I took the belt housing off yesterday, there was quite a bit of dust inside of the vent duct and inside the cvt housing itself. Blew out the housing w/ compressed air, got a lot of black dust out of clutch itself, man was it dirty.

I measured the belt deflection...can you say LOOSE. There was 1/8-1/4 inch gap between the belt edge and the clutch face. The deflection was somewhere around 1 9/16" to 1 3/4", possibly more depending on how you looked at it and how much force was put on it.

Clutch face seemed to have some slight abrasions on them but weren't too bad, they weren't rough at all. Belt edges were smooth but not overly glazed. But there sure is A LOT of play in the belt, if actually flops around w/out tension if you move it around. I think I'm gonna take it to a new dealer and have them re-shim it...I just don't wanna tear into that clutch. Oh yeah...845 miles w/out a belt adjustment, ever.

 

Is it still under warranty?

If not, fix it yourself. It is a cake walk. I would reshim it for you without complaint (if you lived close enough)

You could just put a new belt on, and it might wind up with the right tension just like it was when it was new.

You don't need to remove any pulleys to get the belt off, just guide it off while turning the driven pulley with a socket wrench (27mm). Back on same way.

 

No that I put the black spring in and took out the shim to bring it back to spec it squaks a little when in the drive gears nutral it goes away. Like nyroc said it takes about a half hr to 45 min to do its easy!!!!

 

My 650 is out of warranty, so I'm SOL with any dealer helping me out. I just don't think I can do it b/c I don't have the tool needed to pull the clutch apart? Can it be done with regular tools? How easy is it to get at the shims? The manual says to pull the whole clutch assembly off and remove/add shims. I assume I'd have to remove shims to tighten, correct?

How much could a dealer charge to re-adjust anyway? Can't be much...if it is, I'm liable to turn into Michael Douglas in that movie 'Falling Down'. If I do, free servicing and adjustments for all Kawasaki owners on ATVConnection....and free Kawasaki hats too!

 

It is actually a lot easier to do than it appears in the Kawasaki manual. It is so easy, that I would not bother with the loading, and hauling to the dealer.

I have instructions in the tech tips area of my website for how you can make your own spring compressor for $5 or so, all at one stop to the hardware store. May require some hacksawing.

It really does require an impact wrench and a torque wrench. If you don't own an impact, add up the number of times that you will be taking the 650 to the dealer for this easy belt adjustment, at $70 to $100 labor, and risk of additional unnecessary charges that they sometimes nail you with, then compare that with the cost of an impact wrench or whatever tools you are missing.

Are you they guy that shoots ATV videos? I want some more if you have some.


BTW, High repair bills have already caused me to sortof "Fall Down" like Michael Douglas in that movie, at least as far as taking anything to a mechanic goes. I am kinda paranoid about it, but at least I'm saving money, and I am much more satisfied in my own work.

 

It is definitely worth a guys time to put a few bucks into some tools and do the work yourself. Like anything in life, the first time is awkward----I'm talking about taking the clutch apart guys!!!-----but after you've done it once, it's a no-brainer, and when you are done, you will have a sense of true accomplishment!!!!!!! Parker, I would find a friend who could give you a hand and then just go for it! If you get it all apart and don't know how to get it back together again, you can always bundle up all the parts and head to your dealer. When you look at it this way, the bill will only be half as much!!!

 

Definitely use the impact wrench (I had it laying there, but was afraid it would damage something).

I was also told that if it won't break loose, that you can heat it just a little to softent the lock-tite.

Good Luck

 

Hey nyroc,
Have been to your website in the past but was unable to get to it tonight or yesterday. Anyhow, appreciate you taking the time to help us all with our maintenance problems with the P650. I recently adjusted belt tension on my 650 using the info on your website. Using your idea for fabricating a spring compression tool for the driven pulley, I had in my "possible pile" a 1/2 inch threaded rod and a 2 inch PVC pipe cap. They worked just fine and it is a whole lot quicker and easier to drill and cut the PVC pipe cap.

My belt is the second one for my 650 and it was installed by a Kawie dealer. Had to take it back for belt adjustment shortly thereafter. Even then, it was just barely in tolerance on the loose end. Finally the other day, I tackled the job myself. Only one spacer was installed (0.60). I removed it and the belt is just a shade too tight per the service manual. However, in gear, there is no movement at idle speed of the ATV so I left it that way. The belt width is almost at the new specification.

I liked to never got the driven pulley nut loosened. The spec is 69 ft pounds of torque but the dealer probably did not use a torque wrench. My impact wrench did not have enough oomph to loosen it. I put it back on at 69 foot pounds of torque.

Thanks for your help and keep up the good work.

 

Geebee, thanks for the pvc pipe cap tip.

My website stays up 24/7, and is almost never down. Except this evening it got a hardware upgrade. It has been rebooting over and over for the last two hours. Alas, the upgrade did no work right so sometime tomorrow it will be down again.

I have had to jump through hoops to get that website to be friendly to all major web browsers. I could have made a mistake that keeps some people out.

I had a little teeny piece of code that made the web page blank if anyone accessed it through a proxy. I took me a while to figure that one out too.

Web development is not what I do for a living so I could have made a mistake that keeps you out. But, other than 2 hours this evening to install a video card (so I could play games on it too, but that did not work), and 5 minutes a couple of nights ago, it has not been down at all.

 

nyroc,
After making my post last evening, I got onto your web site. Must have tried while you were downloading. Then again, I am not real sharp on computing and may have screwed up. Anyhow, thanks for your efforts and your help.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]