I called two dealers here in MN for a OEM belt, they both said the PN has changed to 59011-0003 from 59011-1080.
Now one dealer says $75.59 and another says $91.86...OUCH!
One guy said they improved it, one guy didn'nt know why they changed.

Anybody else heard about this?

 

I was on ronayers.com a little bit ago and noticed the same thing. The -0003 belt is the 700 belt #. Looks like Kawasaki doesn't want to stock two numbers and just superceded the 650 belt with the 700 belt.

Guess they are just doing what we've been doing all along!

By the way...ronayers.com wants $76.11 for the belt.

 

I know Kawi had a recall on their P650's cause the belt would break down worse if you didn't use the low gear range when people should have. When the belt wore down enough, the belt would start to break apart and chunks would get lodged in the clutch and cause the atv to suddenly come to a complete stop and possibly cause injuries. No such injuries were reported but they didn't want to take a chance. The new belts are improved so no worries. I just ordered an extra belt for my atv and retail is around 76 bucks. They are proud of their belts i guess, hahahah

 

thanks KVRmudrunner,
yeah I use low range whenever possible

Hey, does your HMF have a spark arrestor?

 

I had a polaris explorer before I bought my prairie. I found out on the forums that you should use low gear and 4x4 whenever possible to help reduce belt wear. There was something about excessive wheel spin that would wear the belt out considerably quicker. I would guess that it is the same with the prairie.

 

i read back a few months ago (6 or 7) kawi was looking into another place to do there belts because of the price. at the time the belt was 125.00
by the way i've paid as little as 30 bucks for belts and they worked fine.

 

well for $30 you must have got a Dayco, I had a Dayco and it lasted 200miles. I just talked to a Dayco Rep yesterday and Carisle just bought Dayco and they no longer make the belt. Whats made will run out. And I don't think Carisle has the best reputation either, I know their tires are junk. I guess I feel better just paying $75 for OEM. I wonder who actually makes it. I talked to a Bando rep and they claim they dont' make it either. Someone on this forum said Bando makes it for Kawi.

 

it was dayco and what you say is true. i bought 2 one for scambler 500 and it work for about 2 wks. but the vforce is still working fine 4 months.