It doesn't happen all the time but every once in a while we get lucky. This time it just so happened to be when I stopped by Freedom Cycles in Orange, California, to pick up a few parts for my bike when I noticed a blacked out '08 Cross Bones up on the lift and next to it was a box from Belt Drives Ltd (BDL). I had to ask Devin, the owner of the shop, what they were working on, only to find out that it was the new EVO-8S 2 3/4 (69mm) open belt drive with BDL's new ball bearing clutch system.
This open belt drive is designed exclusively for the '07- 09 Softails. The backing plate was designed to bolt right up with the six motor mount bolts and the three transmission bolts along with the new style starter mounts. Also this kit incorporates a 52-tooth front pulley, 69-tooth rear pulley and a 69 mm (2.72 inch) wide 142-tooth custom designed belt. So I asked if I could snap some shots of the install and see how well it works. But first I rolled the bike outside to get a lead shot of the stock H-D closed primary on the bike.
1. Here is the '08 Cross...
1. Here is the '08 Cross Bones with stock primary setup, you can see the bike's owner, Mad Mike, had started to change the look with bars and blacking out the bike.
2. The bike was placed back...
2. The bike was placed back on the bike lift and service tech Kazoo started by draining the primary fluid. To get the primary off the bike the floorboard needed to come off, then Kazoo removed the outer cover, the primary chain tensioner, the clutch plates, then the mainshaft nut and the clutch basket along with the front sprocket and chain.
3. The starter bolts were...
3. The starter bolts were then removed along with the inner primary mounting bolts. Then Kazoo removed the stock inner primary from the bike.
4. Here is the EVO-8S open...
4. Here is the EVO-8S open belt drive kit starting with the newly designed backing plate, front pulley, clutch basket, 2 3/4 inch belt, starter shaft cover, and mounting hardware.
5. Before the backing plate...
5. Before the backing plate was mounted Kazoo checked the starter shaft pinion gear for any damage. Everything was in good shape so a little grease was placed along the edge where the starter will line up with the backing plate.