look at his name and post #'s
SOME THOUGHTS ON QuickDrive® BELT ISSUES
- Thread starter mountainhorse
- Start date
Maybe..we should(those of us who own poo's) try actually riding the sleds first?...my understanding is this belt was built to polaris's specs..so gates poly chain guidelines may/maynot apply to this belt? I highly recommend everyone sit back pop open a cool one and relax....try the sled out first as is..if it worries you that much, stay close to the lot till you get some time on it..or sell it and go buy another brand....
Yeah saw that right after I replied...in my defense I am doing this on SOA commercials. Lol:face-icon-small-win
I could not love my 11 SBA144 anymore...I just really hope...as a STILL overall newbie to Poo....I don't get burned like Cat did to me with the 03 Firecat, 04 ZR 900 with the very first Diamond Drive, and yet again with the 07 F1000....
I enjoyed my SBA144 so much since I picked it up at the end of two seasons ago that I wanted to begin the graduation to a true Poo mountain sled....just don't want to worry about being stranded...and having lived through it for real with Cat...I would not consider me a ''sky is falling kind of guy.''
I enjoyed my SBA144 so much since I picked it up at the end of two seasons ago that I wanted to begin the graduation to a true Poo mountain sled....just don't want to worry about being stranded...and having lived through it for real with Cat...I would not consider me a ''sky is falling kind of guy.''
S
So just a thought, throwing it out there
So if the driveshafts are starting to have failure by wobbling the steel stub loose by spreading the aluminum on the drive shaft wich in turn breaks the glue and the stubs are coming off the drive shaft.
How many others that people dont know of have runout by being ever so slightly loose or tipped wich in turn causes a alignment issue or simply runout on the gear that would violate more of Gates rules.
I know a fair amount about machining and a little play in the driveshaft/steel stub would cause some runout or inconsistancy and it doesnt take much with no tensioner to make that whole thing go crazy.
Has anyone put a indicator on a pulley and spun it while on the machine?
How about a indicator on the pulley and push up and down on the driveshaft or jackshaft and look for runout? It wont take much, if that pulley wiggles by just a few thousands that runout will multiply x2 and cause a loose tight scenario and if it is the shaft it will get worse and worse.
This would be something I would be looking at because it seems a little fishy, both parts are showing failure signs and if they are connected you could be getting close to the problem.
If thats not it well it got eliminated
I also agree it could be the simple shock of forward and reverse (braking) without a tensioner to keep the belt teeth planted firmly in the base of the tooth of the gear instead of trying to walk up the tooth (due to being round and having play).
I have a motorcycle and broke the belt a few times when on the gas hard and there reasoning was belts were not made for accelorating and deaccelorating as there was to much play in the root of the tooth on the gear vs the tooth of the belt and the back and forth movement would cause it to over and undertighten and break. So... I bought a 630 chain drive conversion kit with pulleys and no more problems.
So if the driveshafts are starting to have failure by wobbling the steel stub loose by spreading the aluminum on the drive shaft wich in turn breaks the glue and the stubs are coming off the drive shaft.
How many others that people dont know of have runout by being ever so slightly loose or tipped wich in turn causes a alignment issue or simply runout on the gear that would violate more of Gates rules.
I know a fair amount about machining and a little play in the driveshaft/steel stub would cause some runout or inconsistancy and it doesnt take much with no tensioner to make that whole thing go crazy.
Has anyone put a indicator on a pulley and spun it while on the machine?
How about a indicator on the pulley and push up and down on the driveshaft or jackshaft and look for runout? It wont take much, if that pulley wiggles by just a few thousands that runout will multiply x2 and cause a loose tight scenario and if it is the shaft it will get worse and worse.
This would be something I would be looking at because it seems a little fishy, both parts are showing failure signs and if they are connected you could be getting close to the problem.
If thats not it well it got eliminated
I also agree it could be the simple shock of forward and reverse (braking) without a tensioner to keep the belt teeth planted firmly in the base of the tooth of the gear instead of trying to walk up the tooth (due to being round and having play).
I have a motorcycle and broke the belt a few times when on the gas hard and there reasoning was belts were not made for accelorating and deaccelorating as there was to much play in the root of the tooth on the gear vs the tooth of the belt and the back and forth movement would cause it to over and undertighten and break. So... I bought a 630 chain drive conversion kit with pulleys and no more problems.
knifedge brought up a really good point. Gates makes belts like camoplast makes tracks , it's not their fault if someone is using their product and having failures because they didn't follow the guide lines . Hard to not be brand loyal ? :face-icon-small-hap
S
Maybe the ones that are seeing failure are not following Polaris break-in procedure. I know that the 20+ miles I put on mine last week, it was really hard not to just go WOT. I was not able to ride where I wanted cause I knew I needed to ride it harder than what was recomended for the miles.
F
I am going to go out on a limb here and say this belly pan ( not nessessarily the hole) is going to be the majority of the problem. My friends 800 pro was in the shop yesterday after 8 miles. The belt is missing cogs just like the one pictured earlier in this thread. A good 6-8 off them in a row. I looked inside the belly pan and there is evidence of the pan making contact with the belt and pulley, it's grooved right into the plastic by the outside edge of the pulley. If aftermarket skid plate makers are not out of stock by now, they will be by the end of november i'm pretty sure.
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R
I have the exact same thought about the runout and the driveshafts failing causing belt problems.
It is possible that you are right, but the demo Pro I rode last spring had been run while on a stand that put pressure on the belly pan under the belt. I was told they ran it until it started smoking and realized that there was a problem. The pan and the belt were both scared up pretty bad. That dealer demo’d the sled and it was pasted to other dealers who demo’d it. The same belt was on the sled when I rode it and it had already been riden all day in McCall. If the constant pressure from the stand didn’t cause a belt failure then I don’t think the intermittent pressure from the snow is going to cause failure.
Also consider that failure at 8 miles is during the break-in period and the #1 cause would have to be improper break-in. Look at the opening post. Kidder17 rode 14 miles easy then WOT and experienced failure rather quickly.
I don’t like the idea of having to spend so much time breaking in the belt for it to be reliable; however, I do like riding the lightest production mountain sled on the market and if I have to take a bit of care during break-in, then then that’s what I’m going to do. If I didn’t care about weight and only cared about bullet proof reliability then I would buy a Yamaha (note they recommend 300 miles for engine break in).
Just a couple of notes to follow up, on the second belt that I ran (53 miles on it now) I have been riding it real easy and following procedure. I stopped numerous times and opened up the panel to have a look. The belt was hot to the touch, but would cool down very quickly. This seems to be consistant with what some people have posted based upon information from thier dealers regarding belt temperature durig break in.
F
I am serious put on 80 miles on the sled and the QuickDrive belt is missing cogs
S
its like catching a 3 foot rainbow trout.u need pics.
F
You are most likely right. 8miles is nothing on the belt for break in for sure, but i do think the belly pan skidplate is going to be a big seller.
Im not for or against the argument here but I can say with confidence that if they are saying it needs a break in period they are blowing smoke up everyones azz. That style of belt is designed to either take the load or not. Those belts are used everywhere in the industrial manufacturing world and can take serious abuse. If designed correctly for the system they will outlast most any type off chain.
ok.. so we've touched on a few areas where there could be an increased chance of belt failure. 1. Out of tolerance belt/pulleys. 2. Runout associated with either the jack shaft, drive shaft or both. 3. Abrupt stopping/starting where the belt has to overcome the inertia of a big track carrying lot's of heavy snow. 4. Interference from belly pan to belt.
I know that all of us have been in a sitution where coming down hill ends up faster than anticipated so we've punched the neat little yellow button for "Reverse" and grabbed a "handful" or half of "handful" and slowed down nicely. It will be interesting to see how these belts handle that load...
I know that all of us have been in a sitution where coming down hill ends up faster than anticipated so we've punched the neat little yellow button for "Reverse" and grabbed a "handful" or half of "handful" and slowed down nicely. It will be interesting to see how these belts handle that load...
I couldn't see it being any worse than shock loading the belt on a jump etc. it's not like a chain case where the tensioner must bear the load when you poke it in reverse.
number 1 killer of belts is heat...........when it gets too hot....it delams(this new belt may delam right on the teeth)..there is a reason polaris is calling for a break in period...
F
i dunno about you guys but after having this belt in my hands, it sure looks like it should be made thicker. Maybe ? maybe not.
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