Does any one know of a differnt kind of belt that cocould get my scrambler im burning belts all the time . I tried to pull a friend out of the mud this weekend with a brand new belt on and it was shot after word and i wasnt pulling all that much . My buddy who has a honda was giving me all kinds of crap all you could see was a puff of smoke at least i wasnt stuck need help please let me know

 

A friend of mine just bought the 2000 Scrambler 400, and he has only had it for 3 weeks. He took it for a ride today, and heard this grinding noise which seemed to come from the belt area, he took it into the dealer and the belt was completely cooked. He left it there, and they will let him know what the problem is. When I find out, I will let you know.

 

Jay, I did the same thing to my belt when I hooked it up to my Explorer 500 (only I was being stupid, doing a tug-of-war with them LOL). The Scramblers aren't very good "un-sticking" machines. I have pulled a few of my buddies quads out and a 250 motor cycle out, but at the first sign of slippage I just quit so that I don't mess the belt up. They just aren't designed to pull that hard. If they had low range it would be a different story. As for you friend on the Honda, just wait till he gets stuck and needs you to pull him out. Then see who is laughing! What kind of Honda was it and why didn't he try pulling him out?
Later,

 

I ride a 92 Trail Boss 250 with 3487 miles on it and I only had to put 1 belt on it and it didnt really even need it.

 

Jay the scrambler is not a pulling quad if it had low rangeit would be ok.You said you wern't pulling hard.You might check you clutch alignment.You can get a alignment tool from hot seat performance part#2870654. you may have to shim the motor mounts And or the driven clutch to get proper alignment.this will make the belt work better and last longer. but it will never pull like a tractor.

 

Get a Dayco Top Cog belt, they are stronger and are made for towing. As Dalyrider said, make very sure your alignmnet is right. I have pulled quite a few people out of mud on a Scrambler and have never had any problems with the belt.

 

Remember to always engage your belt abruptly if possible. If your revving your engine and the wheels aren't turning you are damaging the belt. Keep it moving at at least a walking speed if possible when towing someone out to minimize the damage. If you can get the wheels spinning a little, even better.

 

Jay,

I bought a 98 Sportsman brand new from my dealer (which I have no problems from) and I would ride it about 2 weeks and the belt would burn. I put about 5 belts on it and one day they said they could fix it while I waited so I watched. When they pulled the belt off it looked as if it had just came out of the box. I complained about that and so they gave me a free one. There was a mechanic there that worked on snow mobiles for some time and he said that some polaris snow mo's would sometimes burn, I asked him what I should do and he said they could "shim" the motor. if you don't know what that means it is where you move the motor up just a little bit in the frame.. therefore making the belt tighter.. but my dad says that you'd be shimming the transmission. I don't know if it would work but you should definately talk to your mechanic about it


David

 

We have 2 Polaris Atv's, one 4wd with low range, and a Sport 400 and haven't had belt trouble with either. I replaced my Sport belt as I kept hearing all of these horror stories and had no more than .060 beltwidth wear after 5 years. I've skidded logs til it smoked and pull trailers of manure and firewood regularly. I think riding snowmobiles for thirty years help me get the best belt wear. Knowing if you slip or bind a 140 horse machine, you've just spent $50, gives you a second sense of what's going on in the belt housing. The guy who said get it engaged and don't slip it is absolutely right. Even if you load it up, keep it tight, and if you can't do it give up. It's rare you'll have to do that though.

 

HPD sells a Dayco Hiperformance belt that has cogs on both the top and bottom for better cooling as well as a harder compound and stronger cords for reduced stretching.

Works for me.

Chris Picciotto
99 Scrambler 500