seeing too:

https://www.bikebandit.com/oem-parts/20 ... #sch909808

So I'd say you're pretty much on track.

[iceman]

I did fit a new driven pulley to the rear due to the noisy bearings (Honda really should replace that FOC seeing it's a common issue due to low grease or poor bearings), so hope that is not to blame.

Due to work and other things I have not taken a peek, mostly due to taking the side panel off again, but I may try the quiker method of sneaking in to get the small black plastic thing off and the silver cover - not sure I have small enough tools to do it though. Maybe due removing enough to pry the variator side of the side panel off may help.

[Coasting]

I did fit a new driven pulley to the rear due to the noisy bearings (Honda really should replace that FOC seeing it's a common issue due to low grease or poor bearings), so hope that is not to blame.

Due to work and other things I have not taken a peek, mostly due to taking the side panel off again, but I may try the quiker method of sneaking in to get the small black plastic thing off and the silver cover - not sure I have small enough tools to do it though. Maybe due removing enough to pry the variator side of the side panel off may help.

The driven face assy is steel vs the drive face which is alloy - so the alloy one should wear out first; that was certainly the case with mine anyway.

I've not taken the side panel off even once - despite having worked on the CVT probably a dozen times. You WILL be able to get in there with a short 8mm socket and ratchet - so long as it's a 1/4" drive. It's reasonably tight, but quite doable. Trick is to crack it with the ratchet and then just use the socket without the ratchet to get a bit of leverage on it to undo it the rest of the way with your fingers.

If you're a "non-purist" consider leaving the front bolt from the cooling duct out ... the other two are more than capable of holding it (that's what I'm doing at the moment - although I'll probably pop the 3rd one back in this weekend now that I know it's sorted). The duct itself is also slightly tricky to remove, but you'll get the hang of it with a bit of practice.

Personally I just crack all the other bolts using whatever I need to - and then get them all out "formula 1 pitstop style" using a battery powered electric drill (on high speed to feel more like a F1 mechanic!).

The cover is what I struggle to get off most (especially when I left a bolt in) - I mostly use a soft hammer to get the back moving - and an occasional screwdriver in the gap at the front. Once it starts to move the back can come out a lot more than the front - until it eventually comes loose. The metal gasket has had a bit of a hammering (literally!) but seems to recover just fine.

Yeah - that back bearing was a shocker. That was my first foray into the CVT. In the end it all just becomes almost 2nd nature - it's fundamentally a very easy transmission to work on.

[iceman]

Last time I almost had to give up getting the CVT cover off as the left side was stuck solid. More then 30 minutes later after almost breaking the cover in two, it came off but the lhs dowl was stuck solid into the metal bodywork, not the cover. Almost rusted in if that is possible.

As trying to grip it with a large tool slightly re-shaped it I had to drill it out - it even stayed put during the drilling. So, only the rhs dowl left in but they are only locators anyway. All the bolts came out and went in fine.

No idea why this happened as no evidence of rust or internal grime anywhere - all clean just the lhs dowl stuck in the metal bodywork.

[Coasting]

Last time I almost had to give up getting the CVT cover off as the left side was stuck solid. More then 30 minutes later after almost breaking the cover in two, it came off but the lhs dowl was stuck solid into the metal bodywork, not the cover. Almost rusted in if that is possible.

As trying to grip it with a large tool slightly re-shaped it I had to drill it out - it even stayed put during the drilling. So, only the rhs dowl left in but they are only locators anyway. All the bolts came out and went in fine.

No idea why this happened as no evidence of rust or internal grime anywhere - all clean just the lhs dowl stuck in the metal bodywork.

Wow - that's odd. Mine always seems to put up more of a struggle than I expect, but I always seem to get there. I'm guessing that the dowls are to get the alignment right for the bearing at the back.

[iceman]

Variator plates arrived from Bikerbitz this morning - little over 3 weeks surface mail, no duty to pay
Got other things on but now I suppose I will have to find time to do it - getting cold out there now.

[Coasting]

Variator plates arrived from Bikerbitz this morning - little over 3 weeks surface mail, no duty to pay
Got other things on but now I suppose I will have to find time to do it - getting cold out there now.

Great news!

For what it's worth, personally, I find that it's one of those jobs that I hate doing, but in reality is really only a quick job (remove 12 bolts - 11 of which can be sped up with a battery powered electric drill - undo 2 nuts - replace the faces - refit the nuts (remembering to tighten/torque them ... unlike me ...) - refit cover & bolts).

Should be less than a 1/2 hour job ... and then it's done!

[iceman]

I had no choice but to remove the side panel as I could not get the small black cover off, and wanted better access to the variator than leaving the side panel on offered.

The parts were exactly the same so Honda seems to be taking us for a 'ride' with so many part variations and major cost differences - £36 delivered (3 weeks delivery) vs £100+ UK price and then add tax and shipping to that! There may be some differences across the range, but many are the same part with different PN's and cost.

The service manual mentions lubricating the boss in the section header section but I can not see that mentioned in the re-assembly instructions themselves. However the new moveable drive face comes with some grease/graphite inside where the boss fits - the one I took off was dry. Not sure if the new parts fixed the issue (my old ones did have some grooving and curvature so good to replace them anyway) or if proper seating of the drive face to the boss end helped.

Fitting the drive face back to sit tight on the boss is what I always have trouble with as the belt, even when squeezed or twrapped leaves 1-1.5mm gap between face and boss (take a look from the side with a torch next time people do this). Some work later and that is sorted, and tightening the nut and squeezing the belt helps. but still took some time to do right.

Took it for a short spin, seems better now but as I found when using the bike normally, sometimes the noise took a short while to appear after starting from cold, but was there for the entire journey after that.

Hopefully all is well now - thanks Coasting for the heads-up

[Coasting]

Fingers crossed for you!

That front bolt on the black cover is the trickiest for sure. I've always managed to get it out without taking the side cover off (heck - I don't even know how to take the side cover off -- never done it) - but it's definitely fiddly, with very little extra room. I even contemplated drilling an access hole in the plastic but thought better of it.

I could be wrong, but I think those parts all come from where the bike is made (Thailand) - so the cost difference probably reflects the number of tickets being clipped along the journey. I was stoked to discover them - had been using Bike Bandit and Partzilla in the past, but one lost the plot with shipping costs and the other isn't shipping due to COVID - but now I've found one that's cheaper than both and takes about the same amount of time to get here.

I don't have access to the service manual but I just ensured the parts were surgically clean and put the lightest smear of light grease on it and it just seemed "happy". Whenever I've inspected the boss it's always looked as good as new. I think something would have to mechanically obstruct the boss seating for it not to seat properly.

I'm afraid that I've never really understood your issue with the fitting; once the belt is on the boss prior to the fitting of the left hand drive face it just gets pushed up (or squished) as the nut is torgued up. In the end it's the mechanical resistance of the face against the boss that allows the proper torgue of the nut to be obtained. I find that if the face is pushing against belt rather than the boss the torque value won't go above about 20 foot pounds. I have tried stopping a couple of times and turning the engine over a few times to give the belt a fighting chance to avoid getting squished, but don't think doing that makes any difference; the belt just seems to sort itself out as it's tightened up. The only time I could foresee it being a problem would be if I didn't torque the nut up to the right value.

Yeah - mine used to squeal the most when the transmission was hottest - a few miles at WoT would make it the worst it's ever been - but since I changed those faces not even so much as a hint of a squeal so I'd say it's odds-on you'll be all sorted now. I was really glad to fix mine - the squeal was really starting to bug me.

[iceman]

9 mile commute this morning - no horrid noise so looks like a fix!

[Coasting]

9 mile commute this morning - no horrid noise so looks like a fix!

Excellent news. I think we'd be pretty safe in writing that symptom/fix into the PCX "book of knowledge".