[rorischak]

Hey everyone,

Also, I have about 250miles on my sled and my belt is flush with the top of my secondary...Is this correct?

Where is everyone elses belt sitting? I just bought a spare belt for $80.00 (completely insane price) I was going to put the new belt on just to see where it is sitting on the secondary.

Can someone give advice?

 

[skeboy]

After the first 300 miles, my belt was sitting about a 16th below. I added one medium shim and it raised the belt to about a 16th above. Engagement and shifting was much better after adding the shim. Hope this helps. :thumbsup:

 

[rorischak]

Thanks Skeboy,

Ok, it is pretty easy to say I am no mechanic but I am not a complete idiot either. Is it difficult to pull the clutch off and add a shim?

Where do you buy the shim?

How long would it take to do the process?

Lastly, what changes did you see in the riding in terms of shifting and acceleration?

Sorry for all the questions but you guys on here are amazing at this sort of thing. I wish I had someone around my area so I could watch and get a little lesson.

thanks

 

[skeboy]

Roris, my no means am I a mechanic, not alone a clutch expert, but this sort of adjustment is quick and easy for most anyone. (unless you haven't ever taken your clutch cover off before badcomputer bang your head ) First off, you won't need to take the clutch off. On the secondary, simply back the hex head bolt out, and the small aluminum hub needs to be taken out of the secondary. I had to take a small screw driver to pry it out a bit before I could just pull and twist it out. Once this has been removed, you will see the shims (washers) and a rubber o ring. I believe I had one thin, maybe one medium and then a few thick shims. Just remove the o ring, (becarefull not to rip or tear it) and add whatever shim you need. Adding a shim raises the belt in the pulley, and removing shims lowers the belt height. In my case I believe my dealer gave me a thick shim and by adding this shim, my belt looked to be setting about 1/8" up. According to the manual, it looks like Cat wants about a 1/16th max, so I left the added thick shim on and removed a medium, which netted an add of one medium shim. (two medium shims are about the thickness of one thick. Again this is a approximation in that I didn't use my calibers) After adding your shim(s) put your o ring back on and place this assembly back in the secondary and tighten your bolt back to about 32 ft-lbs (pg 79 in your manual) You will need to start your machine and throttle it a few feet to engage the clutches to see how high or low the belt is going to ride. Most dealers should have shims in stock for sale. This whole process shouldn't take more that about ten minutes max. As far as the difference it made, as my belt broke in, the clutch would make a hard clunk sound when it engaged and at about 5-5,500 rpm it would shift hard and almost bog the engine down. After adding the shim, the clutches engage super smooth and you don't feel the drastic all of the sudden shift now. Again, I'm not a clutch guy, so take this for whats its worth and I hope this helps. If anyone in the know can add to this, please do, as I like reading the clutching posts. :thumbsup:

 

[Morgan]

It's more important to have the correct belt deflection. Where it sits in the secondary is controlled by the deflection. Don't just take for granted that if you have it sitting 1/8" above it has the right deflection.
It all has to be right, starting with the center to center distance and parallelism as well as offset. Once you have these critical dimensions set, then you adjust the belt deflection to spec. It usually is 1.25". Adjust the secondary to achieve the 1.25" no matter where the belt rides in the secondary. It just so happens that a perfect set up will usually put the belt about 1/16" to 1/8" above the top of the sheave. By no means should you just take for granted your C to C is correct from the factory. I have never seen one yet that is even close on a Arctic Cat.

 

[Redd]

Rorischak: You buy the Shims (Washers) from your Cat Dealer. They are more like a washer and gold in color. About one and half inches in diameter. There are three thickness of washers. Buy one of each, not that expensive.

I just finished doing this with my F5. Usually, you don't get this much stretch in the first 100 easy miles, but it sounds like everyone is having the same experience.

This is real easy to do. Remove the left hand Plastic Side Cover to expose the clutch. You probably don't have to remove the clutch cover, but it would make it easier to see the belt on the top of the Secondary. If you do remove the Clutch Cover, that will be by far the hardest part of the whole procedure. It is a real brute to remove, but you should probably get used to it just in case you need to do it out on the trail. Remove the front of the cover first be prying out on the outside tab and twisting up on the inside tab to get it out first. You will swear something is going to break, either the cover or your fingers, it is that tight! Once you get the front out of the bracket, you will see how to get the back released. You move the cover back to release the tab from the slot. You will be cursing Cat Engineers guaranteed. After that it's a piece of cake!

Remove the clutch bolt. No need to remove clutch or belt. The bolt comes out thru a cap about 2" in diameter. Remove the cap. You may have to pry a little with a small screwdriver as there is an "O" ring that causes just a bit of frition. As you pull out this cap you will see it it more then just a cap and holds an assortment of washers like the ones you just bought. Note the quantity and size of washers as a reference point. If you get it all messed up, you can always go back to the factory setting. Remove the "O" ring and you can play around with the washers to get your belt the right height on the Secondary.

The top cogs of the belt should be pretty much above the secondary, with the corded section of the belt that is right below the cogged section, dead even with the top of the secondary. You add a washer and put it all back together and tighten the clutch bolt to spec.(Don't quote me, but I think only about 20 ft/lbs) Only going into aluminum so don't torque on it too much! Slide the belt on the Secondary to make sure it is at the top or start it up and rotate the track a couple of times. if the belt is not where you want it to be, do it all over again. Another good rule, is that you should still beable to slide the belt on the secondary by hand with some effort. If you can't you are possibly too tight.

That's it. The clutch guard is the worst part of it all. I don't know what Cat was thinking!

With the belt adjusted properly, you should notice easier, quicker take off's, with less effort and hesitation. Having the belt too low on the secondary is like taking off in second gear.

Hopefully these belts don't continue to stretch, because there is only so much room for washers. We might be buying alot of new belts. Keep in mind that if you install a new belt, you will have to go back to the factory setting for washers, so take note of what is there when you first pull out that cap and write it down somewhere.

Good Luck, Redd

 

[Houleigan]

Great, I was just wondering about all this and this post answered all my questions, now I just need shims, thanks all

 

[Redd]

I suppose Morgan is right about the proper C to C distance, but to check that properly you need the special tools from Cat, other wise you are fishing in the dark. You might as well just go back to the dealer. It doesn't have to be that complicated. Obviously everything is inter-related, but I would assume the factory settings are close. If you happened to notice where the belt sat when new, and it was above the secondary by the right amount, then it is obvious that the lower position is do to belt wear and stretch. The shim system is there to correct this. If you feel the performance is not at it's best after the Shim adjustment, then it is time to go see your dealer.

Redd