09 sportsman 500ho, took my cover off yesterday to change the belt and my primary clutch has about a 1/2 inch grove in it on the sliding half. The bike only has 450 miles on it, has anybody seen this? I have seen it on snowmobiles but they have 3 times the horsepower of this bike. Wondering if the material is that soft or if I have a problem?

 

Do you leave the atv in gear, say when you stop for a bit and idleing? If you put it in park or neutral it will allow the clutches to spin therefore the belt will spin. If it is in gear the primary is spinning but driven is not holding the belt still causing a groove, happened to my 800

 

by any chance did get really stuck and or something and throttle it up and didnt move?

 

No never been stuck, always plowed in low range. Bought the bike with 100 miles on it so maybe the previous owner did something.

 

how did the belt look? seems w/ that much of a groove the belt would have some major burn spots. maybe a weak sheeve that wore??

 

Could the ATV and clutch possibly be under warranty?

 

yeah its under warranty, they have already ordered a new clutch for it, belt didn't look that bad, I expected it to look bad on the sliding half side where the grooves are but It really don't look bad.

 

can you post some pictures of it?

 

Sounds like a clutching problem, we have a 97 SP500 with 7000 miles without a trace of grooving yet. Unless the guy had it idling all day long while it was not in neutral.