Drive Belts

[AdrenalineAddict]

I've found the stock 3211183 is fine as long as air temps are cold and clutches stay cool. I was out today doing a whole lot of mountain climbing in 30 degree air, after the clutches became hot the 3211183 turned the clutch faces brown, RPM and performance suffered, I switched to the 45C4553 my RPM's came back to normal and actually scrubbed the clutches clean in just a few runs, no heat fade with the C gates. I've been running the C Gates in the spring and on warm days for a few years now with excellent results.

 

[AdrenalineAddict]

I was able to go on a ride with my son today. His sled is an 800 Axys running the stock belt. I ran my 800 Axys with the Gates Carbon, air temp was 38 degrees. We were in a hurry as the wives and kids were waiting for us for a lunch date. We smoked down the trail 8 miles at roughly 75 MPH, we hit our test hill 4 times, (long WOT Pull). First run Gates sled pulled 8,200 R's, subsequent pulls 8,150. Stock belted sled first pull 8,150, subsequent pulls 8,050. We then smoked down the trail to the truck, we didn't give the sleds any time to cool, pretty much ran wide open for .5 hour. Upon loading on the trailer the sled with the Gates Carbon had squeaky clean sheaves, the sled with the stock belt had brown sheaves, both primary and secondary. I've also found that the 3211183 belted machine will occasionally fall off to 7,600 in steep and deep powder climbs, when this happens you don't have enough belt squeeze to keep the belt from slipping, everything goes in the toilet from there. I love the Gates Carbon but I can't seem to get the life out the them the stock belt delivers, 300 to 400 miles compared to 600 to 700 for the 3211183.

 

[mtncat1]

Okay, so the question of "which belt" to use or which alternative belt seems to up quite often, so I thought I would put some numbers together for a quick reference. If I'm off on a number......Please let me know!!

16 and up Axys 600 / 800
Polaris 3211183 New belt 3211216
Gates carbon 45C4553
Gates kevlar 45G4553

2019 Axys 850
Polaris 3211216
Gates carbon 45C4553
Gates kevlar 45G4553

11 to 15 Pro 600 / 800
Polaris 3211115
Gates carbon 44C4553
Gates kevlar 44G4553
Dayco XTX5020.

And a spare belt that seems to come up is the Arctic Cat 0627-48

Again, if one isn't right, let me know and I'll make the correction.

i will make it easy 048 for all of them great price and work good on all models

 

[JAW]

Blew my 1st 183 Polaris belt of the season on my 19 800 at 130 miles. Pretty disappointed. The belt deflection screw on the secondary did back out on 3 different occasions though so I’m guessing that didn’t help. Wondering if I should put a dab of blue loctite on the screw? I’ve had them break off before but never back out like that. I was able to tighten it back down and set proper deflection before the screw fell out. Temps today’s were around 32 degrees and we rode the trees pretty hard. In years past I have always sent my primary out to Indy Dan to be balanced but thought I would wait this year until I was out of break in mode. I’ve been getting my butt kicked with the 183 belt the past two seasons. Average 200-300 miles a belt when riding in the trees. Usually we ride for 10 or so minutes hard and then have to shut down and pop panels off to let the clutches cool down. I do blow my clutches out every ride and typically clean the sheaves every 2-3. I’m thinking maybe I should try the gates belt? Sled is stock other than SLP can. Any other recommendations would be appreciated!

 

[GoBigParts]

I like to change my belts before there is an issues. Depends on how hard the riding is but usually around 1000 miles or so. I run the Gates carbon now because it is a better price point and have not had any issues with them.

 

[JAW]

I guess I should have defined “blew” a belt. It started to pull threads pretty bad so I swapped it out for my spare. Have yet to grenade a belt but don’t see the point in running them after they’ve started to pull cords. Going to order a Gates and see how that does.

 

[knikflyer]

Average 200-300 miles a belt when riding in the trees. Any other recommendations would be appreciated!

That's only a buck a mile for belt wear. What's the big problem? lol

 

[stcatman]

So does deflection need adjusted between Polaris 183 and the gates 45c4553 ?also what is the diff. between the Polaris 183 and Polaris 216 ?

 

[AdrenalineAddict]

The C Gates that I've run appear to be a little shorter and do require a deflection adjustment or they will be tight. I set my deflection on the trailer after pretty much every ride, certainly every 60 miles or so. I made some huge pulls today in 40 degree humid air with the C-Gates, I pulled +8,000 all day. I know I would have had RPM issues with the 1183.

 

[Sage Crusher]

So does deflection need adjusted between Polaris 183 and the gates 45c4553 ?also what is the diff. between the Polaris 183 and Polaris 216 ?

Not only deflection, but clutch sheave offset needs to be check and shimmed accordingly on the 45C4553 /when compared to the stock 183 Polaris belt-
If you want max performance.

 

[FatDogX]

-----UPDATE-----

So I'm curious if this has happened to anyone ???

I was on out the new 850 (still in break in) and running a Gates carbon belt and had some issues.

Basically, I know I was over clutched a bit and ended up smoking the belt a little, not bad just a little. Shortly after this, I started getting a nasty vibration starting at around 4600 rpm's and up and no power!!!

Pulled the belt and the belt actually looked fine, so I put it back on and doubled checked the belt deflection. It was off a little, so I adjusted that and took off, but had the same issue?!?!?!

Out on the trail back to the trailer it wasn't as bad but definitely still there. Jumped off the trail and side hilled an area with good snow and wham it was back and not good!!

Ended up back at the trailer and started looking at stuff. Everything looked good, so I adjusted the clutch weights, threw on a new Polaris belt and checked the deflection. Took off and all is good!!!

Ran it back to the trailer and switched back to the Gates and took it for another rip. Well.....the vibration was back and power was down but again everything on the belt looked fine???

Changed it back out to the Polaris and it's good !!!

So something is really messed up with that Gates belt ????

Anyways, just curious if anyone else has had any issues like this???

 

[stcatman]

gates c belt

was reading maybe a diff. thread some were saying if you put the gates carbon belt in the axys belt holder it breaks the carbon cords and it wont last , I find this hard to believe, guess I will find out when I pull my gates out of axys holder and put it on , any truth to this ?

 

[BeartoothBaron]

Not many miles on mine, but I love my Gates belt so far. This is on a 600VES, but what's good for the goose... A while back I had a Polaris belt from a parts sled that look really good, so I threw it on while I was doing several other things. I immediately noticed a vibration, almost a thumping feel, that varied with speed. Had me worried I'd put something together wrong, but I took a closer look at the belt, and that's when I found a spot where somebody had spun the clutch on a frozen track or something. I could see it visually, but found it by feel. So that could definitely explain your vibration, but shouldn't cause a loss of power.

Anyway, I've run a couple different Polaris belts, and the performance seems good when new, and I've never grenaded one (close to it once), but the price and the service life both leave something to be desired. As long as my Gates belt holds up (and it'll probably take a couple years to really rate that), I'm sold until something clearly better comes along.

 

[kylant]

what is the difference between these belts?

Polaris 3211183 New belt 3211216

 

[TRS]

what is the difference between these belts?

Polaris 3211183 New belt 3211216

The 16 is hard as a rock

 

[kylant]

The 16 is hard as a rock

is the new 16 belt the go to now?

 

[2XM3]

Don't know about the gates carbon, however with carbon supercharger belts you NEVER EVER back bend them at all, so yeah the figure "8" shape of the holder may be working against them

 

[GoBigParts]

Don't know about the gates carbon, however with carbon supercharger belts you NEVER EVER back bend them at all, so yeah the figure "8" shape of the holder may be working against them

Yeah, mine new gates carbon was in the holder for a year. I just put it on about 500 miles ago and the belt is holding up great.

 

[stcatman]

Gates carbon

I called Gates and they were helpful and friendly , I told them I put the 45C4553 in my axys belt holder and now afraid to use it because it was bent backwards, they said you should never bend any belt backwards, with any brand or manufacture, the 45c4553 carbon fibers can or will break, he said the reason we are getting away with it with the Polaris belt is it doesn't have the carbon fibers in it

 

[m1kflyingtiger]

237 miles and the gates belt is toast. We spent the day in chest deep concrete so can’t say it really wore out any sooner than stock would, but after the 4-5th good stuck it started vibrating in my feet pretty bad. Threw the spare on and it all went back to normal.

With that being said, it still held rpm +- 50 under load climbing after the vibration started and never gernaded.

In the time it was on there was no noticeable difference in rpm or performance. If their warrantee works out to be legit I will probably buy at least one more just to keep a back up for rotating through warrantee.