In the do it yourself mode, be very carefull when torquing(sp?) the driven pulley's big nut to 69 ft. lbs. It is hard to hold. I am going to fabricate a spanner wrench, like the factory tool. In fact, I've already made the pins(2) that engage those holes in the outboard side of the driven pulley. If you make those on a lathe, they should be turned to .596"--.600", no larger. I made mine .596"Diameter X .750" Long
Have a good weekend. I am in the woods tomorrow, thru Mon. am.! We're going to WNF, near Nelsonville ,Oh. to camp/ride/drink beer.

 

Hey TRX450, glad you got the job done. Are you going to one up me with a better spring compressor? Or just better photos? My camera can't seem to shoot anything up close.

I had not been following this post, but I noticed that your belt squeaks just like mine. The engine brake will work a little more effectively with a tight belt.

I was all upset at first, and mad, then thought I would see what happened. What happened is I noticed 2 things:

1. The belt works a whole lot better tight than loose. Lower starting gear, more takeoff power.
2. The squeal is not going away very fast (400 miles). It started off squealing about 5 times as bad as it does now. So, I figure it may be gone in a few hundred miles. The big point here is that I think I am getting a whole lot more life out of this belt since I started with it tight.

The black spring does not affect belt chirp at idle.

Wanna hear the bad news? Kawasaki really put a crappy belt on the 650. They adjusted them all loose to keep them from squealing, and we all wore out our belts faster as a result. I like my 650, but kawasaki really stabbed us in the back on the belt, the coolant fill neck, the fan bracket, and the CDI.

 

has anyone thought to crossrefrence an aftermarket of the other beltdrive bikes to see if any of these belts would work on our P650? i mean,the specs on the P650 belt may match some other bike.its worth a shot.

 

Hey guy's, Tightened my belt at 750 miles to the tightest spec, it to would whistle when in gear but would stop when I put it in neutral, It now has 1850 miles on it and has finally stopped chirping in gear and the deflection measure's right in the middle of the spec's clutches have no grooves whatsoever, I ride in low range 80-85% of the time, I figure on getting 2500 mile's before I need a new belt, As soon as Bearman get's the cvt filter's ready, I'm putting one on,belt may never wear out with a filter and proper adjustment's every now and then........

 

Found a cure for the belt squeal I bought a can of WD-40 and spray it right on it gets rid of squeaks real quick[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Humm!! WD-40 straight on the belt?? Let us know the results after a few miles. Did the belt fail because of the lubricant being applied to it? and was the squeal deal still fixed after extended use?

My own experience with the old driven clutch was that the buttons had to be cleaned extensively with penatrating oil before they could be removed, and that removal was inhanced with needlenose pliers that had a 45 degree nose. Screwdirvers seemed to just jam the buttons in tighter, and the accumulated use had packed so much debris around the buttons that the penatrating oil had to be used to wash this gunk out.

As far as the fix, the squall is still there, even with the thin shim. It seems maybe I don't understand the nature of the source of the noise. I thought that because the noise developed after use, that the noise was caused by the belt deflection increasing. Some of the previous posts suggest it is caused by the belt being to tight. Other posts on other sites have suggested adjusting the belt to actually a position where it rests above the driven clutch at idle. Is it a good idea to remove the shims completely?

Thanks to NYROC for the nifty spring compression tool. Made mine out of stuff from the junk pile.

 

I had thought about applying "belt-dressing". I used it on car drive belts. Didn't know how it would effect the belt, when it needs to "crawl" up and down the sheave faces. Didn't want to risk ruining a $90 belt!

 

Belt dressing is to make a belt tacky so it will not slip. I don't think it would work in our case in that our belt needs to slip at times. Plus if you need it for your car it is about time to replace it any way. I thought about just trying a cheap set of ear plugs[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Has anybody tried to contact Kawasaki to voice their displeasure about the P650 belt? I am trying to find a phone number for Kawasaki customer relation Canada but I am not having much success! On either Website (Canadian or American) there are no phone numbers or E'Mail to contact them! There must be a contact that is available to express our problems with these belts! There are so many post on this subject, even some from frustrated dealers, but none about contacting Kawasaki or even from Kawasaki awknowledging that they do have a problem! I was expecting that tey might have come out with a new belt for the '03 model that would be available for the '02 model but it's as if they do not think they have a problem wiht this issue! They are not adressing this problem! .............MJSTX

 

MJSTX,

Canadian Kawasaki Motors
25 Lesmill Rd.
Don Mills, Ont
M3B 2T3
416-445-7775 (customer service)

or in US 714-460-5688

Kawasaki has 1 letter from me after I shredded a belt with less than 100 miles on the quad. No reply. The dealer replaced it and I was accused of driving too fast in low (15 mph) and while it was covered under warranty it's left me very disappointed with both the mfg and the dealer. My crystal ball tells me that they will eventually have to do a recall/upgrade on the belt....hopefully not at the expense or serious injury of one of their customers.

Best of luck!!