Simple question

[Verti-Kyle]

Anyone offer any insight?
I just bought my first sled this season (a 2006 Summit 800) which is completely stock.
I blew 2 belts in 2 days last time I was in Valemount and I have had several people advise me to remove the plastic clutch housing to improve clutch cooling. I took this advice and have removed this plastic housing (which I now realize is quite common practice for Doo owners).
Question is...there are some venting holes (from factory) in the side panel next to the clutch. Should I be covering those holes up with tape or something to prevent any snow getting into the clutch or is this a non-issue?
Are there any other tricks to improving clutch cooling (other than opening up the side panel when I take rest breaks).
Would appreciate any advice you seasoned sledders might have.
Cheers

 

[Showtime]

Lot's of guy's running the REV's such as myself have vent kits that can be purchased from Martin's or Rory's who is a site supporter. I made mine out of heavy guage plastic(the frame) and rapped it in a door screen material. i can't find pics but i know others have and i'm sure they'll post. It makes a huge difference. Try doing a search i started a thread on this a few months ago. Cheers & good luck.

 

[Summitric]

Anyone offer any insight?
I just bought my first sled this season (a 2006 Summit 800) which is completely stock.
I blew 2 belts in 2 days last time I was in Valemount and I have had several people advise me to remove the plastic clutch housing to improve clutch cooling. I took this advice and have removed this plastic housing (which I now realize is quite common practice for Doo owners).
Question is...there are some venting holes (from factory) in the side panel next to the clutch. Should I be covering those holes up with tape or something to prevent any snow getting into the clutch or is this a non-issue?
Are there any other tricks to improving clutch cooling (other than opening up the side panel when I take rest breaks).
Would appreciate any advice you seasoned sledders might have.
Cheers

HEY KYLE: NOPE LEAVE ALL THE VENTS WIDE OPEN... YOU'LL NEVER SEE ANY SNOW GET INTO THE BELT AREA AND ALL THE OPENINGS HELP WITH GETTING COOL AIR THROUGH THE BELT AREA..... I THINK THERE IS A VENT COVER OVER YOU FEET TOO... THE SKI-DOO DEALER REMOVED ALL MY VENTS AND FIBRE SCREENS EXCEPT THE ONE OVER THE AIR INTAKE FOR THE ENGINE(THEY DID TAKE THE SCOOP OFF THAT THOUGH). I WOULD RECOMEND GETTING THE "DUCK" SPACER(IT HELPS CENTER YOU SECONDARY AND FLOATS AND STAYS ALIGNED AND RUNS COOLER IN THE END TOO. HE HAS THEM FOR SALE UNDER THE CLASSIFIEDS, AND I THINK THEY ARE ABOUT $50.00...... BEST INVESTMENT FOR PROLONGING BELT LIFE.

 

[Summiteer]

I have the same sled, 2400 km and I'm on my second belt(first one is the spare). Didn't even know there was a plastic clutch cover, dealer removed it before I picked it up. Mine is stock too, the only thing I would recommend is the air intake prefilter if you are going to ride in the deep, keeps the foam from getting all clogged up with snow.

 

[2003Summit]

Re: Simple question - LONG ANSWER

If the belts are going that fast I can only think of three things (all of which I learned the hard way) - you may already know some of this stuff.

First: Belts need to be broke in. If you carry a spare belt, you need to brake it in on at least a 30-50km trail ride. If you put a new belt on and work it hard it will blow right away. If this is what you did, it could be your problem. Normally what I do with my new spare is trail ride it for 30km then put it away.

Next is how hard you are working it on a the climbs. Keep in mind these new sleds will climb a lot and also put out a lot of power. A small amount of clutch slip is normal, but those lost HP go strait into heating that belt up. It can only handle so much heat. If you are to the bar for too long you will blow the belt. 30 seconds to the bar is already getting to the point where you want to back off a fair bit and let things cool as you continue to climb. If you are to the bar for a minute or two you could blow the belt. I went wild one time with my 600 climbing about 4000 ft in about 5 minutes. It wasn't all that steep, maybe only 20 deg, but because of the deep snow I was hard on it all the way up. I was told that was way too much for too long for the belt - simple as that. If I had taken it slower it would have been ok. The clutching in that sled is A1 - it was the way I was operating it.

If it's not these two things, then I would say you might have a clutching problem. Venting helps with some heat issues, but I think in your case it's worse than that. If one clutch or the other is slipping more than just a bit, no amount of venting is going to help. There are quite a few things you should check, and I'm not really a clutch tuner so I couldn't tell you too much about what order and specifics, just things I have picked up along the way.

Some things I have learned, if one clutch is quite a bit hotter than the other, that's the one that is slipping - it will transfer heat through the belt and heat the other clutch up as well, but one will be quite a bit hotter than the other. If everything is running good, they both might be warm, but more importantly will both feel about the same - and you should be able to hold your hand on either. If one gets quite a bit hotter that's bad.

Another bad sign is RPM's doing funny things (drifting, going too high, too low). RPMs should go to about say 8150 (check your spec) and stay there when you are on the trigger (doo tachs are out about 150RPM, you might see 8300 on the tach - your dealer often knows how much the tach is out by).

I guess an obvious thing is make sure you are running the right belt. Then check alignment and deflection first, set them to spec - then do some test runs and watch RPM's throughout the shift range, and also check for clutch heat. You don't need to be in the hills to do this, you can do it on flat land. If things are still not good, your going to need to look into the clutches. Some times it's a simple matter of taking them apart and cleaning up the parts and replacing warn parts and your good (no retuning necessary). Some times it involves re-tuning the clutches. There is an excellent link here and a good intro into tuning: Clutching IQ - Northern Catalyst Performance Clutching Systems. Read this over a few times. It doesn't matter if you will not retune yourself or don't understand it all, it will help you enough to know what to ask or look for.

You can get tools and parts from your dealer (a little more expensive), or you can order them from royaldistributing (a little slower). To take the primary off and apart you need a puller, a spring compressor and button retainers (these tools aren’t really that expensive from royal).

Thing to remember about tuning is don't just experiment. Tuning is not black magic, these transmissions are very well understood and very predictable (they have been very well understood for a long time, just not many people know). If you change the wrong thing it can get crazy and carried away on you and you will never get it. Don't change anything with the tuning unless you really understand what and why.

Start out with simple stuff, hopefully they are just dirty or out of alignment, or just some worn parts. If it's more than that, quite a few guys on here will know just what you need to make an adjustment. But you will need to be sure what the sled is not doing right before you get advice.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[Verti-Kyle]

Re: Simple question - LONG ANSWER

If the belts are going that fast I can only think of three things (all of which I learned the hard way) - you may already know some of this stuff.

First: Belts need to be broke in. If you carry a spare belt, you need to brake it in on at least a 30-50km trail ride. If you put a new belt on and work it hard it will blow right away. If this is what you did, it could be your problem. Normally what I do with my new spare is trail ride it for 30km then put it away.

Next is how hard you are working it on a the climbs. Keep in mind these new sleds will climb a lot and also put out a lot of power. A small amount of clutch slip is normal, but those lost HP go strait into heating that belt up. It can only handle so much heat. If you are to the bar for too long you will blow the belt. 30 seconds to the bar is already getting to the point where you want to back off a fair bit and let things cool as you continue to climb. If you are to the bar for a minute or two you could blow the belt. I went wild one time with my 600 climbing about 4000 ft in about 5 minutes. It wasn't all that steep, maybe only 20 deg, but because of the deep snow I was hard on it all the way up. I was told that was way too much for too long for the belt - simple as that. If I had taken it slower it would have been ok. The clutching in that sled is A1 - it was the way I was operating it.

If it's not these two things, then I would say you might have a clutching problem. Venting helps with some heat issues, but I think in your case it's worse than that. If one clutch or the other is slipping more than just a bit, no amount of venting is going to help. There are quite a few things you should check, and I'm not really a clutch tuner so I couldn't tell you too much about what order and specifics, just things I have picked up along the way.

Some things I have learned, if one clutch is quite a bit hotter than the other, that's the one that is slipping - it will transfer heat through the belt and heat the other clutch up as well, but one will be quite a bit hotter than the other. If everything is running good, they both might be warm, but more importantly will both feel about the same - and you should be able to hold your hand on either. If one gets quite a bit hotter that's bad.

Another bad sign is RPM's doing funny things (drifting, going too high, too low). RPMs should go to about say 8150 (check your spec) and stay there when you are on the trigger (doo tachs are out about 150RPM, you might see 8300 on the tach - your dealer often knows how much the tach is out by).

I guess an obvious thing is make sure you are running the right belt. Then check alignment and deflection first, set them to spec - then do some test runs and watch RPM's throughout the shift range, and also check for clutch heat. You don't need to be in the hills to do this, you can do it on flat land. If things are still not good, your going to need to look into the clutches. Some times it's a simple matter of taking them apart and cleaning up the parts and replacing warn parts and your good (no retuning necessary). Some times it involves re-tuning the clutches. There is an excellent link here and a good intro into tuning: Clutching IQ - Northern Catalyst Performance Clutching Systems. Read this over a few times. It doesn't matter if you will not retune yourself or don't understand it all, it will help you enough to know what to ask or look for.

You can get tools and parts from your dealer (a little more expensive), or you can order them from royaldistributing (a little slower). To take the primary off and apart you need a puller, a spring compressor and button retainers (these tools aren’t really that expensive from royal).

Thing to remember about tuning is don't just experiment. Tuning is not black magic, these transmissions are very well understood and very predictable (they have been very well understood for a long time, just not many people know). If you change the wrong thing it can get crazy and carried away on you and you will never get it. Don't change anything with the tuning unless you really understand what and why.

Start out with simple stuff, hopefully they are just dirty or out of alignment, or just some worn parts. If it's more than that, quite a few guys on here will know just what you need to make an adjustment. But you will need to be sure what the sled is not doing right before you get advice.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Thanx, that is some sound advice. I thought I gave my belt enough of a break in, but it was a brand new belt I put on and I was breaking it in in pretty deep snow. Next belt I will break in on the trail up and then put it away as a spare. I Doo have alot to learn about how to keep my sled happy, cause this is my first sled and I think I just get way too throttle happy with all that power.
I have a feeling that the second belt that blew (only had about 50 kms) might have been defective cause the whole top layer of the belt came off but it never actually snapped.
Anyways, I think I need to educate myself a bit more on the world of clutches.
Cheers

 

[Trencher]

Hey Buddy the only thing i can add is make sure your clutches are aligned and if they are you can look into maybe getting a Kevlar belt. I ride a 700 Rmk and had some belt issues and i put in a vent kit( $90.00) And threw in a kevlar belt With dual cooling fins ($190.00) And have not had trouble since.

 

[glengine]

There are a few things that you can do.. It probably has a steel primary spring in the clutch which you should change every year cause they sack out.. Also you should clean your clutches at least twice a year.. A Vent kit like the ones they have at specialty sleds. Also remove all the foam from under the hood, alls it's there for is noise deadening.. And the peice that your computer mounts to has a big extra peice on it, take it out and cut it down to only what you need to mount your comp and then re rivet it in and reinstall your comp.. Will all help in air flow and keeping things cool...But i would definitely get the inside of your clutches cleaned..