Any of you guys have a problem with water getting inside the clutch cover on your Sportsmans, or any wheelers for that matter. If I go thru any water that deep, the clutches get wet, and I get some serious belt slippage. I've thought about laying a bead of silicone where the gasket is, but then if I get water in there thru the vent, it won't drain at all. Plus it'd be a bit of a pain pulling it open to let it drain out, and then it'd be a mess to clean out the silicone, so I'd be able to put a new bead of silicone in there. This is the way I'm leaning anyhow, cause it'd take some deep water to get it thru the vent. I was just curious if any of you have had this problem, and maybe had a better solution then what I'm thinking. Thanks for any feedback.

 

you should have a drain plug under the cover, it is red and lets you drain the water if it gets to high.
If you neeed to check the cover all you need to do is fill the cover up with water and look for where it is leaking from. Then drain it out. I did this to my Sportsman and did not have any leaks, I have also had my SP up to it's racks in a river with no slippage

Chris

 

we have had the magnum about up to the top of the seat in water...didnt slip...the only time it has slipped is when we hit the water with some force...but other then that no slipping

 

I've had the cover off before, and there is no drainplug in it. The gasket that they have in there is really cheap to boot. I'll check the cover for leaks, but I'm almost certain that it's the gasket that isn't sealing, and that's how the water is getting in. It happend to me on Saturday when we parked in the lake to wash our wheelers off. If I just drive thru the water it doesn't get enough in there to make it slip, but sitting in there for fifteen minutes or so, it got enough that it was a problem. Then it takes about that long to let it drain out, so that it doesn't slip anymore. Both of my buddies have 650 Prairie's and neither of them had a problem with it. It's only happend a handful of times, but it's a royal pain when it does happen.

 

I thought you had an ATV not a jet ski[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] Ok now I got the smart A$$ stuff out of the way.You need to seal the tudes onyour intake and exhaust vents and stay out of water over the vents.If you plan on deep water make you some extensions for these ducts.

 

If your SP does not have a drain in the clutch cover get a very short valve stem (take the guts out but keep the cap) and install it at the low point of the cover and put a little silicone on it befor you pull it through the hole you drilled. When water gets in just remove the valve cap and drain the water. If your gasket looks bad get a new one and try it , I agree with you silicone would be messy and hard to remove.

 

I never thought of the valve stem deal. I'll probably try that. A guy on another forum suggested putting wheel bearing grease on the seal of the clutch cover. I'm gonna try that for sure, sounds like it would seal, and it wouldn't be such a mess if I ever did need to remove the cover again. Thanks guys.

 

i used to have this problem too,

it was because of the stupid *** coupler from the tranny vent tube to the actual cover. the factory thinks that ordinary black zipties will seal out water,,,,, nope.

i would recommend replacing those crappy black zipties with actual hose clamps. they make them that size,,, at the auto parts store. they stay put better too because they are wider.

the tranny cover gasket, unless torn or improperly seated, should keep out the water.

just my ideas,,,,

X

 

I'm a big M Martin fan here too....but anyway I use to have the same problem, I went ahead and bought the gasket for polaris....I think it was $10.00...fixed the problem.

 

Try what csamayfield55 said and fill the housing with water to find leaks. If the either the front or back are warped you may need to replace them to get a good seal. The newer ones usaully have a drain in them as well.