New Clutch Belt For the Axys 850 Patriot

deschutes · Mar 30, 2018

Polaris has released a new belt for the new 850 Patriot engine. Not sure if this has come up in any of the other threads.

Part Number: 3211216
Width: 1.46”
Circumference: 46.77”

The dimensions look the same as the current 3211183 belt, but the description is more tech – “High Modulus Chloroprene Belt”.

Screen Shot 2018-03-30 at 10.26.03 AM.png

Sheetmetalfab · Mar 30, 2018

I like that the price is the same

89sandman · Mar 30, 2018

I'd buy a Gates belt for less than half the price, haven't bought a factory belt in over 10 years...

Manufacturers are totally hosing people with prices like that!!! Total ripoff.

TRS · Mar 30, 2018

I’m wondering if that’s the Gates compound

Sheetmetalfab · Mar 30, 2018

89sandman said:
I'd buy a Gates belt for less than half the price, haven't bought a factory belt in over 10 years...

Manufacturers are totally hosing people with prices like that!!! Total ripoff.

Yep totally hosing people.

But........

Gates belts don’t hold up to a young guy riding fast and hard all day.

80 miles and boom.

183 belts gives miles of smiles.

G-Force · Mar 30, 2018

Won't be leaving the showroom without a factory spare.
Far too good of luck/performance with OEM belts from my Dragon, through a few different Pro's, to my Axys. Haven't shredded one yet. So, no brainer to toss a spare in the bag on the way pout the door :face-icon-small-hap

TRS · Mar 30, 2018

Sheetmetalfab said:
Yep totally hosing people.

But........

Gates belts don’t hold up to a young guy riding fast and hard all day.

80 miles and boom.

183 belts gives miles of smiles.

I respectfully disagree.

Sheetmetalfab · Mar 30, 2018

TRS said:
I respectfully disagree.

Sounds great.

Come ride steep and deep at sea level with a great clutching setup.
Prove me wrong lol.

My setup works great and doesn’t blow belts. *
As long as they are poo belts.

After seeing 5-6 different gates belts grenade on sleds that do great with poo belts i’m Not going to be using them anytime soon.

Glad they work for you?
I don’t know much about high elevation clutching other than it doesn’t work well at low elevation. (All variables the same except flyweight)

All my reading says you have a great high altitude setup and theory.
And it seems to work well with gates belts.

That doesn’t mean it will translate well to Alaska.
Air density,
Elevation,

I prefer to run what is tested in Alaska, since it works.
With poo belts*

So yeah like you said.
Respectfully disagree.
Based on experience

TRS · Mar 30, 2018

Sheetmetalfab said:
Sounds great.

Come ride steep and deep at sea level with a great clutching setup.
Prove me wrong lol.

My setup works great and doesn’t blow belts. *
As long as they are poo belts.

After seeing 5-6 different gates belts grenade on sleds that do great with poo belts i’m Not going to be using them anytime soon.

Glad they work for you?
I don’t know much about high elevation clutching other than it doesn’t work well at low elevation. (All variables the same except flyweight)

All my reading says you have a great high altitude setup and theory.
And it seems to work well with gates belts.

That doesn’t mean it will translate well to Alaska.
Air density,
Elevation,

I prefer to run what is tested in Alaska, since it works.
With poo belts*

So yeah like you said.
Respectfully disagree.
Based on experience

We also can play steep and deep.
Your Elevation is part of the equation I’m not familiar with. I would very much like to play there. We play from 6700’ on up
What I do know is we ride hard here at elevation. 70-90+ mile days in our back country.
What I do know about the carbon belt is if has ever been folded it will explode in less than 100miles. If your shipper or dealer gets them shipped folded, don’t purchase them.
I’m glad your having luck with the 183.

AndrettiDog · Mar 30, 2018

I experimented with AC and Gates belts on the Pro's with no longevity. They just seem to fade away too quickly and then you experience RPM fade when you don't want it. Yeah, keep adjusting the deflection but I felt I was chasing that in circles. Polaris does seem to make good long(er) lasting belts. $200 is a lot, but some guys on other brands are burning theirs down a lot quicker. I vote for Polaris belts too.

Spaarky · Mar 30, 2018

Sheetmetalfab said:
Sounds great.

Come ride steep and deep at sea level with a great clutching setup.
Prove me wrong lol.

My setup works great and doesn’t blow belts. *
As long as they are poo belts.

After seeing 5-6 different gates belts grenade on sleds that do great with poo belts i’m Not going to be using them anytime soon.

Glad they work for you?
I don’t know much about high elevation clutching other than it doesn’t work well at low elevation. (All variables the same except flyweight)

All my reading says you have a great high altitude setup and theory.
And it seems to work well with gates belts.

That doesn’t mean it will translate well to Alaska.
Air density,
Elevation,

I prefer to run what is tested in Alaska, since it works.
With poo belts*

So yeah like you said.
Respectfully disagree.
Based on experience

You run Indy Specialties set up right???? If not what is your set up?

Sheetmetalfab · Mar 31, 2018

Spaarky said:
You run Indy Specialties set up right???? If not what is your set up?

A2D sledworks clutching.

Spaarky · Mar 31, 2018

Sorry never heard of them. What does it consist of?

Old & slow · Mar 31, 2018

Sheetmetalfab said:
Sounds great.

Come ride steep and deep at sea level with a great clutching setup.
Prove me wrong lol.

My setup works great and doesn’t blow belts. *
As long as they are poo belts.

After seeing 5-6 different gates belts grenade on sleds that do great with poo belts i’m Not going to be using them anytime soon.

Glad they work for you?
I don’t know much about high elevation clutching other than it doesn’t work well at low elevation. (All variables the same except flyweight)

All my reading says you have a great high altitude setup and theory.
And it seems to work well with gates belts.

That doesn’t mean it will translate well to Alaska.
Air density,
Elevation,

I prefer to run what is tested in Alaska, since it works.
With poo belts*

So yeah like you said.
Respectfully disagree.
Based on experience

One major difference between you and TRS is elevation your getting the 155 hp the engine has to offer and at 7000 ft it's around 120. I'm thinking the gates can't handle the bigger power but survives well at 120. Just a thought. I have only shredded one belt and it was a Gates at low elevation, I have never destroyed a OEM belt, had them wear out but not grenade.

goforbroke · Mar 31, 2018

Old & slow said:
One major difference between you and TRS is elevation your getting the 155 hp the engine has to offer and at 7000 ft it's around 120. I'm thinking the gates can't handle the bigger power but survives well at 120. Just a thought. I have only shredded one belt and it was a Gates at low elevation, I have never destroyed a OEM belt, had them wear out but not grenade.

Gates works great with my turbo at 8-10k. Factory works well also, but I have found the gates for under $100.

Spaarky · Mar 31, 2018

Sheetmetalfab said:
My setup works great and doesn’t blow belts. *
As long as they are poo belts.

After seeing 5-6 different gates belts grenade on sleds that do great with poo belts i’m Not going to be using them anytime soon.

Glad they work for you?
I don’t know much about high elevation clutching other than it doesn’t work well at low elevation. (All variables the same except flyweight)

All my reading says you have a great high altitude setup and theory.
And it seems to work well with gates belts.

That doesn’t mean it will translate well to Alaska.

This didn't sit with me very well last night, so I started going through texts and PMs in the middle of the night.

I have helped 5 guys in Alaska, get their sleds set up with the OG TRS setup. Three of them said, it wouldn't work for their elevation, but they tried it anyway. I also know for a fact there is a pile of turbo guys up there, that are running a form of the OG TRS set up.

The five I helped were instructed to run the Gates belt.

I have had zero complaints, and only compliments.

Hard facts are this. We run the Gates for a performance gain, not to save money. 0-14,0000 ft, NA, or boosted its the best belt for performance out there, right now.

Longevity wise, we have zero problems. We may not be Chris Burandt, but the sleds get rode plenty hard. If your sled is set up maintained properly you will likely have no problems.

volcano buster · Mar 31, 2018

I think moisture content of the snow plays a factor as well.

Sheetmetalfab · Mar 31, 2018

Spaarky said:
Sorry never heard of them. What does it consist of?

2 springs a helix and slp magnum force weights.

I’m all ears if something else actually works in AK.

deschutes · Mar 31, 2018

We run the Gates Carbon belts exclusively in Axys 800 turbos running 7 lbs of boost.

Our experience has been exactly the opposite as Sheetmetalfabs. On the sleds that the younger guys ride and are running on boost the most, the factory belts were lasting less than 50 miles before major failure. The Gates belts have been much more reliable and last longer, on the exact same sleds and clutch set ups the factory belts failed on.

It may be a bit subjective, but the Gates seem to have less fade as things get hot as well.

We run at 6000-8000 in Central Oregon, in everything from dry snow to fresh cement.

The other two bonuses of the Gates Carbon belts are:
1) Almost half the price.
2) If they fail, the Gates tend to break up into little pieces. We have had the Polaris ones go into massive birds nests that whip around and take out oil lines, etc. We lost a week of riding in all-time conditions due to needing to get parts related to a Polaris belt failure. Never again - the first thing we do with new sleds is take the factory belts off and put Gates on. We won't even run them for break-in.

That being said, Gates does have a recommended belt break-in procedure. Maybe that is the issue some are having? We try to break in a few at a time as we find time to mess around.

revrider07 · Mar 31, 2018

Question on gates belt how would we know if the shipper or retailer is folding them other than them blowing apart. I have not run them on pro but on a big bore tripple the gates would out perform the super hard 8dn belt from Yamaha. I also am a firm believer in clean clutch sheaves and washing of belts and breaking them in a bit if possible.

New Clutch Belt For the Axys 850 Patriot

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