Variator and Belt Pictorial

Hi,

Like the spark plug pictorial I did about a year ago, I also did one for the changing of the belt and pins on my J. Costa variator.

If you read this over you should have no problem doing this work yourself. The pictures provide a step-by-step "Pictorial" on how go change out the belt and the pins of the J. Costa. If you are changing out the rollers of your stock variator this will guide you through it too.

Ride safe,

JeffR

JeffR wrote:

Like the spark plug pictorial I did about a year ago, I also did one for the changing of the belt and pins on my J. Costa variator. This was also sent to Matt at scootertrap.com to put on his website. I also put this on other sites too. Here is the link:

http://scootertrap.com/Silverwingbeltandpinchange.pdf

Thanks.
I had wanted to switch my belt over the Christmas holiday ... but I had to wait till I could get his pictorial

Jeff,
This is the best post I have ever seen. I want to thank you for helping so many people by taking the time to photograph and make all the notations. You certainly have encouraged me to do the work myself and to upgrade the the J. Costa. I was just going to tear into it to clean it but, gee, I'm there anyway; so why not change out the variator--- (OH, I'm sorry I'm practicing what to say to my wife).
>> Dennis

I have the Malossi Multivar 2000. Awhile ago i made a video of the variator in operation. You can see the video at the below link.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tdVY6Kone4

Dennis,

Thanks for the compliment for the Pictorial. I hope it helps you and others. If you have any questions please come back to me and maybe I can help. And if you find something in the Pictorial should be changed when you install your J. Costa please tell me that too.

Paul,

I have seen your post before and it is pretty cool. A lot of people have never seen the variator in action. Thanks for sharing.

Ride safe,

JeffR

Note: Though this is the proper way to change the drive belt-at the Honda dealer they don't do all that all they do is stick an air ratchet on the pully unscrew it put a new belt on and then use the air ratchet to put the pully back on. The whole process that the Honda dealer about 10 seconds.

Pete,

When you say "they put a air ratchet on the pully", are you talking about the variator?

Yes I mean the 17 mm nut that holds the variator in place. I am simply saying that if you go to the Honda place during Daytona Bike Week with a busted drive belt they tell you to remove the three covers yourself in the parking lot then they wheel the bike into the shop and they don't go through so many steps. They simply unscrew the variator with a 35,000 rpm air ratchet slap your new drive belt on and screw the variator back on with an air ratchet. This whole process takes them less than 10 seconds and at Daytona Bike Week they are doing this all day every day!

You absolutely gave the correct procedure but at Daytona Bike Week they (The Honda Place) are working on 700,000 bikes a week and they don't have time for all that!

I use an impact gun too and it doesn't take long at all to get it off, but to remove the variator and then put it back on with the belt takes longer. The time consuming part if getting all the covers off.

Jeff, Thanks a bunch for doing these photo shoots for us. Dick

A very useful post, thank you.

JeffR wrote:

Hi,

Like the spark plug pictorial I did about a year ago, I also did one for the changing of the belt and pins on my J. Costa variator. This was also sent to Matt at scootertrap.com to put on his website. I also put this on other sites too. Here is the link:

http://scootertrap.com/Silverwingbeltandpinchange.pdf

http://www.4shared.com/file/77483927/844fdf75/J_Costa_Pin_Replacement_and_Belt_Replacement_612kb.html (this is the same link but from the File Sharing Site. I'm playing with this site to see how well it works for us).


Ride safe,

JeffR

Kenny,

Did you have a question or comment in the last couple of posts? I didn't know if you was wanting go know something about the pictorials. Thanks.

Kenny,

What info do you need?

JeffR wrote:

Kenny,I would guess you onlt remove one pully the one on the engine or the one on the wheel but which one. mine is still ok but i know it is something i will need to know.

[ quote]

What info do you need?[/quote]

Jeff, once again your patience while doing these repairs are a great help to us. Each time I start doing a pictoral repair, I start off great taking pics then I forget and next thing you know its all back together. I end up with lots of pictures of the begining of the job, none of the middle (the end is just the reverse of the begining). Thanks again.

While we are talking about pictorial how to's, I saw the one about the coolant drain and refill, but something on brakes (pad replacemnet, fluid drain and refill/bleed)would be nice.

Jeff R. -

Your many posts and pictorials are wonderful for a guy like me. I am a new SW owner and not a mechanic. I certainly appreciate the help your posts provide.

Jim from Stanwood, WA.

masscoot wrote:

J
While we are talking about pictorial how to's, I saw the one about the coolant drain and refill, but something on brakes (pad replacemnet, fluid drain and refill/bleed)would be nice.

A brake bleed tutorial can be found here:

http://www.4shared.com/get/116785031/2a6569e9/Brake_bleed_tutorial.html

I think you've found a new calling Jeff!! Need to make you the tech editor of "S'winger" magazine!! Can you just see the neighbors looks when you go to the mailbox!!??!! Hahahaha

Hey Jim,

I'm glad the Pictorial helped. It would be nice to put a magazine out and I have thought about it at times. There really isn't a "Touring Scooter" type of magazine out there right now. It woudl be fun.

Hey Jeff,
Is there a gasket between the two pieces of the aluminum casing? And where do I find belts and parts?

How do I get a picture into my profile?

Tommy

Tom,

There is no gasket between the aluminum casings so just tighten the bolts down. Also, if you want to get a stock belt you need to go through Honda or another company for it. I have the Mitshubishi belt from www.scootertrap.com .

Here is a link to post pictures in the forum:

https://www.silverwing600.com/tips-on-using-this-site-f8/posting-pictures-in-the-main-forum-in-any-topic-t850.htm

If you want to post pictures in the "Album" just go there and create your own folder. It is pretty straight forward from there to post pics in your folder.

My second time replacing the belt was much more difficult than the first time because I was unable to get the top half of the variator pulley fully onto the spline. It wasn't until Cosmic Jumper told me to tighten the 17mm nut with a ratchet and socket and keep spinning the variator forward and tightening again that I was able to slowly work the plate fully onto the spline then bang bang bang with the digiwrench (I love that thing!). So just in case anyone has the same difficulty I did getting the plate on (mine only got on 1/3 of the way onto the spline), use a ratchet and socket.

At the cost of showing my ignorance why would I want a J Costa Variator over the Honda stock? what performance difference will I experience?
The J Coasta link Here that I watch was excellent.

I'm Picking up the new Belt Wednesday along with an air filter I'm at 21,000

x

papa johns wrote:

At the cost of showing my ignorance why would I want a J Costa Variator over the Honda stock? what performance difference will I experience?
The J Coasta link Here that I watch was excellent.

Papajohn,

The J. Costa is an aftermarket variator that gives a big performance boost and even smooths out the SWing more, and it is smooth to begin with. Instead of rollers it uses pins and it seemed I had to change mine about every 9,000 miles, but I'm sure I could have gone another 1,000 to 2,000 miles. You can do a search on the site to get more info but they are good and my rpm's would decrease after I went past 80mph indicated. They cost about $280 to buy and if you want a big increase in acceleration than this is the thing to get.

Cosmic Jumper just sent me this link to a youtube video that shows a really easy way to remove the variator nut without the variator tool or impact wrench.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G_4xK1QCeM&NR=1

It's in... I don't know what language it's in, but the video is pretty self explanatory. Also shows you how easy it is to lose your rollers/sliders when you pull off the variator.

I went through and downloaded all your tutorials, and WOW, JeffR, let me add my sincere thanks for your hard work!!! Thanks to you I'll be able to take care of my baby on my own, once I find a decent workspace in LONDON.

AMAZING!! cheers from the UK

Hey SwingLondonUK,

Thanks and I'm glad they helped. It isn't too much work since I did these over the course of about a year but I'm glad they helped. And it is good for others to download them too just so you have them on your computer too. If you need any help or info just come back since one of us should be able to give an answer. Congrats with your SWing.

You may say so but very few people would put such time and efforts to help others like you did. :not worthy:

Great post! I was almost ready too take my bike to the local Honda dealer and pay $225...his quote... to have this done. Now I'll just buy the parts and follow your instructions. First class work!!

Had half an hour free tonight after Sunday dinner, so i thought it was time to swap the belt and see what the job was like. I had checked the pics a few weeks ago and apart from putting the belt on backwards cos I forgot to check, all went well. The impact driver made the job an easy one. i just need to knock up a tool to hold the variator tomorrow morning so that i can torque it up properly.

One little tip, to ease fitting the pulley, I used a thin piece of wood to "pull" the belt into the clutch end pulley and opening it up, by pulling the stick against the variator spindle, which then made fitting the variator pulley much easier. I have used the same trick on farm machinery!

It looked like someone may have been in there before, as there was copperslip grease on some of the bolts to prevent sticking. The old belt was 2mm narrower than the replacement.

I'm getting ready to change my V-belt -- after reading JeffR's great pictorial, I have one question: what solvent do you recommend for cleaning the belt case air filter?

which way does the large bolt in the center of the variator turn? lefty loosy i thought.

yep

roadrunner wrote:

I have one question: what solvent do you recommend for cleaning the belt case air filter?

A vacuum was all I needed.

Yes, anti clock the 17 mm bolt for disassembling the variator.(front part)


Did it today , used self made tool for counter force and a hand wrench.
It was a hard job to loosen the bolt, i think it was tightened by a impact wrench.

Toke off the slider pulley for inspection.
Sliders black ...rubber dust from belt.
But no signs of worn.(20.000 miles)

A lot of hard dust behind the pulley, sticked on the case and engine bearing.

Used WD40 and a little copper brush.
Then very careful wipe of with paper towels.
The slider plate , 4 plastic holders and the sliders needed only a good cleaning.

Failed to take off the clutch.
To tightened... i was working alone.. the rear tire was sliding.
Maybe it works when a heavy helper uses his weight on the rear of the scooter.

I will like a elect. 12 Volt impact wrench.

But it is not very common in my area.(shops)

Eddy

roadrunner wrote:

I'm getting ready to change my V-belt -- after reading JeffR's great pictorial, I have one question: what solvent do you recommend for cleaning the belt case air filter?

Nothing! Just blow it clean with an airline..

I changed my belt and J Costa pins last week with a little less than 16,000 miles on the odometer. The pins had about 8500 miles on them, and the belt was original (from 2003). Belt looked good, but the pins were worn across the top. There was a little wear in the holes the pins insert into, and I had noticed that the RPM's would go about 400 RPM too high under hard acceleration (which happens often!). My V light had come on several times during the last week.

With the new pins and belt, acceleration feels good and RPMs are back down to about 6800-7000 under full throttle acceleration from a stop. RPMs at cruising speeds (50-70 mph) seem to be down between 200-400 RPM compared to the old belt and pins, now often being less than 5000 RPM when under 60 mph.

One thing I did notice is that the two halves of the variator have obviously been rubbing against each other, probably because the belt had narrowed. There was a wear mark in the center of each half, nice and shiny. I did not think to take pictures (I rarely remember that I own a camera).

As others have mentioned, a shop vacuum was all that was needed to clean the filter and casing. Nothing wet was needed.

I just replaced my belt tonight. To get the bolt off of the variator I first tried the "Russian Method" as I have dubbed it, from the Youtube video. It did not work.

I grabbed the parts list for the Leroy Beal variator tool and went to Lowes. $13 bought everything I needed, including a new drill bit to drill the holes in the iron bar. I used a roto-zip with the steel cutting wheel and it cut right through the metal. Installed the bolts and I was ready to go. With the variator tool, the bolt came off easily.

If you haven't built the tool, please do, it is cheap and easy if you have a good dremel or roto-zip. Would only take a little more time if all you had was a hacksaw. The M6 bolts fit in perfectly.

I used an M6-20 to bolt the two pieces together so I could use one package of nuts for the center pin and the two variator pins.

Thanks for the pictorial. I figured I could have purchased a cut-off saw and still come out ahead in price over having the dealer do the work.

This is why I love my Swing. It is so easy to do all of the maintenance, it is much cheaper in the long run over a bike that needs to be taken in for all of the work.

There's nothing that special about the honda 'Variator tool', it's proper name is a universal clutch holding tool. There should be plenty of low cost versions of it around. And for cleaning an aerosol brake cleaner would be best.

So would this work then?
Universal Clutch tool

That tool would probably work but looks a liitle specific, there are several designs that look almost identical to the Honda tool. But a piece of wood and a couple of blunt nails will do exactly the same, and you can make the handle longer!

x

Ah that's what the Honda one looks like, never seen it before. Typically over engineered.

x

There is just one thing I would like to add to this information of changing the belt.
I noticed that the variator plates are made of soft aluminum? and the splines are easily dammaged. So what I did was install the belt only on the front and in between the variator plates and screwed in the bolt just enough so that the bolt was secure and the plates lined up. Then I pushed the belt on to the lower part of the clutch and turned the variator by hand as far as I could, tightening the belt and then put my shoe on the belt and pressed the starter button, just for a second. It slipped on like a champ and I was able to tighten down the bolt to the proper specks turning the belt a few times along the way.