Quickdrive Belt Failure

[ultrasks700]

Riding with my buddy yesterday, he has a 2015 RMK pro 155, 285 miles. Quickdrive belt snapped as we were coming out of a gully. Wasn't a good place for it to happen. He asked his dealer when he bought the sled if he should get a spare and the dealer claimed "you will never have a problem with that drive system". we rode double back to the truck, called the dealer, they did not have a 15 belt but they had a 13(still haven't figured out if a 13 is SUPPOSED to fit a 15). Got the belt, got some tools, back to the gully we go...some choice words and about 30 minutes later we are back in action.
So questions we/he has:
13 belt on a 15...bad thing or not?
should this be warrantied? I mean 285 miles come on!
anything that can be done to make this next belt last longer?

 

[80arrow]

The 13 belt is not so good. Everyone has said to upgrade to a 14 if you're running the 13 belt. The 14 belt was way better. I'm not sure but would guess the 15 belt is the same as a 14?

 

[LPIdaho]

Quickdrive belt snapped

I'd like to see a picture of this. I've never seen on actually break in half, seen plenty that have sheared teeth off tough.

 

[ultrasks700]

 

[sledheader]

Dang! THat looks to me like a defective belt that SHOULD be covered under warranty...but good luck with getting polaris to cover it. I'm sure they will claim it wasn't properly broken in

 

[ultrasks700]

we went to the dealership to see if they would cover it. They basically told us "no way in hell" will it be covered. The dealer owner actually kind of hid in his back office and let his parts counter dummies deal with the issue. They did not have the "14-15" belt but did have a 13 belt so that was what we went with, seemed to work alright for the rest of the day. Called 5 other dealers not one had the 14-15 belt in stock.

I am really pushing him to call Polaris directly to put in a warranties claim. I think its complete BS.

 

[MTN Powderhound]

Find it odd that no dealers in that area don't have a current belt in stock. Unless there out of stock. I have 700 miles on my 13 belt, keepin an eye on it, but have a spare 14 with me.

 

[ultrasks700]

If I owned one of these sleds I would absolutely keep a spare belt along with the tools to change it. Of course your not supposed to bend the belt in anyway so it would be tough to store...

 

[geo]

I haven't needed a belt yet but still carry both. The way I store them is one inside the other.

Take your used spare clutch belt and fold it in half twice (it's there for emergencies for me). Slip this inside the QD belt and it becomes a nice tight circle that I put in the bottom of my tail bag and cover with some superslider as a sub floor for the rest of the stuff.

 

[HECKS]

Seen a few break these last few years, and most the time its due to poor or 'no' break-in. A few have been due to a loose track. When you get a good shock load under power and/or braking is when the seem to let go. Especially in gullies, and heavy/wet snow.
On another note, we have a boost-it turbo'd pro with 174 x 3" with
1500 miles on his stock quick-drive belt.

 

[Butta]

we went to the dealership to see if they would cover it. They basically told us "no way in hell" will it be covered. The dealer owner actually kind of hid in his back office and let his parts counter dummies deal with the issue. They did not have the "14-15" belt but did have a 13 belt so that was what we went with, seemed to work alright for the rest of the day. Called 5 other dealers not one had the 14-15 belt in stock.

I am really pushing him to call Polaris directly to put in a warranties claim. I think its complete BS.

It's not the dealer's decision to warranty it or not, it's Polaris's responsibility. Dealer should submit for warranty and wait to see what Polaris says. That's BS if the dealer won't even submit. I'd definitely stay clear of that type of business protocol for my next sled purchase. Especially since you questioned it when you bought it and you were more or less guaranteed to not have an issue. I'd also make them order a '15 and swap your '13 for it.

This is one of a long list of reasons I went with my '15 RMK std LE 163 this year.....

 

[glowa]

make sure the driveshaft and jackshaft bearings are fine and that the screws holding QD pulleys did not loosen (happened to me and my buddy, we now put a lot of loctite there). If the bearings are shot or the screws get loose the pulleys will be out of center creating an additional stress on the belt. I hope what I wrote makes sense, sometimes it's difficult to explain technical stuff in english

 

[flying frenchman]

We'll I'd be pissed.
Only way it won't break is if ya leave it parked on the trailer.

 

[CO Powder]

The kid behind the counter tried to tell me no way Polaris would cover a QD belt at 150 miles on my '13. Uh-hem, yes they did in fact authorize a new '14 belt. You have to break them in too, suck it up and trail ride it for a couple days.

'13 belt fits but probably didn't come with the right replacement bolts for your '15. The top bolt is longer on the '14-15 compared to the '13. You should not re-use the stock bolts. They really need upgrading (search forum). Your '14+ belt kit comes with new bolts (still need upgrading).

I bought a '13 belt because that was all the dealer had. I broke it in and put 1200 miles on it before selling the sled. I really don't think it was right of them to sell either of us a part that has been updated for a reason, especially a $200 belt. I needed it so I could ride though and carried the '14 Poo gave me as a spare.

I don't carry a spare anymore for the '14. I agree that for the most part the belts are fantastically durable and very rarely fail like that. I have seen them power sleds out with teeth missing and stupid loose due to a jackshaft bearing failure. I did upgrade the bolts to 10.9 hardware though. It seems like a more common failure in the system and doesn't require carrying anything extra.

 

[rockinmranch]

Seen a few break these last few years, and most the time its due to poor or 'no' break-in. A few have been due to a loose track. When you get a good shock load under power and/or braking is when the seem to let go. Especially in gullies, and heavy/wet snow.
On another note, we have a boost-it turbo'd pro with 174 x 3" with
1500 miles on his stock quick-drive belt.

Just curious, how do you know for sure that it was due to bad break in and not a defect?

 

[treemagnet03]

Having been to Maine quite a few times I'm going to go out on a limb and say there was almost 100% chance a rock or log was involved underneath that snow...that isn't your fault but I hardly saw a single place out there were one or the other wasn't present...

 

[ultrasks700]

Treemagnet we were going down a gully and once we hit the bottom he went to gas it out and that's where it failed. Went about 4 feet up the hill and then stopped. I was right behind him I figured he blew a belt...and indeed he did just not the one I was thinking. There was no way we were gonna pull the sled out of where it was, luckily we were close to civilization and able to get a new one back on the sled in a couple hours. If we were real real deep in the woods it could of be a nasty situation. Just kinda a shame that it happened in under 300 miles...

 

[goforbroke]

Seem to be a lot of 15's blowing belts after 14's did awesome. another post talked about poorly machined bolt?

 

[CO Powder]

Seem to be a lot of 15's blowing belts after 14's did awesome. another post talked about poorly machined bolt?

Sounds to me like production tolerances for either the lower pulley or the driveshaft splines is off. It seems to be causing the bolt to break on the lower pulley. I upgraded the 10.9 hardware on my '14. I also checked the driveshaft spline to pulley fit while it was apart. Mine was nice and tight.

 

[Teth-Air]

My 10.9 bolt broke on my 15 after 400 miles. My pulley does not rock nearly as bad on my sled as I have seen on some others. This is going to kill someone soon.