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Timing Belt

"Hi Jimmy,


I'm going


"Hi Jimmy,


I'm going to assume it's the belt on the BF 75 S you've been working on. Getting ready to fire that puppy up?

The belt's tightness is a matter of judgement I guess. The books I have just say check it for wear or cracks.

There is no way to tighten the belt other than to replace it with a new one. I haven't found that the small Hondas are too hard on their belts and rarely replace them on the one's I work on.

The belt should slip on on with a bit of a strain and struggle for your fingers. Don't use a screwdriver to pry it on. I look for around 1/2" to 3/4" deflection when I press on it with my finger halfway between the pulley span.

It is a heavy cogged belt and you wouldn't want it running too taught because that would bend the camshaft in all likelyhood.

If you feel that yours is too loose, then replace it by all means. That requires that you remove the flywheel."
 
"I'm also interested to kn

"I'm also interested to know how long a timing belt should last ?
I have a 2000 BF50A with no hour meter, but it would have over 2 thousand hours on it.
mechanic has never mentioned replacing it."
 
"Well, all I can really tell y

"Well, all I can really tell you is that the local Honda dealer that I get help from told me about 4 years ago, (when I bought the first one that I replaced) that he almost never sees a problem with the belts. Since then, I have found him to be right through my own experience.

The two belts that I have replaced in the last two years were because I found the timing belt drive gear on the crankshaft for those two engines had come loose because the nut that holds it down had backed off. The nut, the spacer/belt deflecter, the gear and the drive key were all damaged but the belts and crankshaft still looked fine. In both cases, I replaced the belts because I was replacing the gear and thought it was the right thing to do, not because I saw a problem with the belts.

I would say, though, that nothing lasts forever and those belts will deteriorate over time just from being on the planet Earth.

I work on rental engines that are going on 8 years old and we came up with a formula that says that they work, on average, 2 hours a day 350 days a year. We came up with this as a service interval guide for oil changes, tune ups etc. because we don't use hour meters or logs. So, doing that math, many of my engines have over 5,000 hours on them, at present, and I look at those belts all the time. So far so good.

But, at 2,000 hours, my old pappy would say this: "That belt's been workin' pretty hard for a pretty long time and it don't owe anybody a dime". That would be his way of saying get a new one but from what I've seen so far I'm not sure I would.

Another thing ol' pappy would say about what I've just written would probably go something like:
"oh yeah, why that's as clear as mud boy!""
 
Re: "Well, all I can really tell y

Hi,
I hope you can help me? I had a belt snap on a 225 bhp rebuilt head etc, need to know what the timing settings are, I am in Bahamas and I cannot find a good tech who knows this???

phil
 
Hi Phil,
You might want to start a new thread for this question as this thread is for a small displacement and you'll get more feedback on your 225 with a proper heading. I do not have the information that you seek. Sorry.
 
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