blowing belts??? maintenance / alignments

Dune-Track-N

Dune-Track-N

Well-known member
Joined
May 5, 2021
Messages
923
Reaction score
794
Not me but.... my buddies all lost a lot of belts this weekend. Besides blowing out the clutches, pulling all the debris out, etc... what else can/should they do to remedy this?

XP900 lost three belts - all BLOWN up shredded
XP-turbo lost two - both stretched and lost cogs
X3 lost one belt - blown shredded

XX still banging on the stocker 2800 miles!!

I've heard about belt alignment. Is there a tool (besides the driver) that helps with this. A straight edge doesn't seam like the right approach.
When we had Rhino's we used to scotch brite the sheaves between belts to get the burnt rubber off, but I've never heard about that with the new setups.

Thought's links appreciated

 
As the clutches age, they go thru belts a lot quicker than when they were new.  When you get to a point where your changing them often you need to have a look at the clutches themselves.

This past weekend a car with about 3K miles would not go into gear.  It was the clutches. They were so worn out they would not disengage enough to allow the car go into gear. 

 
clutches is to vague, what part of the clutch

helix, arms, sliders, springs, etc...

I realize OPEN IT UP and look but look at what.

 
Although proper alignment could be an issue, I found with my 2014 XP1000 it was tire pressure. Take the pressure up to 18psi and you'll reduce the strain on the drive train. Use momentum, etc. I went through over 25 belts and 3 clutches as I was running 4-6psi with all-terrain bead locks in G. Forgot to air down from a dirt trip and whammo.. no more belt issues. 

My $.02.

Sold my '14 to a buddy and he ran hard behind our turbo machines no problem.. no belt issues.

abc

PS. After tossing that many, I am like a pit crew and can generally change a belt in under 10 minutes. Main thing that as soon as it goes STOP.. or you'll be unwinding cord for a bit.

 
On a RZR XP900 and XP1000 the clutches wear out.  How quickly depends on where you are riding and how often you blow them out after rides.  On both rides the rollers in the primary will get flat spots and then they wear out the clutch weights.  With my XP1000 it happen at around 5,000 miles, but I am very good about blowing out the clutches after trips.  Other friends got anywhere from 2,500 - 4,000 miles out of their XP clutches.

XP Turbo clutches all get wear out and when that happens you start killing belts.  Check the weights and rollers in the primary clutch. Also inspect the secondary to make sure everything is good.  

With Polaris most of the clutches get worn and it is better to buy new ones then trying to replace parts.  I think the clutch on the XP Pro are the only ones that you can rebuild.

With the X3 there are pucks that can get worn out on the governor cup of the primary.  That can cause some issues.  You can replace the pucks.  KWI Clutching sells a kit.  Also on the X3 they sometimes break a roller in the secondary which messes with the helix.  That will cause belts to break. This happen to a friend last trip. 

X3 clutches can get out of alignment and I found doing the KWI Float mod to be the best thing to fix that issue.  The mod that KWI clutching does keeps the clutches in alignment.  On my first X3 I blew 2 belts in 7000 miles.  At that point my clutch face on the primary were so worn out that I went through 2 belts pretty quickly.  I had the clutch halves replaced and all was good.

There could be other factors in why the belts are blowing such as driving style and tires used in the sand.  

 
If I blew a belt on my xp1k on a ride, I would clean out my clutches the best i could out in the dunes and I would throw in an old belt that had enough life to limp me back to camp. Once I got back to camp, I would pull my primary and secondary for a detailed cleanout and inspection. If there was enough time, I would even throw my SDI alignment tool on and make sure things were aligned. If the clutch was bad, I would put in a backup clutch for the weekend or call it and ride with a buddy. Once done, I would throw a brand new Polaris OEM belt in and do a proper break in on the the belt. This would get me almost 800-1k on a belt each time.

My regular clutch/belt maintenance would consist of pulling the clutches, inspection (alignment and wear-in-tear items check), cleaning (blowing out clutches, scrotch-briting the sheaves and washing the belt with warm water and dawn dish soap). Typically tried to do this after every trip or every other. I could go into detail on what to look for with an inspection, but there are many youtube videos that would do a better job than me and other models are different then an xp1k.

I would never rebuild stock clutches. Since replacing them each time was so expensive, I ended up replacing them with STM billet clutches. STM billet clutches are highly tunable and 100% rebuildable. Even down to re-machining the sheaves. I also added a bilge blower and used a fuels custom clutch cover to maximize air flow.

Also keeping the car in the higher RPM's helps out alot. Less shifting from low to high RPMs keeps the clutch blades moving more air and reduces heat from friction. Running the lightest tire/wheel combo in 4wd also helped me out alot.

 Moral of the story is that proper maintenance and break-in is key to keeping belts alive for a long period of time. If you blow a belt, don't just throw one in and run it for the rest of the trip. Take the time, clean it out really well and break it in properly.

I was always the lead car in a group that was full of worcs series racers, so we were consistently thrashing our cars in the dunes. I also was going 17+ times a season. Doing this helped the longevity of my belts big time. Before, I would blow two belts a trip and be replacing the primary and secondary every season. Lets just say, could have bought a mendeola 2d for the price i paid in belts and clutches alone. Now I'm back in a sandcar 😎.

 
nzulmer said:
If I blew a belt on my xp1k on a ride, I would clean out my clutches the best i could out in the dunes and I would throw in an old belt that had enough life to limp me back to camp. Once I got back to camp, I would pull my primary and secondary for a detailed cleanout and inspection. If there was enough time, I would even throw my SDI alignment tool on and make sure things were aligned. If the clutch was bad, I would put in a backup clutch for the weekend or call it and ride with a buddy. Once done, I would throw a brand new Polaris OEM belt in and do a proper break in on the the belt. This would get me almost 800-1k on a belt each time.

My regular clutch/belt maintenance would consist of pulling the clutches, inspection (alignment and wear-in-tear items check), cleaning (blowing out clutches, scrotch-briting the sheaves and washing the belt with warm water and dawn dish soap). Typically tried to do this after every trip or every other. I could go into detail on what to look for with an inspection, but there are many youtube videos that would do a better job than me and other models are different then an xp1k.

I would never rebuild stock clutches. Since replacing them each time was so expensive, I ended up replacing them with STM billet clutches. STM billet clutches are highly tunable and 100% rebuildable. Even down to re-machining the sheaves. I also added a bilge blower and used a fuels custom clutch cover to maximize air flow.

Also keeping the car in the higher RPM's helps out alot. Less shifting from low to high RPMs keeps the clutch blades moving more air and reduces heat from friction. Running the lightest tire/wheel combo in 4wd also helped me out alot.

 Moral of the story is that proper maintenance and break-in is key to keeping belts alive for a long period of time. If you blow a belt, don't just throw one in and run it for the rest of the trip. Take the time, clean it out really well and break it in properly.

I was always the lead car in a group that was full of worcs series racers, so we were consistently thrashing our cars in the dunes. I also was going 17+ times a season. Doing this helped the longevity of my belts big time. Before, I would blow two belts a trip and be replacing the primary and secondary every season. Lets just say, could have bought a mendeola 2d for the price i paid in belts and clutches alone. Now I'm back in a sandcar 😎.
Click to expand...
Funny I just sold my sandcar and now I'm spending all kinds of cash on the belts! Lol

 
So when I got my rzr it did good on belts. But it wasn't long beforei had to replace 3 belts on one trip. At this point I decided to upgraded the clutch with weights for the bigger tires. It did better but still  breaking belts. Just yesterday I ordered my SDI clutch alignment tool because my belts are not lasting at all. I hope this fixes that issue.  Now I'm dealing with overheating. 😣 I own a 2016 TURBO XP4. After this I will upgrade the radiator or reconsider selling mine and getting a newer one which might even have the same issues! I like mine its fast enough and fun enough so I rather fix it. 

 
yeah all my buddies had no issues for awhile/many miles, but now are breaking belts constantly

 
theres all kinds of wear parts in there. hunterworks has alot of great videos on how they work and what to check.

when i had my 16xp1k I replaced with his dalton set up and never an issue. now on my 2021 turbo s I haven't had an issue but may

go with the ibexx set up

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top