fitting a new drive belt Piaggio NRG?

ok undo the left hand engine case that encloses the transmission,leave the kickstart lever bolted to the shaft,when all the 8mm headed bolts are undone pulll the cover off and you will see a variator to the left and a clutch to the right,next is to undo the nut on the end of the crankshaft holding the variator on,there are a few ways to do it ,the way i do it is to use an impact gun,be it air or electric powered its a good way you can use a socket and ratchet but you will need to hold the variator safeley without bending the crank they bend easily!a special tool called a variator holder is available to buy .when its undone take the outer half of the variator off keeping any washers and bits in order of how they came off. if the old belt is on then pull it out of the clutch pulley if the old one has broken then clean the entire area off broken bits these can cause problems!put the new belt into place make sure if its directional then the flow is anti clockwise ,put the belt into the clutch pulley and loop it over the crankshaft then pull the middle of the belt together so it sinks into the two pulley halves.make sure its far enough in so you can put the outer variator half on without trapping the belt and then put the variator parts back on the shaft put some loctite on the thread of the crank and do it back up TIGHT.dont worry about the slack in the belt it will be sorted out as soon as it starts up,just put the cover back on and go for a ride.as i said if the old belt broke you need to take the variator out totally and get all the bits out these scooters run a small ribbed belt to drive the oil pump and water pump (on lc) models off the back of the crankshaft and these broken belt parts can damage and jam the small belt and cause havoc!.

adam bike doctor
July 2010