Was riding with my brother - who also has a 500HO when I suddenly lost low end power. Once i got up to 30 or so it was fine but low end snap was gone. Got it home and noticed a "rubbing" noise- like a tire rubbing a part of the plastic. I searched all over the ATV and found nothing to be rubbing.
So I went to move it to the front yard to wash it up and noticed it seemed like it was coming from inside the belt cover. Almost as if the belt was blown. I figured "yay" easy fix.
Took off the cover yesterday and slipped the belt off and I cant see anything wrong with it. Looks normal. There were no shreds of belt anywhere in the cover - no signs of water either - "Good job Polaris!" - but I did notice that there places inside the cover where the belt had touched the cover - not enough to melt or make grooves but enough to leave a mark.

Do belts stretch? I'm at a little bit of a loss here. Dont want to run out and buy a new belt. (although my bropther told me Polaris is replacing them for free from the dealer, some kinda lifetime warranty on the belt - anyone ever hear about that?)

If the belt didnt stretch then I dont know whats wrong. Any advise/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

good luck trying to get a free one. yes, there suppose to be a life time warranty, but unless it breaks form a defect i doubt you would get one. i would say you had secondary button problems, but i think that is a roller clutch isnt it? if its an ebs set up the belt shouldnt have too much belt deflection while sitting there and the belt should be a little above the secondary clutch when at rest.not moving.

 

Stendori, Thanks for the reply. Love the Vmax-by the way. Anyway, I'm an idiot when it comes to mechanics. What do you mean by a secondary button? I'm gonna try running the quad around the yard with the guard off, see if the noise is coming from the clutch. (I hope not - damn Polaris warranty was up a few months after I rolled it out the door.)

 

if its the 05' thats in your sign. your asking about, i looked up one from that year and it says it has a roller clutch in it, which it means theres no "buttons" in the secondary to wear out. while its apart use air to blow out the belt dust.

 

stendori, I put the belt back on and its super-loose. I can touch it to itself easily between the clutch and secondary. Could one of them be stuck open? I prety sure the motor didnt move.

help?

 

the front clutch (primary) would be all the way open in the off postion and the secondary(back) clutch would be all the way closed together. you should not be able to push straight down on the middle of the belt and move it more then say 1 1/2' this is called belt deflection. can you take a picture of the set up and post it so i can take a look at the belt set up and what the clutches are doing?

 

hey it seems like belt is streched,Ever smoked the belt while riding? doing breakstands or riding at real low speeds in high gear will cause this. Is it original belt? might have wrong length. does it seem jerky when u take off? try scuffing areas where the belt gets grabbed at might just be slipping also

 

Stendori, I will take several pictures tonight and post them tomorrow.

Dosceola, I'll be honest, I dont do breakstands or ride slow in high gear, but I do ride fast - I love punching it and sliding the back end around.
It is the original belt, but it does not seem jerky when I take off. The belt looks good - but I am really no judge. I will post pics of the belt as well.

Thanks to the both of you for your help.

 

make sure to take a pic. of belt at rest on the bike. we'll take a look and try to help.

 

Here are a bunch of pics.
At Rest
Between Width
Both
loosebelt1
Clutches
Primary w/belt
primarytop
Primary Width
Secondary Width
Secondary w/belt
Belt1
Belt2
Belt3
Belt4