Something happened to me last weekend which could have had a pretty ugly ending, but which turned out to be a minor inconvenience. Here’s the story: Myself and four friends were riding in the Sanderson Wilderness area (Close to Elkview, WV) on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, a day or so after 6” of fresh snow had fallen. We were about 3 hours into the ride and stopped for a trail break. After the break, we geared back up and started tearing down the trail, when I noticed the flashing red light on my display and noticed that the Prairie had lost most of it’s power. I wiped the mud and slush off of the display and noticed that it was the “belt” light which was flashing and my heart sunk because I knew what that meant.

You see only about three months prior, when the bike still had that “new” smell to it, I was screwing around and trying to get to know my new friend by turning a few bolts. I removed the torque converter cover just to familiarize myself with the drive belt and pulleys. You know what they say about an idle mind….well, I noticed the "drive belt failure system actuator" (aka: the little thingy that trips when you have a belt problem) and flipped it back and forth just to make sure that it worked. Then I thought to my dumba$$ self, “What the hell, let’s turn the switch to the “off” setting, then turn on the ignition and see if the light comes on like it’s supposed to. Well, don’t you know it did! Then, like a real moron, I flipped it back to the original “on” setting and buttoned the side case back on. What I found later, when starting up the big V-twin, was that instead of that familiar throbbing that I had come to know and love, it back-fired, smoked and coughed and sounded like it was about to die!

At this point, half frantic, I tried everything from disconnecting the battery to chanting and nothing would make the light quit flashing or rectify the rough running. I then posed my problem to the experts on this forum, and in short order found that the engineers at KAW have developed a plan to prevent me from possibly injuring myself in the event of a belt failure: Once the little lever has been tripped, either by an actual loose or shredding belt, or by some dumba$$ putting his fingers in where they don’t belong, the engine will not rev above a certain limit (in my opinion, the timing is severely changed as well, judging from the extremely rough running of the engine.) I also found from Master Nyroc that there is a specific procedure involved in clearing this phenomonon from the memory. This was apparently one of the first times that this issue had come up and NYROC had rather vague information, not entirely accurate, posted on his site at that time. Based upon what was there, I tried and tried to fix the problem but without any success.


I then called my dealer and had him FAX me the pages out of the shop SERVICE MANUAL explaining the <u>“Drive Belt Failure Mode Clearing Procedure”</u> (NOTE: This information is posted on MASTER NYROCS site at this time) (CLICK HERE).


Now bear in mind that we were over 25 miles back in some really rough mountainous terrain. It was getting late, and there was 6 inches of snow on the ground. The Prairie was covered in thick gooey mud and the tools which were available were minimal at best for the job of removing a side case. (Not to mention risking contaminating the torque converter and belt with all the crud, or dropping and loosing hardware in the snow) The bike had been running perfectly all day long giving me absolutely no indication of any pending belt problems. Additionally, I had taken the cover off only 30 days prior to install a “black spring” and had adjusted the belt to specs at that time. I was convinced that it was <u>not</u> a bonafide belt emergency!


On the trail, as I saw it from my perspective, I had one of three choices to make; a.) Ride the bike back to the trail head in it’s present condition, backfiring and chocking all the way, barely able to pull even a modest hill and not able to go over 8-10 mph, b.) Attempt a trail side repair of removing the side case and performing the re-set procedure, or c.) Performing a little trail side circumcision by snipping some wires coming from the actuator switch and making the electronics “think” that the switch was in the normal “on” position. I opted for “c”. The whole job took about thirty minutes, and 20 of that was trying to recall from my memory exactly what the procedure entailed, and determining when to re-connect the ends of the wires which I had cut and stripped.

Now before all you SAFETY FIRST guys jump down my throat, I fully realized that I could have actually <u>had</u> a belt problem, and that riding the bike at excessive speeds could pose a great risk to my family jewels, not to mention my head. But knowing the bike like I think I did, I could not discern anything that would make me think that this was anything other than a false alarm.


The operation was a success, the bike ran like it’s normal “bat outta he11” self after the reset was performed, and we were back to the trail head before dark. I have since taken the time to remove the side panel (after spraying off 20 lbs. of WV slime) and found that the belt was in fact within the factory tolerances on belt deflection and the switch had been tripped nonetheless. (What's up with that?) I do plan to tighten it up to the minimum tolerance when I get a chance.


The bottom line to this rather lengthy post is simply this: Had I not been familiar with both the symptoms of, as well as the procedure to rectify the problem, I might still be out in them thar woods, or at the very best, had a long and dangerous ride out! This could happen to you! Know the re-set procedure by heart and carry the tools to effect the repair or be prepared to snip some wires if you can safely be assured that it was either “phantom” tripping and/or a defective switch.

PP

 

Dang, that sucks about the switch tripping on you even when the belt is in spec. I may just print those instructions and keep them in my 650. It would suck not having access to a PC when I'm on a long trip in case I had to reset that.

Just a point of note, when the Prairie 300/400 got a belt recall, the belt was not injuring the rider directly, but bunching up in the housing, stopping the driven pulley, and causing the 300/400 to flip end over end in some cases.

The 650 belt, being kevlar, is not as prone to that kind of catastrophic failure like the recalled 300/400 belt. Although the 650 is not full time 4x4 like the 300/400, you still could be going fast in 4x4 and it could be a prob.

I don't think you are wrong to disable that switch. I honestly think that switch is really only needed to protec the severely impaired. The kind of person who jumps while hitting full throttle in the air to deliver maximum belt stress upon landing, manages to take chunks out of the belt and proceeds to ride it fast in 4x4 with the belt thumping (due to damage). There are other ways to tear a belt, I don't mean to say that only idiots hurt them. But, when you tear one, you can hear it and feel it and you should go easy on it until you can get it fixed.

Other quads are not imune to the rare possibility of hurting the belt, then having it bunch up while going fast. You aren't any less safe with your wires spliced together than riders of other brands.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I was with PrairiePuppy when he had this problem. All I can say is #1, thank goodness PP was able to by-pass that switch because it would have been one long a$$ ride out of there in the dark if he hadn't. #2 - what in the he!! are the Kawasaki engineers thinking. I can see having a warning light and some great big warning stickers on the thing but don't disable our bike to where it puts the rider in a compromising situation out in the middle of nowhere! I agree with Nyroc that the safety switch is really an idiot device. If the belt is that loose you would most likely have a squeal and/or slipping and if it was shredding it would definitely be thumping on the side cover. The shame of it is that this was probably all caused by some idiot who ignored all the warning signs of a belt shredding and got thrown over the handle bars and badly hurt and then sued the pants off of Kawasaki. That was my theory in the beginning when they recalled all the belts on the 400's. I had a 99 400 and never had a minutes trouble with the belt. I've never had any of the trouble I've heard of with 650 belt either other than having it adjusted once. I have about 1100 miles on it now and I'm still running the stock spring.

I understand all the safety issues and am normally an advocate of all safety devices. However, I am strongly considering permanently disabling the belt safety switch on my P650. I'd rather take my chances of being able to tell when there is a problem with my belt than having my machine disabled out in the middle of nowhere. And I do mean disabled. PrairePuppy could not give that thing hardly any gas before it started cutting out. I figure if he had tried to ride it out like that he would have probably fouled the plugs before we got home. I've now had 3 quads with belts and have ridden many many miles with buddies on quads with belts and have never known anybody to have any problem of any sort. Not until PrairiePuppy that is. Funny thing is that it was a false alarm and the belt was fine. WTF[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]

I think Kawasaki needs to rethink this one. Are any other ATV manufacturers doing this?

 

that happened to a friend of mine last weekend. he brought it to the dealer. the belt was nice and tight, the dealer "said it was getting on the gas and then getting off caused the belt to jump" it cant because if the belt can move down .87in then it can only go up .87in. isnt the switch off on the cover anyway.

 

Thanks for the heads up Prairepuppy. I printed that page out and will put it in my 650 in the rare event that this happens to me. I looked in my service manual and couldn't find the reset procedure (I didn't look real hard!!!) Happy trails.

 

Hey MastrBlastr,

Assuming you have the same printing of the Service Manual as I do (3rd Edition, June 21, 2002), you will find it near the back of the book on page 16-65, under 'ELECTRICAL SYSTEM". Hope that helps.

Good Luck,
PP

(And just for the record, all the while I was sweating bullets and trying to get the problem fixed, PARTSMAN2 just kept saying, "Don't worry about it; I have a tow strap; I can tow you out of here." (With a gleam in his eye.) You see he towed another poor unfortunate soul out of some deep woods the winter before and it was the funniest thing I have ever seen! Watching the poor guy kinda reminded me of "tubing" behind a powerboat. He was covered with so much mud and roost when we finally got back to the trail head that you couldn't tell if he was man nor beast! He wore out a brand new set of brakes on that poor Lakota just trying to hang on. Thanks for the offer PartsMan2, but NO THANKS. I'd sooner walk!

 

Puppy, That was not only informative, but funny also. My 650 is set up a lot like yours, 03 camo ITP wheels Bear Claw tires. I HAVE NOT got into the the belt,yet, and you have said what NOT to do when learning what "makes this thing tick" I know I need to, but still a little bit intimidated with it. Mastrblaster, I use to deliver telephone switchgear to B.C., just loved it! Great country up there!

 

PrairiePuppy

That was a priceless moment and one that will stay with us forever. The thing was that WVBartman was telling me to speed up the whole time.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] LOL. Any time you need a tow ole buddy you just let me know.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Nthewind, B.C. has some of the nicest riding. We pretty much have unlimited access to any forest access road or fire road, so the bush is wide open to us. We went on an awesome ride last weekend. Started down in a valley bottom choking on each others dust and wound up way in the mountains in 12 inches of snow. Way cool.

PP, I got the first edition book. No wonder I couldn't find it!!! I'll have to look a little harder. It should be in there somewhere.

 

Prairie Puppy, you snipped the wires and connected them together right?

Im starting to thing that the safety switch is a not only a nuisance but a possible water leak. Plus, it kinda gets in the way when I'm workin on the right side doing jets and stuff.