re-purpose old leather belts

christopher fowler

christopher fowler

New Member
I have been using old leather belts between motor mount and frame as a way to isolate vibration. Very old school and it looks cool,+works well to compensate for frame to mount gaps.
 
Hey Chris can you post a pic, I would be interested in seeing what they look like before I cut up one of my only 2 belts, (for some reason I keep out growing them, He LL maybe it's form only using my motor) :)
 
On my current build, a 39 Elgin, I used scraps of elk hide cut to size for the mounts and used contact cement to glue them directly to the mounts beforehand. Now there is no scraping up the new paint while fitting the motor. It worked very well and will do it on all future builds.
SB
 
I used pieces of rubber from my old rubber handle bar grips and taped them under my mounts with black electrical tape,works great and still holding up.
 
I'll keep it in mind, but I like tingly toes, so I just mounted mine straight to the frame via the rear clamp and a bolt through block for the downtube.
 
I did something like that on my bike, but I used some scrap leather a friend of mine gave me, maybe 1/8th inch thick, and I cut pieces large enough to wrap around the entire frame tube. Filled the gap I had on my rear mount pretty well, but I almost wasn't able to get the back from clamp to fit over the mounting studs enough to actually hold :). Also, once the leather compresses a bit, it will give the mount some nice grip on the frame.
 
Ulysys said:
I did something like that on my bike, but I used some scrap leather a friend of mine gave me, maybe 1/8th inch thick, and I cut pieces large enough to wrap around the entire frame tube. Filled the gap I had on my rear mount pretty well, but I almost wasn't able to get the back from clamp to fit over the mounting studs enough to actually hold :). Also, once the leather compresses a bit, it will give the mount some nice grip on the frame.
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i am stoked to hear this tip being aplied and working well!
 
One thing to remember, is that when the leather compresses, it's a good idea to check the nuts on the mounting studs to make sure they are still tight. Mine loosened up a little over the first week, partially due to the leather compressing, and partially because the nuts had loosened up some from vibration, even with loctite :).
 
Leather dries up, shrinks and cracks, if exposed to heat, prolonged intense sunlight, stresses, or volatile chemicals. If it works for you great, but you may have to replace the leather pieces sooner than metal or rubber shims.
 
christopher fowler said:
I have been using old leather belts between motor mount and frame as a way to isolate vibration. Very old school and it looks cool,+works well to compensate for frame to mount gaps.
Click to expand...


Thanks Christopher,

I tried this when I put my engine back on after some repairs and the difference was very noticeable. Thanks for the great tip.
 
christopher fowler said:
thanx for kudos sharksfan happycheapskate made a good point about checking bolts regularly till leather is compressed completely!
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I have tried to be pretty thorough about my bolts considering it was a broken motor mount stud that had me taking the engine off in the first place. I was using pieces of an old tube before and I think that is what started the failure in the first place.
 
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