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2 belts=165miles,whats wrong,M8

S
Mar 1, 2009
91
3
8
well im riding my sled first time after getting my diamond drive replaced and bang first 35 miles i blow the first belt,30 of those miles i rode easy to break the belt in,only 5 miles of riding hard,threw a new belt on and broke it in and managed like 130 miles on it,rode easy on it till about the 100 mile mark where i started ripping around the lake doing like 40mph then pinning it to about 70mph and i was having fun hitting the snow filled weeds and pulling massive wheelies,sled was running like a top and my adrenaline was pumping hard,so im about 2-3 miles from my cabin doing around 50 mph and i pinned it and pulled back and it was pulling pregood and all of a sudden bang,but this time i seen a black peice fly out the side,so i stop and go to put anouther belt on and when i opened the side panel i seen a huge hole under both clutches and my belt snapped,didnt shred like usual,so we take it to the dealer and they say its running perfect alighnment and that its my fault that i keep blowing belts because its hooking up to hard,i said to them that bull ****,and they said the only solution is to not ride it hard and to clean the clutches every 30 miles,i said to them its a M8 its ment to be rode hard,if i wanted a sled to ride like a ***** id a one of those(pointed to a polaris 550),they gave me a free 046 belt and charged me 286 dollers for patching the belly pan and checking the sled over,so we took it to the expert of sleds,he said he would check it over saturday as we dropped it off today at 4:30,the sled is a 2009 arctic cat m8 pretty much stock except mbrp can,sidevents n a few other things non motor related,whats wrong here guys i really beed help
 

skibreeze

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Dec 4, 2005
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Colorado Springs
I'm assuming that you have alot of miles on the sled without any belt issues. Now the DD gets replaced and all of a sudden, you are blowing belts. This points directly at something that was done during the DD replacement. Dealer needs to investigate this and when they find that they screwed it up, they can refund you your $286.
 
S

snowmobiler

Well-known member
Nov 26, 2001
8,107
3,922
113
pow bam boom goes the belt.did ya mess your britches?i do when that happens.scary.belt is to hot.dont know how you can ride easy for a 100 miles,i sure cant:)
 
S

skimike

Member
Dec 21, 2009
191
14
18
bakersfield
if its a 09 why did the diamond drive break , that should last longer than a year, I ride the hell out of my 10 m8 sno pro and I have 150 miles and no probs except a hand warmer
 
S
Mar 1, 2009
91
3
8
well last year they also ****ed up trying to put a flatlander kit in it and i had belt issues last year till we took it to the expert who i only blew 2 belts in 1200miles after but before that i blew around 10 but 4 of those were covered under warrenty i guess,it had a brand new secondary straight from the factory last april at the end of the season so it started off this season with 0 miles and they try and tell me my clutches are dirty,im so dissapointed guys,im only 16 and i fell in love with the sled and yeah i can ride the **** out of it at times but its to the point im scared to because i know its gunna cost me minimum 200 bucks everytime because it will blow a belt,picture this a kid who just turned 16 on december 28th 09 who has a nice sled but cant afford to ride it,its to the point my parents are tired of the sled them selves cause thier the ones who gotta help me when im broke down 30 miles from home and thier the ones who gotta use thier gas and time almost everyweekend just for me ride a little,they have just told me if it is gunna break down 2 more times i can trade it on a polaris assault or skidoo summit,i really dont want to but at least id get to ride,oh yeah WINTER BREW there is no chance of snow or water cause its clean inside and thier fastlane sidvents,and ive waterskipped it a few times before and never has water enter
 

winter brew

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Nov 26, 2007
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LakeTapps, Wa.
I guess I would start with the basics.....since the dealer did some work on the sled involving the DD, I would lift the back of the sled.....make sure the track is plenty loose, spin it over by hand with the belt off-does it spin fairly freely??
If that's good, next time you ride pop the side panel after a few miles and feel both clutches on the outer sheave face- is one alot hotter than the other? If so, you have a setup/calibration issue. When you pin the throttle does it go to the proper RPM or is it over/under revving? Either will make ALOT of heat and kill belts.
 
S
Mar 1, 2009
91
3
8
the track is plenty loose,i guess on the next ride after it blows anouther belt ill flip it and check the track,it spins good on the stand, i have felt the clutches everytime i blow a belt and thier not even hot,i got the side vents plus when all of this happened it was -20 degrees both times so they would be getting lots cool air..it reves right around 8100 off the line till it starts to really open up then its at about 7900,it really goes though when she isnt throwing a belt off,i guess anouther thing also is that the last belt i was using was a ultimax 3 and it didnt shred its like someone pulled it apart in one spot
 

winter brew

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Nov 26, 2007
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LakeTapps, Wa.
I would stick with the Cat belts.....those Ultimax belts blow like a friggin grenade! Can do alot of damage....as you found out. :beer;
Let us know if they find you a cure, you're not the only one having belt problems on the M- But most don't have problems. It's odd how identical sleds can have good alignment, same setups and one eats belts and one doesn't :confused:...there has got to be a reason.
 
S
Mar 1, 2009
91
3
8
well im hoping the expert finds somthing wrong with it so i can walk back to the dealer and tell them to shove that bill up thier *** and prove to them that they dont know what thier talking about,im thinking maybe the motor mounts are loose and then when i pin it,it twists a bit and throws the alighnment off and bang a belt,and the motor goes back to it originals position
 
D

Dano702

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2007
569
59
28
Sin City
Please post the name and location of the dealer . The miles on the sled , if you bought it new , and details about the new DD. You have a problem , i put 800+ hard miles on one belt last year on my 8 .

The spare belt never even was broke in . 800 miles at 12 lbs on one belt.:confused:
 
H

hatchers

Well-known member
Nov 26, 2007
3,688
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North Utah
www.snowestonline.com
Are you getting snow/water on the clutches or belt somehow??

funny you say this.....

long story short - had almost 350 flawless miles, riding the other day and BAM!!!!!!, belt comes apart in 1000 pieces....took a few minutes to remove the debis, slapped another on her and a few miles later.....BOOM!!!

all i could think was "WTF" after i completly disassembled both clutches and found zero problems.....well, further investigation shows something punched a dime size hole just under my primary, and this has to be more issue, i hope:rolleyes:
 
H

hatchers

Well-known member
Nov 26, 2007
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North Utah
www.snowestonline.com
the track is plenty loose,i guess on the next ride after it blows anouther belt ill flip it and check the track,it spins good on the stand, i have felt the clutches everytime i blow a belt and thier not even hot,i got the side vents plus when all of this happened it was -20 degrees both times so they would be getting lots cool air..it reves right around 8100 off the line till it starts to really open up then its at about 7900,it really goes though when she isnt throwing a belt off,i guess anouther thing also is that the last belt i was using was a ultimax 3 and it didnt shred its like someone pulled it apart in one spot

im not a huge fan of M side vents...make sure the mesh in these vents is not too open where a ton of snow can come inside:beer;
 
S
Mar 1, 2009
91
3
8
im not going to post the name of the dealer but its in saskatchewan canada,bought the sled new last january on the 12th at 1:47pm the deal was done, it had 1800.1 miles when the DD broke,it was first ride of the year,ran good,wasnt much snow at the time but i was drift banging. i wish i could ride my sled hard and not have problems:(....it wasnt bad last year after the expert fixed it but then it had to go back to the dealer so they could put the new secondary on. i told the dealer that i read on forums about guys like you who ride the **** out of thier boosted M and dont have belt issues and he said that he had a supercharged sled once and it just ate belts,i said it must be nice to own the store too. me,my mom n my dad the owner and the service manager(stupid ****er) argued in the middle of the store for almost an hour,everybody staring,i told them as i walked out that that is the last sled ill ever buy from them,like wow they gave me a belt and i looked at it and it was the wrong one,like wow a barley 16 year old telling the service manager its the wrong one....sad i know
 
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diggerdown

Well-known member
Apr 25, 2004
3,452
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Deer Park Wi.
I bet you're clutches are over shifting. It sounds like you like speed and if the clutches are not matched close enough for shift, you'll tear a belt up quick. Mark the inside of the sheaves with a marker pen and after a run see where your belt was shifting out to. If you wore the mark off all the way to the outside of the primary or to the bottom of the driven, you found your problem.
 

AaronBND

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Nov 12, 2005
1,696
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Cascade Mnts, OR.
I bet you're clutches are over shifting. It sounds like you like speed and if the clutches are not matched close enough for shift, you'll tear a belt up quick. Mark the inside of the sheaves with a marker pen and after a run see where your belt was shifting out to. If you wore the mark off all the way to the outside of the primary or to the bottom of the driven, you found your problem.

I did this a few weeks ago on my sled and at the end of the ride I did not have any marks at all. Is this not ok? Should I see some marks at the top of the primary and the bottom of the secondary? If you are overshifting, what is the cure? Just trying to learn here. Thanks!

Aaron
 

89sandman

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Oct 16, 2004
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southern oregon
70 mph is a problem on a mt. sled!!! have seen so many peeps trying to be a lake racer on a mt. sled and boom goes the belt...
 

KSH

Steering Wheel Holder
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Mar 22, 2005
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With proper clutching speed on a mountain sled is only hard on the track.

Most of the time good powder clutching is not high speed clutching.

If you can take off from a dead stop and have constant acceleration to top end your clutching is good.

But if you can feel the acceleration slow down and you force the sled through the hesitation you are really super heating the belt.

Also if you feel the hesitation and back out of the throttle you will feel the sled accelerate.

Just my opinion from past experiences.
 
S
Nov 27, 2007
213
9
18
53
belt blower

Hey sled are you near regina....Those guys......nothing more to say.The guys in findlater are good..in the south.If not nicks in white city.The northern parts dunno.Biggar A/C dealer is suppost to be good.
I ended up buying the alignment tool.(just got it)
Unfortunatly there are alot of variables in the sled.IF it worked good before.i would still suspect alignment.Mine was REALLY bad and the blet would blow apart into many chunks.I changed my sec to a 10.4 (06 M7).Mine used to eat belts like crazy.I had the pipes(twins) off and was checking it out and noticed my secondary was out(away from the chasiss) ALOT compasred to my primary.I pulled the secondary off and removed 2 shims.This helped,BUT I will check the alignment with the tool.
A N Y W A Y if you have stock pipe remove it and the clutch cover and visually eye up the alignment.Mine was so bad you could see it easily!!!I suspect the dealer didn't put the shims back in or the incorrect amount????
Hope this helps.
These sleds are way to much fun to beat on...rather than look at.
 
A
Jun 23, 2004
1,954
545
113
Black Diamond, WA
Hey, I'd really look at the motor mounts. DD being replaced can't hardly mess anything up. If the sled's pulling 7900rpms and has good upshift and backshift, you can't really have a major clutching problem that would blow belts that quickly.
Had a ZR500 that had a broken mount. Engine felt solid, but was twisting under load and jacking the alignment up. Blew a belt (was an old belt), figured it just blew 'cause it had alot of mi on it. Next day, 40-50 mi later, the new belt blew (when my wife had it pegged at close to 9krpms), took out the clutch and belly pan too that time. Rode it another day, no problems, then found a busted mount when we got home. Bet it would have blown up soon again.
 
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