My friend has a 98 Polaris Magnum 425 2wd.

So when it runs it sounds like the belt is hitting the clutch cover. Sounds liek the belt is just tapping the cover, this was after getting a new belt, before hand there were no problems. So he figured they gave him the wrong belt, he got a new belt and it still does it, but its mroe random now.

Before it would do it as long as it was running, but now with the newer belt it still does it but its more random and no where near as common as before.

It still rides and drives the same.

 

Your belt cover is warpped.

 

You should also check your motor mounts very closely. Just had to replace the left front and left rear mounts on my 96 magnum and that was my first clue. The belt started rubbing the gaurd.

 

That happens a lot. They get hot and shrink.

 

Yeah I had to replace the cover on my 95 425 Magnum 4x4. The new cover has a bit more room in there for the belt and it appears to be made of a different plastic blend. The old one is more 'brittle' and feels like it has more of a polystyrene content to it.

Unfortunately the cover is going to run you a little over a hundred bucks. It is worth it though to keep water out of the belt and to keep the belt from rubbing on the cover.

 

I had the same problem with my magnum, My mechanic just shimmed the belt guard with a couple of washers and fixed the rubbing, but I would advise you to suck it up and spend the dough for a new cover being that I once removed the cover to change a belt, and noticed that I had some newer surface rust from dipping the wheeler in some high creek crossings.. -Just my 2 cents [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

mine eventually wore a hole in the cover. you should replace the cover it you can or ifr you shim it out use some weather stripping to seal it.

 

When it first happened to me (Towing a 3000lb boat trailer up a hill into the back yard and going too slow), I took the cover off and used a heat gun to reshape it. That worked until I was pushing some dirt with my plow blade on a really hot day. I replaced the cover.

The key is to never smoke the belt. If the belt smokes, you are very close to warping your cover. When you do smoke the belt, if you can, immediately drive around at a fairly good speed - this helps to air out the belt cover and cool things down - reducing the chance of warping the cover.