drive belt?

spoch · Post by **spoch** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 8:10 am

Have a 86 spree NQ50. First problem was it just died after running for about 1/2 hour. Found out that I sucked a junk air filter through the system. 1 Hour of carb cleaning(thanks to old posts on cleaning) new plug, filter and it runs great. Now the problem is that with my fat butt on it (220 lbs) it feels as if the drive belt is slipping. You feel it at take off. When girlfriend is on it or the kids no problems at all. Do you think it could be anything else beside the belt? Should I change that first? How hard is it to replace and do I need new gaskets?
Thanks for the help with the getting it running again and help with the belt....

Wheelman-111 · Post by **Wheelman-111** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:57 am

Greetings:

Welcome. There are two things that can cause the behavior you describe:

1. The clutch can slip.
2. The belt can slip.

Inspection of both require plastic removal and the removal of the belt cover. Good pics are found in the Gear Swap thread in the Technical Documents and/or Performance Technical sections.

There is one gasket behind the belt cover. It depends on its age, condition, and previous disassembly whether or not you'll need a new gasket. The prudent thing is to have one on hand before you begin work.

Like anything else, belt replacement is easy when you know how. Lots of people will advise you to whack away at the 14 mm nut over the drive pulley with an impact wrench. Many of those people have out-of-true crankshafts and/or leaky crank seals.

The prudent approach is to immobilize the drive face through various methods also posted here. My method is to use a $10 tool from Harbor Freight that looks like a vise-grip with a motorcycle chain attached. Then the nut can be removed in a civilized manner.

Lift off the old belt and consider a look behind the clutch bell to assess the condition of the linings. Same procedure. If they're down below 2mm thick (Aero specs should be similar to Sprees) consider replacement.

Button back up with carefully preserved old gasket or new and test.

HTH

spoch · Post by **spoch** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:50 am

Thanks for the help. I just bought this spree from a police officer. I know he had it overhauled about two years ago and it has been sitting in his garage since. I don't think he had a belt put on and he told me the mileage is correct. 4500. Like I said lighter weight and problem goes away. Fat butts like myself have a problem. It doesn't seem like a clutch to me (just put one in my 98 ranger). The * I feel seems more and more like the belt is jumping teeth. Is that possible?

spoch · Post by **spoch** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:01 am

I have to say am having fun riping apart these sprees. I have gotten two running with minor problems. IE:throttle cable on one and now the belt on the other. Still have to get the turn signals working on one of them but I think I have that problem solved... No flasher relay. I bought a third for parts for now but plan on doing a frame up re-do. right now I know it needs all new cables,plastic,seat latch, stand,tires,speedo,instrument cluster,fuel tank,petcock,carb,turn signal mounts (front/back),turn signals and most likely belt. Since I took the flasher relay, a flasher relay. Any idea where I could find most of these parts used? I've been watching ebay and can get most of them there. I also have checked babbits, just don't want to spend that much. Is there any where in SE MI that stocks these parts?
Thanks again for all the help

apephoto222 · Post by **apephoto222** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:32 pm

for most of the parts like a flasher relay it is just cheap egnough to go new over at autoZone. Alot of the parts on the sprees are universal so that always helps