Yup. Loose a belt 30 mi. from now where, and you;ll be making a real angel instead of a snow angel.

Belt wear is inevitable but the specs/parts from the factory need to be accurate.

 

I totally agree, but we all know thet nothing's perfect in our perfect world, here in the U.S.A

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Mongrol

Frustrating situation. When I did the 100 hr. insp on my 08 Sportsman 400HO, I thought I'd measure the wear on the belt to keep as a reference. The belt looked like brand new with just a light dust in the cover. I checked the repair manual to find out what the specs were and almost dropped my drawers. According to the specs, I only had .005 " left before the belt was below minimum service level. I asked the dealer and he was surprised at the measurements. I ordered a belt so I could see what a new one was.



The dealer ordered 4 more for stock. Factory specs gave a figure and allowed +/-.031" as a min/max tolerance. When they came in, I measured all 5 and to my surprise, the BEST belt was .005" below factory recommended minimum specs.................



To sum it up, my original belt after 1251 miles was only .040" smaller than a new under spec belt. A poster, whose opinion, I trust told me that this was common and that proved to be right.



Come on Mr. Polaris, either your repair manual is inaccurate or the belt supplier needs to keep things within tolerances.</end quote></div>

I know the military uses Polaris quads, are they belt drives? If so then you can bet your @$$ that their belts are not out of spec.! To me +/- .031 is a mile! I deal with tolerences of at most +/- .01 and sometimes as little as +/- .0005 !!
There has got to be someone out there that makes belts to the correct specs. Any ideas who?
Mongrol, what was the factory spec?

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: rancher55

I know the military uses Polaris quads, are they belt drives? If so then you can bet your @$$ that their belts are not out of spec.! To me +/- .031 is a mile! I deal with tolerences of at most +/- .01 and sometimes as little as +/- .0005 !!

There has got to be someone out there that makes belts to the correct specs. Any ideas who?

Mongrol, what was the factory spec?</end quote></div>

Yes,they are belt drive. And the majority of the military models use the same belt part number as the civilian version.

Mongrol-Who measured the new belt. Reason I ask,is there is somewhat a special procedure for measuring some Polaris belts,due to the shape. I'm imagine your tech knows that though.

 

i have used Gates belts for automotive,very nice belts,someone here bought one from napa,i would check that companies spec.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: MECHANIKE

i have used Gates belts for automotive,very nice belts,someone here bought one from napa,i would check that companies spec.</end quote></div>

I use the NAPA/Gates belts for twin screw supercharger drive,never had a problem with them,and that is a pretty demanding application.

The Gates site doesn't list a belt for that application

My money says the OEM belts are made by Carlisle. Any one know for sure?

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: rancher55

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Mongrol



Frustrating situation. When I did the 100 hr. insp on my 08 Sportsman 400HO, I thought I'd measure the wear on the belt to keep as a reference. The belt looked like brand new with just a light dust in the cover. I checked the repair manual to find out what the specs were and almost dropped my drawers. According to the specs, I only had .005 " left before the belt was below minimum service level. I asked the dealer and he was surprised at the measurements. I ordered a belt so I could see what a new one was.







The dealer ordered 4 more for stock. Factory specs gave a figure and allowed +/-.031" as a min/max tolerance. When they came in, I measured all 5 and to my surprise, the BEST belt was .005" below factory recommended minimum specs.................







To sum it up, my original belt after 1251 miles was only .040" smaller than a new under spec belt. A poster, whose opinion, I trust told me that this was common and that proved to be right.







Come on Mr. Polaris, either your repair manual is inaccurate or the belt supplier needs to keep things within tolerances.</end quote></div>



I know the military uses Polaris quads, are they belt drives? If so then you can bet your @$$ that their belts are not out of spec.! To me +/- .031 is a mile! I deal with tolerences of at most +/- .01 and sometimes as little as +/- .0005 !!

There has got to be someone out there that makes belts to the correct specs. Any ideas who?

Mongrol, what was the factory spec?</end quote></div>

FActory says width would be 1.396" +/- .031" . Minimum service limit is 1.320".

I measured the belts myself with my digital calipers so I would not have to rely on 2nd hand info.

I don't have a problem with the quality of the belts, just the lack of consistency of quality control and specs supplied.

I have not doubt, judging from the condition of my used belt that it would still be working well if I hadn;t decided to measure it.

 

You may no this but according to my serivce manual you don't measure from flat edge to flat edge,if the belt is one that has a bevel on the top edge. IIRC Imagine the end of the belt cut,it has sort of a V shape,at the top of each side it is slightly beveled back in. If you draw an imaginary line along the V portion straight up to where it would intersect the flat outside top portion of the belt if it weren't beveled,from that point on each side is how it is measured.
I'll try to post the picture out of the manual when I get home,it's hard to explain.

May or may not apply to your belt,the procecdure is in the 700/800 manual.

 

You may know this but according to my serivce manual you don't measure from flat edge to flat edge,if the belt is one that has a bevel on the top edge. IIRC Imagine the end of the belt cut,it has sort of a V shape,at the top of each side it is slightly beveled back in. If you draw an imaginary line along the V portion straight up to where it would intersect the flat outside top portion of the belt if it weren't beveled,from that point on each side is how it is measured.
I'll try to post the picture out of the manual when I get home,it's hard to explain.

May or may not apply to your belt,the procecdure is in the 700/800 manual.

 

My service manual shows the same thing but I'm not sure how that is relevant. If I measure the projected width vs the actual width, the only thing that will be different is the belt will be wider overall but the discrepency will remain the same.

I'll wait for your diagram and further explanations.