When "should" one change their belt?

[JayM]

**Updated Feb 23rd, 2019 Click to See**

Lots of talk about blown belts etc but haven't seen (I could have missed it) a topic on when it's a good or recommended time to change it.

I just rolled 3000km so far this season on my new non-current '17 I bought in October with the XS825 belt from day 1, I do have belt dust in the Side panel but belt seems to be holding up well "knock on wood". I have a spare new XS825 to put on just not sure if I should wait till this one blows or if I can wait till end of season ~6000km total or just replace it after xxxx amount of miles?

 

[Pstn head]

IMO if it's lasted this long you have a good set up. Then it depends on riding style and trail conditions.

 

[Crossfire12]

There is a spec on the belt, as it wears it gets thinner, when it loses 1/32 inch ,you should change,you measure with calipers, when it gets to minumin spec, change it. Some people on hear runs them till they break.

 

[Pstn head]

Ya that to ^^^

 

[Pstn head]

But seeing you have 3k Km's on this belt it might be a good time to make it a spare. And install a new belt.

 

[YukonMP]

Right now you seem to have a good set up that could get knocked out of whack by a blown belt as documented in other threads.Why risk it to maybe wring another 20 dollars of value out of a belt. I'd make it my spare.

 

[JayM]

All very good points, the deflection doesn't really seem to be changing much at all so I will check it with calipers after this trip is over, will likely be at 4000km by Friday.

 

[Dr. FeeLGooD]

If it’s not good enough to use, it’s not good enough for a spare. Throw it away. I don’t understand why guys want to do this. Your spare should be a broken in new belt.

 

[Snowaddict]

I change mine every season for preventative maintenance. This equates to every 1200 miles or so for me.

 

[ROCKERDAN]

This is a good topic.... and now that it seems many of us have switched to a better belt(Ultimax xs825) and tossed the junk 8JP, and also for myself lowering the offset with the Hurricane offset bar which IMO we all need to thank DAVE for, since I believe he has saved the Winder from being a belt blower(for most guys).

Im in same boat sorta....1050miles on my Ultimax now, hate to talk about it too much as I hate to jynx myself...Belt looks perfect, Im even playing with a tad more backpressure.

I think we need to consider a few things....

-Tune and HP
-How & where we ride
-Traction & gearing
-Overall mileage

TUNE
If you are running stock to 240, I feel like the belts have a much easier life. If you run the 240r from Hurricane, its a harder life then many other tunes that don't have the early spool, as many lower HP other tunes don't offer early spool. When you go 270r and higher tunes, now you really gotta think about this belt's life corner to corner with this much JAM under your thumb! I believe belts needs to be swapped out more proactively with these larger tunes even if all looks good.

How & where we ride
This may very well have more to do with belt longevity then anything else. Deep powder, big lakes,corner to corner all can change a belt's life dramatically. Also the type of rider you are. Is your right thumb twitchy like mine? Its almost impossible to not want to hammer down with these sleds WOT at every corner, the trails here are full of whoops and with my transfer mod I cannot help but launch my skis and catwalk just about every knoll. The giggle factor here makes up for all the wrenching and sleepless OCD nights about what will break next. LOL. "Up north" type "wide open" trails will certainly offer large large miles per belt IMO compared to the tight twistys. So 3000 miles to one guy up north may be equal to the next guy's 1500 miles.

Traction and gearing
Track full of long sharp studs? Certainly will be harder on belt life all else being equal. A trail stud type setup with some spin will have less stress on belts and for that matter drivetrain. Which brings me to gearing. I went back to stock this season(22 last yr to 21 this yr) and have seen better belt life, now that could be from the offset and Ultimax, but I tend to think gears have some play in this result. I love the stock gearing, its a blast in tight stuff and there is NO NEED for a 22 gear, unless you plan to run over 126mph which is where you can get to in theory with stock 21.

Overall mileage
This is obvious....I know if I get over 1500 onto my belt, with my tune and type of riding corner to corner, I will certainly be thinking of a swap. Heck, I could only wish for 1000 miles on same belt last season, and while the belt issue seems to be fixed, I have found so many other items(mostly drivetrain) that concern me going forward if wanting to keep these sleds for alot of miles. I feel like we all need to be ultra pro-active as Winder owners EACH ride, checking clutch components, closely and really watching that chaincase, and even pulling the muffler and checking tensioner bolt and if you feel any vibration at higher speeds it very well may be your tensioner roller screws coming out. Get in there and tack weld them before it becomes a very big job to fix.

In the end....I'd much rather swap out a belt and keep it as a spare, then blow one and cause potential damage to clutch, and push in stub shaft as they tend to do, not too mention plastics damage.

Dan

 

[Crossfire12]

Just measure how thin, when below spec change. Doesn’t matter how many miles, it’s how everyone drives different, hp,etc. On a car tire when the threads wear down to wear bars, do you change or do you just keep going till they blow!

 

[ROCKERDAN]

Just measure how thin, when below spec change. Doesn’t matter how many miles, it’s how everyone drives different, hp,etc. On a car tire when the threads wear down to wear bars, do you change or do you just keep going till they blow!

I hear ya, but that analogy means nothing when it comes to if/when your belt will blow....As we know new belts blow. I have never run a belt to the point where its below the YAM specs on wear. Mine is not even close and im at 1050 miles. At this rate it would take 10,000 miles to get to that min wear limit width.

Dan

 

[JayM]

I agree with your points @ROCKERDAN it certainly all depends. I spend half or 2/3 of my riding time up North (in Cochrane right now) the rest in the brutal trails (in comparison) down south. I went from TD Max Spool 17 and SQ muffler (290hp) to MaxSpool16 and Stock muffler (260hp) for this trip and I'm not going back. I ride as fast as safely possible while staying on my side of the trail.

Will post pics of belt and inside the side panel when I'm home. Today I did 293km with first tracks on 8-10" of fresh snow on the trails. Used a lot more fuel than usual but it was insanely fun plowing trail on the 129"!

 

[4strokes]

my oem has 5000 miles on it and looks new, but machine is stock. I could never get used to the take off squeal, but the stupid push button reverse requires a loose belt. I dont like blowing belts, can easily do damage, but on my hytro, I have blown 3 in 24000 miles. they always look like new until they blow. seems to me heat is the enemy. all 3 were end of a 200 mile day at night when the snow got hard and the machine was near overheat if you didn't get into some loose stuff on the sides. I would be willing to bet all 3 times it woud have lown a new belt just the same. as far as the winders are concerned, most are tuned and they whole cvt is on the ragged edge.

 

[JayM]

Bit of an update here, I now have 4090km/2540miles on the sled (all this season) still on the "original" XS825 belt. First half running 290hp MS17 with SQ Muffler and second half running 260hp MS16 SM.

I checked my belt today with calipers compared to stock and it's 7/32's narrower as measured from the top of the belt compared to a new XS825 I have. Looks in really good shape, all rollers look really good as well.

Do I change it? I'm thinking of keeping it in there for the remaining ~1000/1500km left in the season.

Here are some pics, you can see the dust inside the panel, not sure what excessive is though.