All belts no matter who makes them fail if the conditions are not correct and the culprit is heat.
All belts other than the cords used in them are rubber, it has no tensile strength and has no bearing on how strong it is, the cords in it is where the strengh is. Rubber melts no matter what you make it from. Does anyone have any tires they can spin on pavement and not wear them out? No, well why are we asking rubber belts to do this?
So what makes all belts fail? Heat from one of the following conditons.
Keep in mind a totally stock machine with stock tires and riden in a none severe manor the belt will last the longest. Anything outside that the life of it starts cutting down but it can be avoided with proper precautions.
Bigger and heavier than stock tires puts excess load on the engine and clutch, to properly handle this a clutch kit is in order to put the clutching back in proper calibration. Without it the belt will shift out too soon and put a excess load on it and that creates heat.
Clutching, basically for the reason above but also because you ride in the dunes with heavy sand or you and your passenger are heavy people, or you have added a couple hundred pounds of accessories to your machine. You need to reclutch it and the belt will get hotter than normal if you don't.
The use of low range, most people use high range when they should be using low range. Belt temp testing proves there is a huge difference in belt temps when using low range versus high range and less slippage. One in low range you are letting the belt ride higher on the primary and it has more grip there and two the engine is turning more rpm which makes air flow better through the clutch fan and cover. Low is cooler and high when traveling less than 25 mph for extended periods is high heat.
Snorkels, most snorkels restrict air flow but some people get away with it since they just ease around and don't create a bunch of heat to begin with. But the people who go buck wild and have small snorkels will create excess heat and the belt fails or slips.
Clutch alignment, the 800's are known to be out of alignment and that in itself causes heat.
Binding primaries or secondaries, any time either get dirty they can bind and not let close up like they should and have you hitting the rev limiter at odd ball times and that creates heat.
Wrong clutch kit or wrong calibration. If you have a bad kit or yours set up wrong it creates heat.
Riding style, extreme riding on and off the throttle like racing, riding for hours non stop, riding too slow with little air flow, mud riding, wall climbing etc all create heat. Me personally, I cross country race and I have never ever had a belt failure. I actually ran two seasons on the same belt and won two championships on the same belt, mentioned axles never broke one. Why? Foot control for the most part and having the right set up of clutching, tires etc.
As you can see heat is the issue and it can be prevented by you.
There are some substandard belts and there are some good ones like the Gates C12 Carbon fiber we sell. Before you do anything you have to assume you have a good belt to start off. If you are blowing a OEM belt in a couple hundred miles then simply swapping to this belt will not fix your issue, you have other issues going on that need to be addressed.
What makes the C12 different is the Carbon Fiber belt, it is stronger, it will not birdnest or string when it fails and it wears the clutches out less plus it is less expenisive than a OEM. We have sold hundreds of these with very few issues and all issues point to conditions not workmanship in the belt. Outside the cords in it, it is still a rubber belt and it is suceptable to damage from heat like the rest. If you made a belt that could handle a blow torch then it would not grip the clutches and it would slip all the time.
The reason for this article is to explain to you guys what causes these issues, let you fix them and be able to ride not work on it.
Also I can tell you Gates is constantly working toward newer and better ways to make belts. They have been around for 100 years but only been in the ATV/UTV belt business for a littlle while and they have already gained top position in aftemarket belts with this C12 belt. They will not stop there! I get to personally be involved with this process and test future products so rest assured Gates is in this to stay and so is Hunterworks!!!
If you need any help with clutching and help with trying to figure out what is going on with yours then feel free to call or e-mail
Todd
All belts other than the cords used in them are rubber, it has no tensile strength and has no bearing on how strong it is, the cords in it is where the strengh is. Rubber melts no matter what you make it from. Does anyone have any tires they can spin on pavement and not wear them out? No, well why are we asking rubber belts to do this?
So what makes all belts fail? Heat from one of the following conditons.
Keep in mind a totally stock machine with stock tires and riden in a none severe manor the belt will last the longest. Anything outside that the life of it starts cutting down but it can be avoided with proper precautions.
Bigger and heavier than stock tires puts excess load on the engine and clutch, to properly handle this a clutch kit is in order to put the clutching back in proper calibration. Without it the belt will shift out too soon and put a excess load on it and that creates heat.
Clutching, basically for the reason above but also because you ride in the dunes with heavy sand or you and your passenger are heavy people, or you have added a couple hundred pounds of accessories to your machine. You need to reclutch it and the belt will get hotter than normal if you don't.
The use of low range, most people use high range when they should be using low range. Belt temp testing proves there is a huge difference in belt temps when using low range versus high range and less slippage. One in low range you are letting the belt ride higher on the primary and it has more grip there and two the engine is turning more rpm which makes air flow better through the clutch fan and cover. Low is cooler and high when traveling less than 25 mph for extended periods is high heat.
Snorkels, most snorkels restrict air flow but some people get away with it since they just ease around and don't create a bunch of heat to begin with. But the people who go buck wild and have small snorkels will create excess heat and the belt fails or slips.
Clutch alignment, the 800's are known to be out of alignment and that in itself causes heat.
Binding primaries or secondaries, any time either get dirty they can bind and not let close up like they should and have you hitting the rev limiter at odd ball times and that creates heat.
Wrong clutch kit or wrong calibration. If you have a bad kit or yours set up wrong it creates heat.
Riding style, extreme riding on and off the throttle like racing, riding for hours non stop, riding too slow with little air flow, mud riding, wall climbing etc all create heat. Me personally, I cross country race and I have never ever had a belt failure. I actually ran two seasons on the same belt and won two championships on the same belt, mentioned axles never broke one. Why? Foot control for the most part and having the right set up of clutching, tires etc.
As you can see heat is the issue and it can be prevented by you.
There are some substandard belts and there are some good ones like the Gates C12 Carbon fiber we sell. Before you do anything you have to assume you have a good belt to start off. If you are blowing a OEM belt in a couple hundred miles then simply swapping to this belt will not fix your issue, you have other issues going on that need to be addressed.
What makes the C12 different is the Carbon Fiber belt, it is stronger, it will not birdnest or string when it fails and it wears the clutches out less plus it is less expenisive than a OEM. We have sold hundreds of these with very few issues and all issues point to conditions not workmanship in the belt. Outside the cords in it, it is still a rubber belt and it is suceptable to damage from heat like the rest. If you made a belt that could handle a blow torch then it would not grip the clutches and it would slip all the time.
The reason for this article is to explain to you guys what causes these issues, let you fix them and be able to ride not work on it.
Also I can tell you Gates is constantly working toward newer and better ways to make belts. They have been around for 100 years but only been in the ATV/UTV belt business for a littlle while and they have already gained top position in aftemarket belts with this C12 belt. They will not stop there! I get to personally be involved with this process and test future products so rest assured Gates is in this to stay and so is Hunterworks!!!
If you need any help with clutching and help with trying to figure out what is going on with yours then feel free to call or e-mail
Todd
