New to ATVing here and just got a '11 Grizz with the belt drive transmission and I've been suggested to take along an extra CVT belt along in remote rides just in case. I'm somewhat knowledgeable about where to get quality parts for cars but not so much for ATVs. Who makes the best CVT belt for my bike? Also, who makes just ok belts and who should I stay away from?

Also, I'm looking at getting a ****** block for a synthetic rope winch and wondered if the type rope determines what type of block you should get...or are all ****** blocks the same and I'm just thinking about this one too much?

Thanks

 

You should be able to get thousands of miles from the original belt. I would stick with OEM for a replacement. As far as ****** blocks go, all of them I've seen have the same kind of pulleys.

 

I am with jumbofrank on both counts.

 

X3 on the ****** block pulleys. I've used them with both wire and rope. Great investment. In addition to OEM Gates makes really good belts too. Belts should last at least a couple thousand miles and usually much more. The biggest thing that kills belts is leaving the transmission in high gear in situations where low gear would be better. Things like mud, snow, slow steep hill climbs, towing, and trails that keep your speed down under around 15 mph. In those circumstances it's best to use low as it cools the belt better than being in high. If you're cruising on a nice trail and your speeds can be maintained over 10 mph or so, you should be fine in high gear. I have around 2200 miles on belt including every kind of riding circumstance and plowing and the belt is still fine. On my previous machine I only changed it because I had some weather cracking starting to show up. Probably would have been fine.

 

Pretty rare for a belt to fail. I never blew a belt on a ATV. I have on snowmobiles but they have 2 to 3 times the HP of a ATV.

 

I've shredded 2 belts. Each time it was about 100 miles after I burned the belt. As long as I didn't burn one they lasted for years.

 

Thanks for the advice everybody. Been told the grizz is good at keeping constant tension on the belt so rarely does the belt break unexpectedly. For now I'll probably forgo taking along an extra one, especially since this bikes only got like 750miles.

 

A belt will usually show signs of wear before it breaks anyway. The quad will seem to lose power and you'll lose all your top end speed. 750 miles is nothing, 3000 miles is the norm for an oem Yamaha belt. Bottom line is you'll know its time to replace the belt most of the time well before it breaks.

 

Disregard my last post, that obviously isn't always the case. My belt broke on my Grizzly, that was the culprit. It had full power right up to the point that it broke. It just started making funny noises as it was about to shred. So not nearly as bad as I thought. Won't cost that much to fix after all. It also needs a couple of other minor things like new brakes but the major repairs I was expecting aren't so major after all. The previous owner claimed to have put a new belt on it. He either lied about that or it was simply done so poorly or such a poor quality belt that it just didn't last. I just never expected that to be the case, never had that happen with a cvt auto before. But I guess a poorly installed belt can do that even if it is new. That's why I'm not putting it on myself. I can see it happening again in a couple hundred miles if I did.

 

The hardest part about changing a belt is taking all the bolts off that hold the CVT cover on. Once that's done it's a pretty easy thing to change. One thing people miss is that some manufacturers require the belt to go on a certain direction. I don't honestly see any difference but the makers have arrows or some other indicator on the belt. If you do change the belt check the pulleys for any wear. It should be a nice straight line from the inside top of the pulley to the inside of the hub, not concave. If it is rounded out you probably need new pulleys. Just trying to think of things to check. Also, when you put the CVT cover back on, and if you're not sure it's sealing out all the water, put a small bead of silicone in the groove the cover fits in.