I have an 11 500 sportsman and I was riding this weekend on some mixed terrain trails and I was having to shift from low to high a lot it got me wondering. Is it better to overdrive low or to underdrive high? When its not plausible to keep stopping and shifting between The two. Or can you shift on The fly without tearing anything up in The transmission?

 

Don't shift on the fly you will have problems. I think it is better to over run in low then under power in high. Your belt tranny makes a lot of heat and it moves air through it with the clutches turning. The slower you go the less air movement, however in low th ebelt has to spin faster so you get more air out of it. On my old 500 it was a 2002 I would usually ride in low if I was going under 13 or so and would occasionally hit 20 on low but really wouldn't hold it there. Shifting back and forth gets old but the belt will last a lot longer.

 

Better to keep it in low even if occasionally you do have to wind it out a little,runs a lot cooler as mentioned. Running 7 to 10 mph or even a little higher at times in low compared to running same speed in high range could be (at least what the engineers have said) a 160 degree heat difference in the clutch area. Heat along with added stress in wrong gear range is what eats up a lot of belts. OPT

 

X3 You're better off winding it out in low than lugging it down in high. Cooling the belt is the biggy here. I have the same issue. It's why I'm considering an XP when the funds become available. It can go up to a claimed 35 mph in low. I rarely get above 35 in the kinds of terrain we ride here in New England but do get about 15 pretty often. It's worth the extra few seconds in my mind to go between the two.

 

The same to you,thanks

 

Yes let the engine rev, no harm in that. If you pin the throttle the rpm will come up to 6000 plus when the clutch back shifts, a short cruise at 4500 or 5000 won't hurt anything.

The only time I use high is if I know I'm going to be over 7 mph 95% of the time.
Where as I will use L and wind the engine up for say 30% of its riding time.
Much more then that I'll stop and shift to H. It does not really take that long. Imo L is the primary gear, and H is more like road range.

My grizz seems like it is lower geared and I find I'm using H more. Though I'm going to up the tire size, 4%
When I first got my 500, it seem like it reved too much, I mean if it was a gear quad most people would give it another gear and lug the engine more, but none of the cvt quads I have rode slow the engine right down at a gentle cruise. There must be a reason the engineers design them this way. One reason would be better engine braking, but the other must be they need the rpm to have enough power.
Ken

 

I AGREE. Rev it..It won't hurt it.

 

I use low when under heavy load conditions like towing or pushing or very slow rough trail conditions the require 4wd as well( I call it tank mode), but for general tamer trail riding I just leave it in High range even if driving slow.
Cant see it hurting anything since Polaris and Yamaha have ATVs like the Scrambler,Hawkeye,400H.O and 350 Grizzly/Briun that have no low range option at all.

And yes you have to come to a stop and idle rpm before shifting in low or high range.

 

You are not moving enough air to cool the belt thus creating lotsa heat if you under-rev the tranny...ya cannot compare models with no H-L ranges with models that do...apples and oranges..if they don't have the 2 ranges they are different...different set up...different gearing...the manual says how to operate it...and thus get the most belt life.

 

Can,t see how a 500 Scrambler with the same motor,belt ,primary and secondary clutches and belt cover and belt cooling system of a Sportsman can ride slow trails or cruise at 60 mph with out a issue but the Sportsman cant.

I have changed the belts on 500 Scramblers and 500 Sportsmans and if there is a differance some where I sure can not see it.

Yes there gearing is different ,one has a high range only tranny and the other has a tranny with both low and high.

If your low range ever quits working on your Sportsman you basically have a Scrambler with racks. LOL