[gitrdun]

Hey guys, got a technical questions for you? I own an 2009 RZR, all stock except for 26" Maxis Bighorns on 14" rims. The first 20 hours of use the belt exploded damaging the primary clutch bearings and clutch cover, Dealer repaired thinking it was my fault, 20 hours after the first failure the belt exploded again causing cover damage and marring the surface of the primary spacer, This time the dealer was on my side repairing under warranty, but finding no issues. They checked the alignment of clutches, found o.k. They found the secondary sheave had a machining imperfection at the very bottom and replaced the whole assy. Dealer still found no evidence of why belt exploded twice. Dealer said to break in the belt and try my luck again. Now comes the strange part, 24 hours of use with the second belt broken in, cruising down some logging roads at around 75 km/h the damn thing exploded again with no warning, however I did remove the belt cover right away and found that it got so hot in around the clutches that my belt cover snorkel nearly melted, the bits and pieces of belt were smoldering, I couldn't touch the clutches they were so hot. to give you an idea, when i spit on the driven clutch it sizzled off. Again, to the dealer it went where they are still trying to figure it out.
The three belts failed with no warning and not one piece of the failed belts any bigger then a dime, I don't be in the water, sand or mud. Temperature's have varied from 0 degrees celius the first failure to 30 degrees celius the last failure.
Any help would be appreiacted. Thanks~ Mitchell Noel

 

[im4seven]

have you checked to see if there is anything blocking the airflow in and out of the cvt?

 

[MTW]

Bump,
Cause this has got me baffled? any mechs? This sounds beyond frusterating! I really feel for you.

OK just got off the phone with MIke (yeah in the middle of typing) hes our mech here at the local Polaris shop, I read him your problem and he said theres definelely some kind of venting issue, ie something causing resistance there, maybe the transmission?? He said something must be restricting that in order to create that much heat, and to get it back in the shop and if they havnt figured it out, to swallow their pride and call someone. You shouldnt have to go through this. Mike is one of those "I live for engines guys" so he knows plenty, he's had guys rolling 30" tires that cant even do that..

so Ive relayed what I could get from the pro down town, but the offer still stands.. any more mechs?? anyone, cause I'm still wondering....

 

[Slated4Greatness]

It is the venting. We blew up 2 belts in a race a couple of weeks ago and it turned out that the aftermarket fan we put on it died... We are in the process of installing a temp probe and gauge on the dash to warn of this issue in future races..

 

[Hell-RZR]

have you checked to see if there is anything blocking the airflow in and out of the cvt?

This ^

 

[Johnpeq]

Do the belts that you are using have ribs on the outside of the belt? this allows better airflow for cooling,
John

 

[TJT-Rav]

It is the venting. We blew up 2 belts in a race a couple of weeks ago and it turned out that the aftermarket fan we put on it died... We are in the process of installing a temp probe and gauge on the dash to warn of this issue in future races..

Any idea what kind of temps you are looking for that put you into the "Danger Zone"? I like this idea, I'm always wondering how hot my belt gets when we crawl at a snails pace over muskeg.

 

[Vinman]

We are in the process of installing a temp probe and gauge on the dash to warn of this issue in future races..

A real cheap way to monitor belt temps is to use a cheapo wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer. Place the outdoor temp sensor inside the belt housing and receiver on the dash.
That's on my to-do list.

Vince

 

[Snaredrum]

I heard of one blowing a belt with very few hours and turned out the dealer shoved a rag in the CVT vent while washing and forgot about it. They remembered when the RZR came back in for the new belt and they seen what they did.

 

[Slated4Greatness]

We aren't sure about the temps so we are going to have to install it and establish a baseline. Say it runs at 200 normally and then it spikes to 300+ then we will know that the fan has given up or it is blocked. We run long distances so the equipment needs to be dead nuts reliable!!!

I have heard of others that just take the housing off, what do you guys think of that?

 

[Jo G]

Hummmm....I'm not a mechanic type but ... could it be that the dealer received a batch of defective belts?

Interesting info can be found at

Polaris RZR CVT Belt Guide - UTV Guide

JoG.

 

[gitrdun]

Thanks for everyones input, The mechanic at the dealer called me today and said he found the problem, ok so here it goes: Upon close inspection he found the intake rubber coupler for the belt backing cover had been installed incorrectly from factory, on the engine side there was a gap where the rubber was pushed into the pipe. So instead of getting clean cool air it was sucking the hot dirty engine air.. He said the reasons the belts were exploding is because where the clutches were getting so hot it melted the bushings and spacer in the drive clutch allowing the belt to run to the top of the sheave and flip over. Nice that they found it but they're going to try and get some money out of me.. He said they cant put the warranty claim in for the actual problem because they will say the PDI should have caught that before the sale. they're going to make some shit story up... He also say my tires are to big and the RZR cant' handle them. He also found the rear a arm bushing worn out. Am I the only person in the world having so much trouble with the RZR? What your guys advise?