Hi folks, My name is Randy and I'm just getting back into the sport. Been almost 20 years since I last drove an ATV. Buddy of mine had a Big Red 250 and we had a little 110. Those were great machines.

I purchased a Sportsman 500 last year in December which came in real handy for all the snow we had, (live in Ontairo, Canada) and put in almost 20 hours of plowing. I didn't get a chance to ride it much seeing that all the trails were closed.
My wife and I went out for a run last Saturday with some other folks for a few hours. It was a lot funner the plowing.

Anyhow here's my problem. We went on this bush trail and I got hung up on a log. We were both on it at the time, around 360lbs combined, I had it in 2WD, and in high gear which was dumb of me seeing that it was a slow moving and rough ride. So I put it into 4WD thinking that the front would grab and I'd climb over the log. I then gave it a shot of gas, then there was some aweful smoke and rubber burning smell. Turned out the tires were caught on the log more then I thought. I made it over eventually but after that when in high gear it felt like it had a hesitation or a jerk to it but then would run fine as i picked up speed. It dioesn't jerk in low gear though. Would any one have any ideas on whats going on with my machine? I checked the belt just to see if I damaged it but it looks good, there was a very small speck of rubber dust in the casing though. I really hope I didn't do any internal damage.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks folks! Sure glad I found this place!

 

Welcome...........I am from Ontario also(Muskoka)..
anyway I think you burnt your belt..You should have been in low gear working the Quad that hard!
When you pull away in high gear now ,does the Quad feel like it is jerking.or should I say like having a flat spot?

You may not see the damage on the belt, but the side of the clutch will loose grip in that spot you smoked!!!..........Caper........

What part of Ontario do you ride?........

 

Somtimes the belt looks ok but it probably stretched a little. That is what the symptom sounds like.

 

Gid'day, Funny you reply I was just looking at your pictures. I was in between Ompah and Calabogie when it happened. I see your in the Muskokas. Nice up there. You've been around here? Just wondering about your Madawaska River Pics.

Ya, stupid me being in high running it like that. It has a few jerks when I take off but then its fine , I'm guessing once the belt gets tight it just stops jerking.
I hope its just the belt. Was going to buy a spare to start carrying with me anyway. Now the old one can be a spare if thats the problem. Is this a Canadian or North American site? Thanks!

 

It sounds like a burned up belt to me. I did it twice in 11 years, by trying to squeeze between trees that were just too close together and things like that. Both times I finished the ride without any problems. But when I got about 100 more miles on it the belt shredded and shot out the snorkel onto my foot. One time it had a flap of the outer belt hitting the inside of the belt case gouging it out before the belt "exploded".

 

Well thanks for the replies guys. Gonna get a new belt.

Twice in 11 years ha, I've got 25 hours and a couple hundred kilometers on this thing. Sounds like I need to learn how to drive more gooder. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img] [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Went and bought a new belt today. I figure for $60 (can) I'll go ahead and install it. I'll keep the old one as a spare.

Thanks folks!

 

make sure you install w/ the words so you can read them just like the one thats on there.

 

I have heard that rule and so I listen but why do you have to read the words. I have a set of instructions that I printed out a long time ago on how to change the belt and they say that the words are important to be able to read and that he was not going to explain why but to just do it. If it is a long explaination and you don't want to tell that is fine. I am just curious.

 

They do this so if the belt is ever taken off the engine/clutch...........It will get put back on the same way.....Which is very important!!..........But that's another story....Caper..........