TOPIC:

Have any of yall converted a chain final drive to a belt drive?
Can it be done?
What dose it take to do this?

Why?
Steve

SWest wrote: Why?
Steve

Double that.


.

Can you even get belts and pulleys anymore?
Steve

SWest wrote: Can you even get belts and pulleys anymore?
Steve

He may be able find used pulleys, but buying a used belt would be a mistake. However, I have seen a NOS belt for sale for a mere $350! Ouch! I love my chain drive bike! Ed

I wouldn't trust NOS rubber.
Steve

Mickey1031 wrote: Have any of yall converted a chain final drive to a belt drive?
Can it be done?
What dose it take to do this?

Have had chain drive Kawasaki bikes for forty years and dislike chain drives. The noise, mess, maintenance, etc. of them. Would convert my bike to belt or shaft drive, but it is not practical, for me at least. Won't ask you "Why" do you want to do this.

I wouldn't even consider converting to a belt. But as a can it be done exercise.

Belt. From checking the diagrams at partzilla the KZ750-K Belt uses the same belt as the 90-96 Vulcan 500, so it's possible a good new part might be available. probably expensive. A used belt could be 20+ yrs old. not sure how durable they are or the service life.

Output shaft. this is probably the hardest part. the ZX750-A has the same output shaft as the 750K. So the output shaft might could be swapped or possibly the transmission. or complete engine unit. also, a guy would need to check the clearance for the front pulley.

Rear wheel. the 750-Belt has the same rear hub shock damper as the 750E & the hub coupling is similar with some of the same parts, so adding the 750K pulley might be the easy part. if not, he might be able to install a 750K rear wheel & swing arm and convert the Rr disk brake to drum brake. for a drum brake, either the 750K stuff or 650-csr. probably the latter.

Having owned bikes with all three drive systems, I can attest to how fabulous a good belt drive is. It is very quiet, clean and maintenance free. Since it is so much lighter than chain or shaft, more power gets to the wheel. The only down side is the cost, which over the life of a bike might not be so different from chain and sprocket cost given the long life of the belt.
That being said, finding a good belt is going to be a challenge these days. In addition to what Martin_CSR wrote, you will need to replace the chain guard with a wider belt guard. I wonder if a belt from a Sportster or a Buell might be close enough?

Belt. JC Whitney lists a couple of universal fit aftermarket belts for the Vulcan 500. 126T & 132T.

I also checked the PartsUnlimited catalog but didn't see anything for the EN500.

Related. beware scoot works. they list stuff for the vulcans but there are some reviews from dissatisfied customers. esp. at kawasakimotorcycle.org. in case they have anything that will work on a KZ.

Nebr_Rex wrote:

SWest wrote: Why?
Steve

Double that.

Why do people do half the things they do with their vehicles? To see if they can.

I just picked up a KZ440 LTD as a project bike and I'm considering leaving the belt drive in place, just for grins. The belt (according to the PO) has only about 500 miles on it, so what the heck.

34 years and 21000+ miles on my OE belt. Have had a back up hanging in the garage for years just in case. Still haven't needed it. No complaints here. IF it can be done and IF you have the time and money to throw at it I'd say worth it.