Creeping can be caused by mis-aligned pulleys (which shouldn't be the case, or it would have done that since new or almost new).
It can be caused by a worn belt, but this usually isn't the case.
A slightly too-fast idle is probably the most common cause. As the engine breaks in, it loosens up, and will idle faster than before. This happens so gradually, you probably won't notice it. Now if you had 20 or 30 hours only, this would be what I think is wrong. Check it to be sure, but my money is on something else.
Do you have EBS? If so, there is something you need to know. On EBS models (the earlier ones in particular - pre '01) use PLASTIC spacers in the front clutch pulley. What these spacers do, is keep the 2 halves of the pulleys a certain distance apart when at idle. They are prone to wearing out. If you take off your belt cover, you can see if the pulley halves are trying to 'grab' the belt. Even with the engine off, the plastic spacers can wear enough to where you can SEE that the pulley would drag on the belt (push the belt as deep in the pulley as you can, do the sides of the pulley put pressure on both sides of the belt?). This is easy enough to fix, just get another 99 cent washer to replace the worn one. The newer machines have the washers made out of a slightly different material, and seem to last longer (anyway on the '01 + machines they seem to). Cost is only a buck or so, and isn't TOO hard to do. If you don't want to be taking apart your clutch, you could still take off the belt cover, and make an appointment to have it done. With the cover off, it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes or a half hour to change the spacer (looks like a plastic washer or shim.

I am willing to bet if you fix the creep, you will fix the shifting difficulties.

 

I have also seen this problem with"creep" on EBS models because of the ribs on the belt and the ribs on the inside of the primary clutch. I have seen where the ribs of the belt actually got wedged under the inside primary sheeve. This meant that as the engine was idling it actually had a hold of the belt. When we removed the belt, the sheeve "popped" the rest of the way open like it should. It wasn't able to do this before because the edge of the belt was jammed into the bottom of that sheeve. All we did was install a new belt and everything was fine.

I'd also like to add that this made the quad extremely hard to shift in and out of gears. Like someone already said, it is hard to change the gears when the belt is engaged.

I don't even know for sure if tealboy's quad has EBS but I just wanted to share my $.02.

 

Did the shift problem show up at the same time as the your clutch creep problem? This will make it very hard to shift when running and forcing somewhat will jam it in reverse. I had this very problem at around 300+ miles. It shifted better than new after it was fixed btw.

In my case the clutches were out of alignment. The belt would ride on the inner sheave of the drive clutch. It got to the point were I had to turn off the engine to change gears. It would creep(idle) at around 3 mph.

You need to remove the clutch cover to find out what is wrong.

If the belt is riding on the inner sheave at idle you need one or two .99 cent spacers pn. 7556401 from your dealer. They go behind the secondary clutch if needed.

If its against the outer sheave you can take away the one thin spacer that is behind the secondary.

If it rides in the center then it may be the one-way clutch that the belt rides on. Its the center part of the drive clutch. It can become dirty and jam up causing this too. It should turn fairly easy by hand in one direction. I have not seen much of this problem though.

The wear limit on the belt is 1.125". New is between 1.174-1.188" This was mentioned at the HL site. You never read my pm over there either. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

The washers in the drive clutch Farmr123 refered too are quit involved. Disassembly of the drive clutch requires some special tools to be done right.

 

i have another idea, the problem that i am in the proccess of fixing, but i need to find a puller. mine does the same thing, shifts really hard(to the point that something is possibly mess up in the tranny, see my other post, "HELP!! polaris tranny&quot so it shifts hard and has the " clutch creep". what my problem is, is that on each side of the one-way clutch(EBS roller) is a washer,i belive they are made of or coated with Teflon. anyways, these washers have worn down past the limit, so the one-way clutch moves side to side, when the belt engauges it gets pushed toward the stationary side of the clutch, when it comes back down the ramp instead of sitting in the middle of the one-way clutch, where the grooves on the belt make it go, the belt jumps the grooves, and is pushed against the stationary side of the clutch, creating alot of drag on the belt, making it turn and wear out quicker.
SO, easy way to check this, is to take off the clutch cover. first thing to check, with the cover off start the engine and watch the primary clutch when you let off the gas, if the belt stays up tight to the stationary side(closest to the engine) and keeps turning,(the secondary clutch should either stop, or slow down almost to a stop) you've found the problem. another way to make sure of this is to measure the distance between the one-way clutch and the sides of the clutch, i cant remember the spec, sorry. but i think it was like .030 or so.??? let me know if this helps.

 

Thanks to all of you for the info. I do have EBS, it is a 2000 model and came with it. Sounds like i need to expose the belt and cover, and operate the engine/tranny to see what is happening. I don't know if the creeping and tranny problem started at the same time. It seems like the tranny was always a little stiff, but has obviously gotten noticibly worse. I guess the answer is yes, the creeping and tranny problems go together, b/c what little creep i had previously was negligible. It is now a problem, which requires i set the brake when i dismount it with engine running.