I am having a problem with the belt on my sportsman 400 it is way too loose and it slips making my quad go nowhere can anybody tell me how to tighten it up???

 

How old is it? Sounds like maybe you need a new belt. I know dayco makes pretty good belts. PM BigBadScrambler and he can tell you the part number.

 

If your belt is loose enough to slip to the point your quad does not move, you may have other problems. You tighten the belt by adding shims to the secondary, but they only tighten it up a bit. You may need a new belt or have a broken motor mount or something.

 

Actually, you tighten the belt by moving the motor in the mounts forward or backward a tad, This is called belt "belt deflection".
By adding or subtracting shims, this changes the alignmnet of the secondary clutch to the primary.. Called "belt alignmnet"
If your running so loose that your not going anywhere, then you really need to check your belt deflection and measure it to make sure its not excessive. If it's o.k, then chances are the belt simply has glazed over and you need a new belt

 

The shims are inside the secondary and will not affect the alignment of the clutches at all.There is a set distance that the clutches are suppose to stay at and moving the engine or tranny will mess this measurement up .I believe the distance is right at 10 inches center to center.

 

I got a new belt yesterday and i can almost press it together between the 2 clutches there is definetly a problem unless this is how it is supposed to be

 

You need to measure center to center ,from primary to secondary.Give us this measurement,then we can start eliminating what the problem is.

 

Correct shims are inside the secondary but can also be placed behind the socondary. Just about everyone I know has had to do this once 1000 miles or so of hard use gets on them. The machine will start Creeping while Idling, The Problem is usually the fact that the Belt is running tight on the iside of the primary, (because the secondary is out of alignment) You can do subtle changes with the motor mounts for alignment and deflection (WHICH IS POLARIS"S RECOMMENDATION), but afte a point, the only viable option to keep the belt perfectly alligned is to shim out.

 

How loose is the belt supposed to be? Mine seems pretty loose and I was wondering about that. Good topic guys! And thanks for the info![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

The belt is pretty loose.This is what allows you to start it in drive and not have it take off.This is also why the center to center distance is so important.You want your belt to ride about an 1/8 of an inch above the secondary.