yup, another drive belt fairlure

[1Mike900]

Just looking at another thread on install, they are using the brake rotor as the internal guide for the belt! With a smaller rotor than previous models how much heat is getting to the belt? Would be nice if the rotor was spaced in further and a thermal shield installed in between. Muffler looks as thou it is close also, should have a thermal shield installed on back edge to prevent heat soaking of front edge of belt? Has anyone with small aftermarket muffler still have problems with stripping QD belt? Would be nice if pulley's were made from cast or billet 7000 series alum. hard anodized. Better heat dissipation and 1/3 of the weight! Is there any airflow thru the hood straight to the brake rotor?
Maybe I am way off the beaten path and it is just a bad batch of belts that were produced? But I bet some machining guru will figure it out! Thanks Mike

 

[milehighassassin]

8 oz but its rotating mass.


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[pura vida]

maybe i did do my break in incorrectly?? idk. i thought i was being nice to it but i have heard well informed opinions (other than on the forums) that say otherwise.

luckily my dealer is absolutely outstanding, saw this thread and called me before i had a chance to even go in and talk to them. they hooked me up and took care of my issues. so i put on the new belt and went riding the next day. zero break in on this qd belt and went straight to the hills. rode some of the deepest snow i have. deep, heavy wet snow. 30 miles and was out of gas. was not an "easy" ride day. so we will see how long this one lasts. the QD belt looks fine now, can't say the same for the clutch belts...

i also tend to agree with the side that says a 100 mile break in seems a little ridiculous for a mountain sled. so i need to go run the river for 100 miles before hitting the hills? and i was suppose to skip/miss the best day of the year so far (will probably be one of the best all year) b/c i don't have the magic 100 miles logged yet? that might be what is required for belt life but seems kinda silly considering. and at a minimum is really annoying. not trying to be an ***, just trying to look at it from an unbiased, non angry, open minded perspective. i'm keeping an open mind about the QD setup at this point, but at the moment don't have a lot of confidence in it. if i continue to have failures/issues i will probably go to a chain case setup. which would really be a bummer...

pv

 

[knifedge]

imo

First-- Gates publishes a list of guidelines for designing a fixed center drive belt system and the very first guideline states:

-A fixed center drive belt system should not be used in a high load / high torque application

Secondly-- The brake rotor should be mounted on the trackshaft opposite the drive as is industry standard - period -- (but then the other endcap on the trackshaft would probably pop off also)

--The QD drivetrain was poorly designed, unreliable, and destined to fail before it made production due to non-adherence to previously established engineering guidelines per Gates

--The QD drivetrain is cost effective for Polaris and unreliable BLING for the end user

--If you need to have an RMK, get the chain drive versions or convert what you got to another system , then all you have to worry about is the engine

 

[rmscustom]

imo

First-- Gates publishes a list of guidelines for designing a fixed center drive belt system and the very first guideline states:

-A fixed center drive belt system should not be used in a high load / high torque application

Secondly-- The brake rotor should be mounted on the trackshaft opposite the drive as is industry standard - period -- (but then the other endcap on the trackshaft would probably pop off also)

--The QD drivetrain was poorly designed, unreliable, and destined to fail before it made production due to non-adherence to previously established engineering guidelines per Gates

--The QD drivetrain is cost effective for Polaris and unreliable BLING for the end user

--If you need to have an RMK, get the chain drive versions or convert what you got to another system , then all you have to worry about is the engine

How will you explain the vast majority of these systems that will run problem free for thousands of miles?
Could it be that its a solid design but something else is going on?

 

[knifedge]

--Good point, where do you start

-Aside from Gates recommendations
-heat
-tolerance stacking
-torque loading
-cast gears
-tension

--I do not know, but if I were to build a belt drive system, I believe that i would at least adhere to recommendations from Gates

 

[pura vida]

all good points from both sides. i think only time will tell if the system will really end up being reliable or not. i'll ride my how i want to and see what happens. if it turns out to be unreliable then i'll install a chaincase and be done with it. honestly i'm hoping i don't have to do that. time will tell.

pv

 

[metallicat]

Put 105 miles on the new Pro on Saturday. Definately was not easy taking it easy all day to break the belt in but it wasn't impossible. And to explain "taking it easy", i mean LIMITING WOT (not NO WOT, just limiting it), and when i did go WOT I went up slow and made sure i wasn't on hardpack and didn't hold it there for very long. I feel that I equally broke in the motor AND belt. I tried not to jam the throttle in and out quickly. I was very concious of not jumping and landing with the track spinning to limit torque on the belt. Stopped a handful of times throughout the day to let it cool. (heat cycles). End result was a belt with all my cogs that I feel SHOULD be OK, but now time will tell... All in all, I kept up all day, still had fun, and the sled ran AWESOME! Think of it like belt foreplay.... You want to ride it hard, but sometimes you gotta slow down and the end result is that much better!

 

[Scott]

Sounds like you did it just like I did.
I'm still operating my original belt.

Put 105 miles on the new Pro on Saturday. Definately was not easy taking it easy all day to break the belt in but it wasn't impossible. And to explain "taking it easy", i mean LIMITING WOT (not NO WOT, just limiting it), and when i did go WOT I went up slow and made sure i wasn't on hardpack and didn't hold it there for very long. I feel that I equally broke in the motor AND belt. I tried not to jam the throttle in and out quickly. I was very concious of not jumping and landing with the track spinning to limit torque on the belt. Stopped a handful of times throughout the day to let it cool. (heat cycles). End result was a belt with all my cogs that I feel SHOULD be OK, but now time will tell... All in all, I kept up all day, still had fun, and the sled ran AWESOME! Think of it like belt foreplay.... You want to ride it hard, but sometimes you gotta slow down and the end result is that much better!