When adjusting the deflection on a Prairie or BF only make changes in small increments. My 03 P650 with 250 miles on it had some belt squeel last time I took it out, and I smoked my belt a little trying back out of some mud. I purchased a Kawi 700 belt, 700 primary spring, I already had a EPI black secondary spring, and I got a 1 and .6 mm shim. When I pulled my secondary apart I had 1.6 mm of shim in it already, so I removed the 1mm shim leaving the .6mm I reasembled everything and tested it, horrible belt squeel in gear at idle, belt deflection was .5 inches. So I bit the bullet and decided to pull it apart again, what a pain in the A#@ it was getting belt off over the secondary, it was almost impossible. I ended up putting another .6 mm shim in for a total of 1.2mm, deflection is now .8 inches.

Moral of the story, remove shims in small amounts, I followed some other people suggestions and tried making a big jump from 1.6 to .6 and it was a big mistake.

 

when you say belt squeal do you mean at idle, under accel, or what? If it were at idle your belt was already tight. Adding the p700 belt made things worse. You should have started with more shims than you began with. It may have been a PIA but the benifits will be WELL worth it!!!!

 

The belt squeel I originally had was on take off (not idle) in low or high or in reverse, expecially trying to back out of a bad mud hole, I also smelled rubber try to pull a buddie out of a hole. After removing the 1mm shim from the original 1.6mm installed it squeeled like hell at idle and only had .5" of deflection, I eventually added a .6mm to the .6mm for a total of 1.2mm, Now I get s light sgueel at idle when I put it in gear (just for a second), I'm done.


What is the process for breaking in an ATV belt, I know that snowmobiles require some lite riding for 10 miles or so to warm it up correctly.

What is a PIA?