Hi, please anybody, I need some advice!! I had a service done exactly two months ago at my dealer. I had no complaints with it I just wanted the belt checked and the valves set. Well, on sunday, my belt light came on. I haven't even put 300 kilometers on it yet!! I went over 2000 kilometers without the light ever coming on and now after 300 right after the service, the stupid thing is on!! I went to pick it up today and they tried to charge me $100 bucks to get it re-adjusted!! And now thier saying that my clutches are showing wear and when the belt light comes on again then I need a new belt and my clutches need to be rebuilt!! Is it normal for the light to come on after 300k?? I haven't changed my riding style at all since it was adjusted. I know I have never smoked the belt, and for any tough going I automaticaly put it in low range. What's the most life anyone has ever gotten out of their belt?? Please, I am at the point of not knowing who to trust anymore!! I want to do it myself but if I have any problems with it Kawie might not honor my warranty. Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

 

Well, I will tell you that all the Prairies we get into our shop, not one has EVER had a clutch go bad that soon. Or we have never gotten the early Prairies in with a clutch problem. They just don't wear out! They did have recalls on the very first prairies on the belts cause they were faulty belts. I think there might be somethin suspecious goin on there. Be careful. Sad to say that no matter what dealership and no matter what make of atv you have, there are dealers out there tryin to screw the customers over in any way they can. That pisses me off. What I would do is try to do it yourself. Its not that hard workin on the clutch system. It usually takes more time tryin to get the damn belt cover OFF than actually takin the belt off or takin the clutch out. I would go buy a service manual for your P700. That book will tell you everything you want to know and didn't know about your atv. It tells you all the torque specs on every bolt and not and then some. Tells you tolerances on all the moving parts on that atv. Tells you what every single electrical connection is supposed to have in volts and amps too! Even tells you how hard to pull the zip ties for perfect tightness. Well, Not really!! hahaha. Plus, if you do it yourself, you KNOW its done right and you get more out of your atv if you do it yourself. Hope I helped you out a little bit. Good luck!

 

Thanks for your opinion KVRMUDRUNNER it's greatly appreciated.

 

did the switch actually trip? or did the light come on, that light will come on every now and then just as a reminder to get the belt checked. sometimes if you go over big jumps or toss it around the belt will flex just enough to trip the switch. deffinately learn how to do things like this yourself once you do it it becomes second nature. the hardest part next to getting the cover off would be getting the cir-clip on and off the secondary.

 

If the belt actually tripped the switch , which happened to me twice on steep down hills by braking and accidentally hitting the throttle because of pucker factor .Ya know the feeling ya get when you think your gonna crash ?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] Well if it tripped, your machine will spit and sputter , your dash will blink and not make any sense at all, it will have you looking for alien spaceships over head.The 1st time I drove it home @ 5mph maybe, could not put it in 4 wheel drive. Home was 7 mi. by trail and worst of all I was with two polaris's gettin ribbed the whole way even though the hill we were climbing they could not make ha . The 2nd. time I new what to do, unhooked the wire to the switch and put in a jumper and taped up, this was ok for me cause I was always taking the clutch apart shimming and springing and cleaning , so I new the cond. of my belt. she was always drinking water.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] . This was on my 02 P650. I dont know if the 03 has the same symptoms.I have seen a few other 02's a part also and have seen were in the bottom of the primary clutch gets a groove from the hard compound of the belt. My buddy just had his clutches rebuilt, slide shims were just about gone I think he has around 2000 mi. on it , 27" 589's, he is @ 340 lbs. and clutches were never serviced before. Basically his fault.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

 

Well, Thanks for all the advice guys!! I went to pick up my beast tonight. This time I brought my dad along just for some moral support, and maybe a little intimidation!!! And we talked and discussed my probelms and reasons why I shouldn't pay, brought up the past history of the bike, how they screwed up the original service by leaving the valve cover loose, then flatly stating that I couldn't be 100% sure that the belt was adjusted/set right the first time!! So we came to an aggrement to split the invoice fifty-fifty. I would have prefered to not pay at all, put 50 bucks is a lot better then 100 bucks!! Plus I was sick and tired of talking and trying to reason to these guys!! On monday I will call the other local Kawie dealer and order a service manual. Now, as for why the light came on. I will give you a better description of what I was doing. I fired it up, the outside air temp was around -20 degrees celsius (frigin cold!!) let it warm up on my truck for about 10 minutes, (It sat on my truck for about 6 hours before I started it) backed it off, went forward ten feet, put it in reverse again, gave it about half throttle, then the limiter kicked in and I pushed the override butten, the back end spun a bit and the light came on!! Proceded to curse and swear about my dealer and then limped it onto my truck!! Now, if by fluke the belt tripped the switch and was not really out of adjustment, why would the dealer say that it was 2mm out of spec??? So they removed my last shim and tried to charge me for it!! Well, I will be trying it this weekend, it is alot warmer now, about -5 to 0 degrees!! Thanks for all your help.

Stephen [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]