Quick drive owners thoughts?

[sledneck_03]

This topic turned into a cluster f*ck on snowest.

Whats your thoughts on the fire n ice idler for the quick drive? Its suppose to stop teeth shear from heat expansion in the belt when the belt balloons.



Only has maybe a lb force. Looks like it could work to keep belt tight against top pully on and off throttle. Should work if you look at cmx one has an interior idler.



Donk know if its worth it to save a belt? New belts suppose to be more robust. But i see that fire n ice took this idler off their online store.

 

[chemmod]

I don't know maybe if your turbo'd, but proper break in and you should be fine, mine have 1500 hard kms on it and required a re-torque and the belt looks brand new still.

 

[Pistonbroke]

I don't know maybe if your turbo'd, but proper break in and you should be fine, mine have 1500 hard kms on it and required a re-torque and the belt looks brand new still.

I'll see your 1500kms and raise you 7 pounds of boost....belt still looks new!

 

[sledneck_03]

I'll see your 1500kms and raise you 7 pounds of boost....belt still looks new!

Sounds good. Snowest babies worry me for nothing once again

 

[+SLEDWRECKS+]

We had 3 in our group last season with 1000+ km on belts, and all 3 snapped/stripped belts in April. Setup snow and warm weather i'm guessing attributed to this. All sleds were well vented aswell. Hopefully these new belts hold up better to heat. The only one that lasted all season was a Boost-it pro @ 8 - 10 lbs....go figure ! But he runs 7 tooth drivers with a 174 x 2.5"

 

[stormtrooper]

If you are going to put an idler on, preference would be to push the belt in, not out, to increase wrap on drive sprocket. Tension and alignment are two most important factors to consider if trying to improve reliability of these drives. So what ever you do ....... should address / improve these issues. Considering that a lot of things can lead to problems with either of these considerations ... Eg.. Drive shaft deflection and bearing fits for example, I would hazard a guess poo's solution will include several changes and you will probably never here the whole story. It will be more like, "we went back the the manufacturer and had them solve their quality control issues with their belt manufacturing....". So here is the belt and stop bothering us.

 

[stormtrooper]

Just curious ..... has anyone actually weighed all the components for a conversion from a chain drive. Apples to apples all things included.

 

[stormtrooper]

Btw the crazy mtn setup looks well built. Are the sprocket diameters they use bigger,because that would help too. More teeth engaged. One concern with the belt drive is the belt looks wider than a chain would be, this would increase the shaft deflection and increase the bearing load on the jack and drive shafts because the load is acting father away from the bearing. If this additional load was considered in their design , that's great. If not, hopefully the original design was over designed.

 

[cdnredneck_t3]

Here are my $.02. I am a Millwright and have a good working knowledge of the Gates Polychain GT. They are a great improvement over a V-Belt set-up as far as efficiency is concerned. In my experience though when they fail they fail, time for a new belt. I see the same modes of failure in an industrial setting, stripped cogs and snapped belts. Usually these are attributed to a fan back blading and the motor going from 30 rpm in reverse rotation to 1800 rpm forward just like catching air and hitting the snow with the track spinning flat out. Belt tension is also very crucial, too much or not enough and you wear out sheaves and belts because of improper mesh. The best way to tension them is to use a strobe light and go for proper sheave and belt mesh under full load and rpm.

Now with that being said I have a 2013 PRO RMK. I only have 160 miles on it but I fully expect belt problems at some point down the road along with some bearing issues. We shed some pounds but have a little more maintenance to do and I am fine with that and the belt set-up. That is the beauty of sledding. It is two hobbies in one, sledding and fixing.

 

[Fatdaddy]

Here are my $.02. I am a Millwright and have a good working knowledge of the Gates Polychain GT. They are a great improvement over a V-Belt set-up as far as efficiency is concerned. In my experience though when they fail they fail, time for a new belt. I see the same modes of failure in an industrial setting, stripped cogs and snapped belts. Usually these are attributed to a fan back blading and the motor going from 30 rpm in reverse rotation to 1800 rpm forward just like catching air and hitting the snow with the track spinning flat out. Belt tension is also very crucial, too much or not enough and you wear out sheaves and belts because of improper mesh. The best way to tension them is to use a strobe light and go for proper sheave and belt mesh under full load and rpm.

Now with that being said I have a 2013 PRO RMK. I only have 160 miles on it but I fully expect belt problems at some point down the road along with some bearing issues. We shed some pounds but have a little more maintenance to do and I am fine with that and the belt set-up. That is the beauty of sledding. It is two hobbies in one, sledding and fixing.

Very well said, we pay big bucks to lighten up our sleds & never moan when a aftermarket part breaks, we simply fix it and move on, that is all part of lighter sleds, good for Polaris on trying something different otherwise we just would be riding the same old thing year after year

 

[E-Zmoke]

I think it is a great idea, it's simple and IMO cheap cost wise. Anything is better then nothing and can only help for the better. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if your interested in it, and if it will work for your application? Lots of turbo brackets use those same mounting holes, so one may have to modify it slightly in order for it to work.

I would have to say I'm fairly happy with my QD system. I made it through the whole year on the original belt (1000 miles) all boosted, running a 3" track and I wasn't easy on it. I kept a very close eye on the system last year. I increased the torque spec on the top pulley mid season and it never once came lose. The belt temps were fairly low, but I am vented so I'm sure that helped. The top pulley temps were very hot, bottom sprocket temps were great. I think that it is important to run some kind of footwell vent to keep the snow out. Last year I experienced excessive amounts of snow in and around the belt. It would melt then freeze. I kept finding myself cleaning the snow and or ice out every time I stopped. If you never cleaned the excess snow out and left it over night you would have a frozen surprise in the morning. Call me OCD but before moving my sled I always check these things and remove any ice build up from the previous day. I added a footwell vent half way through the year and it greatly reduced snow/ice build up to basically a minimum. Highly recommend them to anyone who experienced this last year.

My jackshaft is currently being pulled for inspection and bearings serviced/replaced if needed. I think this should be done once a season. My bottom sprocket has started to pit leaving it fairly sharp in the groves where the belt sits and the coating that is on the sprocket has failed, and it's starting to chip off. I guess this is why Polaris went to a different material this year. I will be taking mine in to see what they say about it and if they will warranty the bottom sprocket. Other then that like I said I think it's a pretty decent system. I am happy with it.

I am curious though to anyone running a C3 belt drive, how hot does the top sprocket in comparison to the QD system get?

Thanks

 

[stormtrooper]

Here are my $.02. I am a Millwright and have a good working knowledge of the Gates Polychain GT. They are a great improvement over a V-Belt set-up as far as efficiency is concerned. In my experience though when they fail they fail, time for a new belt. I see the same modes of failure in an industrial setting, stripped cogs and snapped belts. Usually these are attributed to a fan back blading and the motor going from 30 rpm in reverse rotation to 1800 rpm forward just like catching air and hitting the snow with the track spinning flat out. Belt tension is also very crucial, too much or not enough and you wear out sheaves and belts because of improper mesh. The best way to tension them is to use a strobe light and go for proper sheave and belt mesh under full load and rpm.

Now with that being said I have a 2013 PRO RMK. I only have 160 miles on it but I fully expect belt problems at some point down the road along with some bearing issues. We shed some pounds but have a little more maintenance to do and I am fine with that and the belt set-up. That is the beauty of sledding. It is two hobbies in one, sledding and fixing.

I agree with this guy ..... 100% .... And I too enjoy maintaining my sled. The part that drives me bonkers about the guys selling these things is saying its reduced maintenance.. The belt is not going to be less maintenance or more reliable and I will argue no more efficient than an oem chain drive and as studies show a hy-vo chain drive is over 99.5% efficient so there is no payback there. The only conceivable payback will be in weight savings, namely rotational, that's why I am curious on the weight savings. Guys are out there saying their 2013 pro is so much more responsive than their 2012 ... I want to know why. I'm thinking it's not the belt drive.

Back to the original post, that little tensioner is a good idea. If I had a 2013 pro, I would probably buy one. Of the guys I ride with, only one out of four that had 2013 pro, didn't have one fail. So it can't hurt. At least it allows you to adjust the tension if the belt gets slack due for whatever reason. Product of the year! At least a second choice to a chain drive coversion. Lol

 

[rempel1]

I have 13 QD myself, id like to look into once of these. where can ya find some more info on these idlers?

 

[sledneck_03]

I have 13 QD myself, id like to look into once of these. where can ya find some more info on these idlers?

I pm'd you back but its here