Ok...my story goes like this. First 500-600 miles on my 650, no belt adjustment, 90% riding in high. I had the stealer install the black EPI spring at 600 miles and remove all the shims in the secondary clutch. Belt was tighter and good. At 1100 miles I changed out the belt with a new one with no shims in the secondary clutch. It would squeel at idle in gear, which was ok, but the belt seemed to be at the high end of the deflection tolerance (around 1.125"). Now at 1250 miles, the deflection seems to be around 1.25-1.375" inches. The quad doesn't feel as snappy and as you increase speed from 2-3 mph, I can feel it surge a bit as it increases speed. Has me wondering...

Also the primary clutch has about 1/2" of play which I'm not sure if its normal or not. You can push the clutch face in about 1/2" by hand and there appears to be around 1/4" between the belt and the primary clutch sheeves. Is this normal?

I'm not sure, it just puzzles me that the new belt with no shims still seems loose? What could be contributing to this? The next step is to pull the secondary pulley apart and see if the stealer actually removed the shims. I think he did, but it wouldn't surprise me if the stealer didn't. If there are no shims, what could be contributing to this? What can be adjusted to tighten it up? I have no idea on where to go if there are no shims. Would a 700Prairie, VForce or 360Prairie belt change anything? I am doubting it considering this belt is almost new and I'm still not close to tight.

Any ideas?

 

Parker,
At least in theory, it seems to me that the mere installation of a wider belt belt (such as the P700 or P360 belt) on your P650 should result in less deflection because (I believe) the width of the belt makes a difference in the deflection measurement. This would be consistent with the reason why belt adjustments are needed as the belt wears (it gets narrower as it wears). I recently ordered a P700 belt (which I expect to arrive in the next 2 weeks) and I plan to measure the deflection differences between my current P650 belt and the new P700 belt. I'll report back with my findings.

Happy trails...

 

Parker, some people's belt funny business is due to worn bushing in driven pulley. Also, I hate to say it but it sounds like you either have grease on the sheaves or your current belt is burned (glazed).

1.25-1.375" inches glazes belts. Yours is glazing. that is the mushy, surgy takeoff you feel.

Have you been pulling anything heavy?

 

Nyroc,

Can a glazed belt be "repaired" with belt dressing, or sanding (roughing up) the sides of the belt?

 

I have hear the sandng (or filing) the belt works. I think belt dressing does not work well. It comes right off the pulleys and belt, plus it makes a mess inside.

 

I haven't been pulling anything heavy, except for moving the 500 lb atv trailer around a little bit, but I keep it in low. I don't think there's any reason for it, 150 miles of riding, unless practicing wheelies after the install of the DG Holeshot module has glazed the belt. I don't know...when i installed it, it seemed a bit loose.

How much is the driven pulley bushing? Does it do anything to increase performance?

 

PARKER... the '02 model 650's have an inferiour secondary design... I just replaced my whole secondary unit with an '03 models... I don't think you can even buy the part number for the '02 anymore... NYROC's site has more on replacing that bushing... I have a machinist buddy thats going to make me one out of oillight... I think that Kawasaki says that they are not rebuildable, so you'll need to have a part made, or order the replacement clutch... I opted to order the clutch, while I have the part made, to eliminate taking my quad down for several weeks...

you can scuff up the belt to remove the glazing

If you remove the secondary & take the spring out, if there is any side to side play, the bushing is worn out... hope this helps...WAM

 

Newbeetle, I don't know anything about the difference between the 03 and 02 driven pulleys. Is the main difference the design of the bushing, and the ability to replace it? No performance differences?

 

NYROC...I should have looked ( & will soon ) at my '03 secondary better ( dealer put it on )... most of the '03 650's I've see apart lately, have only had 1 - .06mm shim... perhaps there could be a performance difference between the 2 since most '02's came with about .12mm thickness of shims... so there may be other suttle changes between the 2, other than just the bushing design change...WAM

 

My '03 had one 1.4mm shim and I put a 0.6mm to get it to the tight end of the spec, about 0.90 inches. I can't remember what the deflection was before, but I used a calculator and that rule of thumb and happened to nail it on the nose. The one thing that I have determined is that the size or number of shims in the 650 is random. I bet if you took a poll, you would see all different sizes with some having one shim and some having two.