I have a 00 sportsman 500 that is becoming very hard to shift and starting to creep. At this point the idle is fine and the shift rods are adjusted properly. The belt appears to be in good condition. When the machine is off it shifts fine. Leading me to believe the issue is with the primary clutch? Shims?

 

Check if the belt is touching the front clutch sheath and not riding in the center as it's supposed to while at an idle with the cover off. If it touches, the rear clutch will spin making it hard to shift and will creep,but will shift fine when engine is off and pressure is off the rear clutch. Usually it needs to have a couple shims added to the back of the rear clutch to align the rear with the front clutch to make the belt ride more center. Also don't over look any excessive slack side to side on the drive clutch one way bearing.If it's more than than .020 with a feeler gauge behind the one way then you may need to replace the fiber washer and the brass washer under the cap at the front of the one way. Hopefully shimming out the rear clutch will help,plus check the belt for any glazed or burnt spots,replace it it needed along with checking the motor mounts,especially the front one for separation.

 

The drive clutch seems to be rather tight with no real side to side movement. The rear clutch will move side to side a fair amount. If the rear clutch needs to be shimmed is there a variety pack of shims that can be purchased? When shimming the rear clutch is there a way to predetermine how far it must be shimmed. Or is it just trial and error?

 

I had the clutch alignment tool at the shop and for the most part it just stayed in the box. Your eye can do just as good a job on this by looking down the rear clutch toward the front on aligning the belt.I stocked up on rear shims by the dozen. Take the old one behind the driven clutch and match it up at a good hardware store. same washer used on ebs and non ebs clutch systems. Item #1,plus it gives the dimensions so it should be fairly easy to find a replacement.Replacements can be a little over size and won't hurt. Just trial and error,slip a couple on and see if it helps. Usually by the time I got a hold of ones like this I had to shim and replace the glazed belt. Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Honda, Arctic Cat & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse

 

Great info, thanks

 

Started messing around with shimming the rear clutch. Currently I have 3 new shims and 1 old. The shifting is getting easier and the creeping is minimal. Looks like the final repair will be a total of 5 shims. Does 5 shims seem excessive

 

the secondary is usually fairly ridgid. When you say side to side movment did you mean in and out? if it is side to side. Take a good look at your transmission and make sure something isnt out there

 

These belt driven quads are new to me. Last night when working on the popo I noticed even with the new shims and the secondary in place, bolted down. The secondary still moves in and out. The shaft from the tranny is whats moving.

 

5 shims is more than I normally had to add. Might be time to also check into the clutches,plus if you haven't replaced the belt,you might look it over for any glazed or burnt spots that could still be causing you trouble. Usually when they came in creeping I had to shim and replace the belt. There can be a little in and out play on the tranny shaft as they get older,but shouldn't be excessive.Around 1/8" max.Plus blowing out accumulated belt dust from the clutches in an open area can help a lot of times.

 

Got the 500 shifting properly. At the start of the process I blew out the primary to clean it. Last night I used 3/4 can of brake clean on the primary and it was working much better. Put a new belt on after it was cleaned up. Trying to shim the secondary while using the old belt was a bad idea. After the new belt went on it was obvious that there were way to many shims on the secondary. The secondary only required a total of 2 shims.
Thanks for the help.