I was out cruising around on my 440 LTD yesterday and I was going down fairly steep hill and at the bottom my drive belt splits and I see it trailing behind me. I am trying to understand why this was the case so I can avoid it in the future. But I am not sure if I did something inadvertently that would cause this all of a sudden or if it was due to normal wear and tear. I have attached below a link showing my bike and the belt.

YouTube - ‪Kawasaki 440 LTD broken belt‬‏

1. Does the belt show significant wear that would cause it to fail?
2. Any ideas on finding the best price for a new belt? Best I can find is about 230 dollars at this point, new. 129 teeth.
3. How much in labor costs should I expect to pay to have someone install a new belt?
4. Do you see anything else on the cycle you find interesting?

 

Age, wear, alignment, tension adjustment.
I would get the Kawasaki part number and cross reference it to a Gates belt; if they make one. Gates belts and hoses tend to last about twice as long.
YOU can (and should) install the belt on your bike. Do a Google for a diagram, if you don't own a service manual. Should be a minimum of necessary tools.
Left side of jug is showing what appears to be oil leakage. Overall, the bike looks to be in decent shape, but does need some help to prevent a series of similar misfortunes in the future (mostly due to age.) I would probably go through the wiring and fuel lines (which is brittle by now; just like the drive belt. White smoke electrical fires are NOT fun going down the highway), replace fuel bowl gaskets and most things made of rubber, head gaskets (when the leaks get bad enough), adjust/check valves, flush-refill forks, engine oil and plugs (unless they see regular changes), check brake pads and fluid, and things typical on a bike of this age.
The more YOU learn about your bike and how to maintain and repair it, the more confident you will feel riding it; particularly a bike of this vintage. Thanks for the video!
Welcome to the forums; gear up, stay safe.

 

Good advice from Jeff. And does anyone have actual experience with replacing this belt on this type of machine? Please do share if you have as well.

 

I am still awaiting the arrival of the belt which should be in a few days. In the meantime, a few questions remain.

1. If I have the cycle jacked up on a motorcycle jack, can I safely remove both shocks without something going awry when I take the second one off?

2. When I remove the rear wheel, After I disconnect the linkage, and remove the castle nut on the right side, how much and what type of wiggling and shaking do I have to do with the wheel to get it off of the axle?

3. When I reinstall the new belt, is the alignment process a real pain in the butt or pretty straight forward?

 

Welcome to KF marcusknight23 and congrats on the ride.

As Jeff mentioned, you can and should be able to do this with your knowledge and with the manual. Stop guessing and obtain your manual already. Enjoy the experience, and ask away we are here for support of course.