Ok, I have had rode my 650 for about 450 miles...variable terrain (hills, rough terrain, climbing, no mud or deep water unfortunately)...love the bike and the ride but two things have me concerned...

1) Seems like the bike gets gas in the air box and on occassion i get gas sprayed on top of the edge of the plastic a top the air box...in the groove section on the top front it actually has small pools periodically...anyone know what would cause this and is it a problem (would think) as I cant believe this is some overflow design...can you tell i am not the most mechanically inclined.

2) Second, went to the piute trail this weekend and when i stopped on an incline and took off, as the bike started out in made a strange noise i havent heard previously...at the end of the day it did it once on level service...now it was extremely dusty conditions and thought maybe something was stickin...made a eeerrrggghhhh (not a good discription i know) noise for a second or too and took right off...now i heard alot about the belts going guickly on these quads but I only have 450 miles...dont really beat it and drag periodically with my brother who has a warrior...we drag more then i want but he has a hard time dealing with the fact a sport/utility quad is quicker then his warrior...I talked with the service department at my Kawie dealer and they said they havent replaced a belt yet and the problem is over-stated...I am taking it in for a late 30 hour service and going to have them look...but little skeptical on dealerships and wanted to see if anyone else experienced these problems or can provide any insight here.

also does anyone elses rear brakes seem mushy...any input here would be appreciated...thanks

 

I never noticed the gas in the air cleaner and is the noise you say about coming from the actuator on teh belt housing? As far as the brakes you can tighted the hand brake and foot brake by tightening the wing nuts on the rear end housing. Top wing nut is for the foot.

 

TOO WEIRD! The noise you describe started in MINE last Sat. Mine has 360 mi. I believe it to be a belt noise. Mine would "yelp" for about 1/2 sec, when I was taking off (from a dead stop), uphill. The trail conditions WHERE NOT dusty in my case. I had gone thru some very deep water 2 hrs earlier. The belt NEVER slipped. Think I'll check the belt, but am not too concerned. These bikes DO make some real strange little noises!
Yo nyroc----Got any ideas??????

 

My squaking disappeared with a new belt.

I think the belts just suck enough that 5 to 10 percent of us develop the needed wear patterns that cause the belt squak. some people suggest cleaning the pulley faces, maybe even a little brushing of the pulley. I wonder if the belt is being baked and is getting just a little hard on the surface.

Solution: get a gates belt when they are available.
Alternate: try taking a shim out, this reduced my squaking greatly.

Note: Although I bought a drive pulley puller, I don't use it since it is so easy to flip the belt around the driven pulley. You need a driven pulley compressor to take the shims out. See my website for the driven pulley compressor (some kind of compressor is required). No other special tools needed.

 

Nyroc,
I checked my belt yesterday after it started squeeking/sqawking. Belt deflection measures 1.375. I can remove my belt without any tools and I only pinched my finger once! I checked out your tool pics. Good Job! Gave me a lot of ideas.
One question: When removing or re-torqueing the driven pully bolt why couldn't a person put the tranny in gear and just hold the brake? I could be wrong but I don't think doing this would stress the drive train components any more than regular riding.
BTW I went by my dealer today to measure his pulley compressor and he had the cover off a brand new, zero mile 650 so I measured the belt deflection just for grins. Slightly less than 1 1/8" which is already right at the service limit off 1.13" HMMMMMM?

 

Just a suggestion that might be way out there,but I was wondering if maybe the belts are getting glazed from guy's being to easy on 'em.Maybe going through the rough stuff and leaving them in high range.

Only reason I say this is because I have 1300 kms on mine, most of them hauling my gilfriend ,and I just jab it and go, I wheelie all the time, about the only thing that I do to baby it is drop it into low range in the slow stuff.Mine has never made a noise from the belt yet.Oh, I,ve had it wet twice, too.

I'm not boasting, I just wonder if there is a connection.

 

king mort--- My riding style is far from easy on equipment. I ride with(and keep up with) some very experienced sport bike riders. I do not believe that I am harming my belt by taking it "easy" on my bike. My theory is that these belts aren't set-up(tensioned) right at the factory, AND that the quality of the belt itself lacks consistency. I predict that: when Gates provides a belt, these troubles WILL end! Just my 2 cents.

 

Hopefully they will be out soon and not be made right at minimum spec like Kawi is doing!!!!

 

I own a P650 with 2100Km on the odometer. I have replaced the belt on this machine at 1600Km ($130.00) and now with only 500km on the second belt it is starting to squeel on take off in high range. I clean the clutches by taking the cover off and blowing compressed air to get the dust out. I have always been carefull to place it in low range on slow/very steep hill trails and towing loads. Other than the squealing belt problem, I think that this machine is one of the finest quad on the market but I must admit that this "BELT PROBLEM" is really ticking me off! .........MJSTX

 

Dokyo..

Where do you get your wheeler serviced? ( I live in West Point) I have not been too impressed with some of the local dealerships.