Took out my radiator because I had a small leak in the top hose of the radiator. Figured I'd just changed all the hoses. I got on the forum and the advice was to change the timing belts. They were last done in 1998 when the bike had 39,000 miles. I now has 72,000 and it's 11 years later. The only thing is, I don't feel I have enough ability to tackle the job. One wrong move and the game is over. So, I'm taking it on a trailor Tuesday over to my Honda dealer. I hate to throw in the towel, but I am a basic mechanic. I don't need to knock the timing off and screw everything up. I envy those guys that can do it, because I'm probably looking at about a $350 job! Ouch! If anyone lives near the beautiful Catskill Mts and is looking to make a little cash and drink a few beers, let me know!

The timing belts really isn't a hard job, you have alot of the work done removing the radiator. Following the Clymers or Haynes manual makes it a cinch. I did mine alone. A second set of hands would have helped when keeping the cam gear still while sliding on the belt.

The belts were the FIRST thing I ever tackled on a GL....

If you read through the forum you will find a number of posts that deal with this. Installing the belts can be a little intimidating, but if you read thru the site, you will see this topic is covered. Converse with enough of the real mechanics on this site you will find it's not that bad a job. The guys here suggested that I double check that I had the crank at TDC on -1- cylinder on the compression stroke, and both of the timing marks on the cam pulleys were at the TDC mark per the manuals(with pictures)... The only tricky thing I encountered while installing the belts was the spring/valve pressure wanting to turn the cam pulley on the right side (right side as determined by sitting on the bike) while sliding on the belt. Help is nice to hold the right side cam pulley still(At TDC and marks at 9:00 pm on the pulley line up as well with the casing behind it) while you slide on the belt. Again, I followed the manuals, and it wasn't that bad a job. Sorry I'm not a little closer to you. I'm in the center of the Finger lakes Region. Maybe someone closer downstate will respond to your offer

Good luck!!!

The toughest part of the job is keeping the right hand (as viewed when riding) value pully from turning when putting on the new belt. When the pully is in the correct position, the value springs will be forcing the pully back to the "netural" postion (where none of the springs are compressed).

Here is my secret:

Put the timing belt over the value pully, then have someone else hold the value pully in the proper position using a wrench while you put the belt over the crank pully. It does not require a lot of force to hold in for a few minutes.

Or,

Make a pully holder out of wood blocks that hold the pully in the correct position. I made a pully holder out of steel and will send it to you if you need it. All I ask, is that I get it back.


You can do this!

The method I use is to centre the right cam then release it and count how many teeth it moves, I then turn the crank in the same direction the same number of teeth and install the belt.
I then move the crank back to TDC just to check my math.

Very slick

Bagelboy... If you have gotton as far as pulling the radiator off the bike, in my opinion you've just demonstrated that you've got the Talent to go all the way and change those belt's yourself!! Open a good shop manual, take those timing belt covers off and get busy!!!!

$350.00? The timing belt's alone will cost you at least $160.00 as the last time I priced them at Mother Honda they were $80.00 each!

They are about $12.95 ea. at NAPA!!

I'll take a look tomorrow(my day off)! If it looks easy, I'll go for it. My son(who lives in a gym) says he'll hold everything in place. I told him if I do this, he better hold on like "dear life" depends on it. His! One question, the Haines manual shows removal of the crankshaft pulley as well as the camshafts, is it necessary to remove the crankshaft pulley? Also, what are the Napa Numbers for the belts? Is it T070?

Bagelboy,

You don't need to remove the pulleys to change the timing belts. However, I remove the belt tensioners from the bike to make it easier to get the belts on. Keep them seperate (left and right side) and in the same orrientation as how they came off. If you have a digital camera, 1st mark each tensioner with some fingernail polish or marker paint before removal, take your picture, and then remove. You can refer to your picture for reference if you have any doubts during reassembly.

Make sure you follow the directions of rotating the crank to get the proper belt tension on each side. This is important and is well documented in the Honda manual.

If you need this manual you can download it from www.goldwingdocs.com.

Good luck

save some money,the hardest part of the job is getting the radiator off,seriously just get all the parts together and you'll be okay and about $300 richer

just make sure that you get it up on #1 TDC and your good to start

lots of info posted on this site about the job,its kinda a scary thing to read but like riding a bicycle w/o training wheels for the 1st time,you'll wonder why you
ever thought about putting it on the trailer to take it 20 miles to the dealer,paying him most of your weeks wages and then worrying for the next 1000 miles "did the young kid that worked on it really know what he was doing",heck just last week he was cleaning tradeins

Took a look, doesn't look so bad. Not a lot of play on the tensioner side, but a lot on the other. It is not 1/8 inch, more like 1/2 to 5/8 of an inch. Also one of the cover bolts were stripped out. Someone had put a load of silicone caulking to hold one of the bolts in, so it has only 3 holding it in. I don't know if I should secure it back with the three of attempt to tap the old hole. Advice. Thanks!

Take it from me: you can do this. If I can do a dozen of them and never screw one up I'm sure just about any Joe Blow (no offense, Joe, whoever you are!) could do it. There's so much help around that it's pretty well impossible to screw it up as long as you take your time and double check your work. I'm a visual learner so pictures along with words help me a lot. Try this site:

http://www.goldwingfacts.com/forums/forum9/17422.html

It's for a 1000 but there's very little difference. Just follow your manual and verify with the pictures.

Free tip: I use a zip tie to make sure that right side (when you're sitting on the bike) pulley doesn't dance away on me. Anchor it before you remove the belt and leave it anchored until the new belt is securely in place. And then never hit the starter button until you turned that baby at least three revolutions to make sure you did it right. Works like a charm.

Good luck and, like I said, if you're not sure, check and check again. And if you're still not sure we're all sitting in front of computers up here in the frozen North just waiting to help.

While your in there check the tensioner bearings and replace them if there is any play or roughness in them. They're not cheap but that's better than smoking your new belts and having to do the job over or even worse being far from home and having to pay someone to redo the job.

For the stripped thread you can probably rent a thread repair kit from your local rental or auto parts store. They're not very hard to use.

You can often repair a low load bolt hole with a couple pieces of copper wire stuck in before you run in the bolt. Strip 1" of insulation from a stranded wire and use a couple of strands.