Blew belt at 300 miles?

[otis]

Should I be concerned? I have a new crate 03 rx-1 with all 05 updates (except skid) with only 300 miles. Finally started to open it up some. Noticed that she was vibrating badly after 3 or 4 people tried it out to see what they were missing. When I checked the belt the top side was ripped off on over half of the belt causing a huge imbalance at speed and a clunk when stopping. Lucky I had a OEM spare. Sure is easy to change the belt. 5 minutes with a tug and 1/2 rotation on the clutch and we were on our way. What gives? Should I complain to my dealer? Do you think the clutch is out of adjustment? Will they replace it if I bring it in?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Otis

 

[LazyBastard]

Couple of possibilities;

1) Was the arrow pointing in the right direction? Those belts are one-way.

2) (more likely) - you probably burned a groove into it trying to start it moving after letting it freeze - you need to lift and drop the back end to break free the track and kick the skis, then it'll start off without burning into the belt.


Definitely see how it goes with the new belt before getting too concerned.

Also... I noticed that the OEM weights made belt burning easy when starting up from a position in deep snow. I have heavy hitters now and don't ever experience belt burning.

 

[otis]

Never froze it down, but did some deep powder...

and smelled the belt burn some. I am sure it was in the right direction. Is the clutch that bad that a few deep powder starts which made the belt smoke a bit would cause a failure? I am sure the dealer won't cover me on this don't you agree?

 

[otis]

Sorry, I meant to say I never froze it down, but did some deep powder riding that smoked it a bit...

 

[LazyBastard]

You can't smoke a belt and expect it to still be good. When you smoke it, it means that a part of the belt is instantly worn much thinner than the rest - you can actually FEEL it every time it goes past the clutches, in YOUR OWN words; VIBRATING BADLY.

NEVER drive on a ruined belt, it will fail, and has the potential to cause MAJOR DAMAGE, which is not covered by warranty.

 

[SoCoRX1]

i have been stuck in some ice before in which my belt would smell and smoke a little. 1500 miles on that belt and its doing fine. My friend looked at it the other day and felt it, and to his amazement he said it was in perfect condition, like new.

 

[stevenknapp]

Weird, my belt let go at about 850 miles on my rage. Then soon after the belt let go on my friends rental Rage w/ ~2500 miles on it. Both failed as you described.

I can say that mine had some slight abuse from loading/unloading. But friends said it was nothing to worry about. I can't speak for the rental.

The rental shop said that they had seen a few like this and said they thought Yamaha had a set of bad belts.

What LB makes sense too.

The weird thing for me was that even after changing the belt the clutch engagement wasn't right. Before it engaged with a thunk, all at once at ~3600RPM. After it slipped and whatnot til about 25mph and/or 6k.

There was a lot of crap in/on the clutch. Both fuzz in the moving bits and burnt on belt rubber on the surfaces. I cleaned it all up when I got home. Took the secondary apart to clean it, and regreased it too. With the back end in the air the engagement seems more normal. I might scoot a few feet down the driveway just to see.

The primary side has some polished spots and even a slight groove near the center...should this worry me? Fixes other than a new clutch?

Also, from everything I've seen here, there seems no good reason to get something other than the factory yamaha belt?

Thanks!

 

[SoCoRX1]

changed mine for precaution at 1800 miles. i used a brand new one and it runs a little better now. people were telling me how awesome it is to have a belt in such good condition after 1800 miles. the old one is a spare now

 

[Sasquatch]

I have to say I'm impressed with how cool the belt on my RX runs. 1900 miles on it now. I used to change the belt on my 1000 tripple at 2000 miles and they would be starting to crack on the sides. RX belt still looks fine.

1000 tripple belt ran much hotter than the RX so I'm not sure how long one can go on the belt on the Yamis. I do kow that if it runs cooler it will last longer.

 

[dockter71]

He is talking about the top of the belt missing, Not flat spotting it on the sides.

If you look under the Clutch cover protector you will find a good sized burn mark on the underside of the cover. I have read several threads were people have talked of the same mark on there RX1's. I'm curious what riding situation will most likely cause this. I'm thinking it has something to do with speed and engine braking combination This occasional wearing could contribute to the top of the belt failing.

 

[grauser]

I think the key is this is a sled that sat in a crate for three years, so you are starting out with a degraded belt just from age. I have 9000 miles on my 03 and have only had one belt failure and it had very high miles.

 

[impalapower]

I just changed mine, it had 4200 miles on the original. However, I haven't noticed any performance gains by changing it. Should have left the old one in.

 

[penetang guy]

my belt blew at WOT for 2 minutes. I f'd up the belt by power washing my sled after going through a ton of mud. It froze, and I tried to drive it. Two weeks later...boom. Put on the new belt and away I went. The new sleds don't appear to come with belts anymore. After that I bought one for my other sled, an 05RS...I think the factory should be providing a spare free like they used to.

 

[impalapower]

The new sleds don't appear to come with belts anymore.

What do you mean? The belts provided are poor quality? They always have been the stock belt in the past?

 

[stevenknapp]

He is talking about the top of the belt missing, Not flat spotting it on the sides.

That's EXACTLY what mine did, and my friends rental did. I could snag a picture.