How reliable is the belt drive in most ATV'S?Not just Kawi's but all makes.How often do you hear or have trouble's with slipping or other thing's,like water getting in around the belt caseing.I just bought my first belt drivin machine and I'm having second thought's about the belt thing.

 

I think that there is a big misconception about belt driven atvs...we have 2 polaris's and the belts rarely if ever slip...Dont worry about the belt...there is nothing wrong with them

 

As long you take care of the CVT system, the belt drive will give many hours of happy riding. If the belt ever slips, in a way, it is doing you a favor because it is taking off strain from the engine. Just make sure you have the right belt deflection and there is no water/debris inside the CVT housing. It's kind of trade off, but simple design, light wt, & effective. If several manufacturers use this kind of system for years, there must be a good reason.

 

I got over 50,000km on auto trannies and not going back. The older ones did slip more, The new one don't slip often and they only slip sometimes when water goes in the belt breather... and when water goes in there water going in your carbs at the same time (same hight etc). So how much farther can a standard really get? NO SECOND THOUGHTS. welcome to the fourms. Drive it for a month any I think you will not look at standards the same way. Try in the snow/mud too your never in the wrong gear. I would recommend using low range on slow trails.

 

Mine doesn't slip at all, and I can spank almost any non belt quad off the line![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

My parents had a 1988 Polaris Trail Boss 250 Quad for at least 12 years and never had a problem. I know that the belt never had any issues. I am pretty sure that it never got any maintenance either. I had a Polaris Scrambler 500 that was hopped up...never had a problem unless I hit water at about 30 mph or so. the water would go right into the CVT case. No big deal. Someone could pull or push me for a couple of miles until it dried out. My vforce has a nifty drain on the bottom of the CVT cover, but I have yet to get any water in there. I heard of a few guys with heavily modded Prairies and Vforces blowing their belts apart, but all that horsepower is pretty demanding on the belt. Ask any serious snowmobiler about belts...he probably has a spare with him becuase of all the power and rpms they have. Under normal use, even aggresive trail riding, they are very durable.

I'll take my auto tranny shaft drive anyday over lubing and adjusting a cahin and sprocket set up[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

And you are always in the right gear[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I used to hate belt driven quads, now I hate gear driven quads. Look at my video post on these forums. They handle water so well.

 

I have a Polaris Trailboss 330 and haven't had any problems with a lot of abuse.As stated the belt will get wet when hitting water at high speeds,Just pull the cvt plug drain the water and rev in neutral for a couple of min,s and your away.The V has yet to have this problem when hitting water.I too was very skeptical on auto's,now I will never go back