PZII Belt failures

twomorestrokes

twomorestrokes

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Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Messages
61
Age
66
Location
Charlotte, MI.
This #$%&* Phazer just exploded a drive belt. Although we haven't owned it long, it has had other failures as I have found pieces of belt in the belly pan and looks like the old belt guard was damaged in a past failure. No guard on it when we bought it, just a badly bent pin left behind. Has a new guard on it now. Any pointers where to look for problems? The belt appeared fairly new and worked good all last weekend. That was the only real ride time my son has had on it due to one problem after another. Got it out today and the neighbor kid got on it and came limping back out of the field with what remained of the badly shredded belt...
 
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take a look at the engine mounts.

If any are bad, or a bolt is broken holding the motor down you will shred belts quickly.
 
clutches sound like they need cleaning and going through. i would take the primary off and clean the faces with a scotch bright pad or really fine emorycloth. check the rollers and weights and toss a new primary spring in there. i would also do the clutch faces on the secondary and check the sliders. sounds like it was slipping in one of the clutches causing the belt to get too hot.

double check the centre to centre and offset while you are at it. this should solve the problem unless they are a crappy belt. what kind was on it when it blew?
 
I just took a look at the belt remains. I thought it was a Yammy belt but turns out it was a Carlisle Max 2 belt. It separated along the layers and broke a bunch of cords, spitting a bunch of fuzz out the footrest holes. The clutch sheave faces look to be in good shape, and the belt I put on there looks straight, but I have never had to check alignment, offset, etc. so I'm not sure how to do it. My son rode it for a couple hours straight last weekend with no issues. I wish I could get a straight answer what exactly happened, but it happened to the neighbor kid who took off on it without anyone around and went screamin down the farm field and back. It is working good again with an old spare belt on it. Anyone have any experiences with Carlisle belts? Wonder if it was just a poor quality belt. This sled has left me kinda gun shy though as it has has so many issues since we got it...
 
carlisle belts are good belts, they bought out the ultimax and the whole belt line form Dayco a couple years back.
 
Guess I'll keep an eye on things then. I know the engine mounts are good as I had to unhook them to replace the cooling fan a couple weeks ago.
 
LoneViper said:
I would sure check alighnment as you had the mounts loose for the starter. The clutches have to run true.
Click to expand...

Yes that would be the thing to check. If the belt is not running straight, it won't last long.
But don't get too upset about blowing a belt, it is a common thing to happen on a snowmobile.
 
Have to get an alignment tool to check, correct? I did not loosen the motor mount adjusting bolts, just the single nuts on the posts so they didn't move during the repairs. That doesn't mean things were straight to begin with though. The sled has had recent engine work with a new upper end before I bought it. I am not too concerned about it blowing a belt on me, except I can tell it has had this issue with the past owner too. That is what took out the fan blades. An old piece of drive belt got in there from before and finally got caught. Sorry for all of the questions but I knew I could get some answers here.
 
The sheave offset is .47-.59 inch.
The center to center distance is 10.5-10.6 inches.

It is best to get the pulley distance in the ballpark first, measure between the center of the 2 bolts. You can make an allowance for the offset of the 2 bolt heads.

Take a 1/2 inch rod or bolt or dowel etc. and insert it between the driven pulley sheaves. Insert it as if you held it horizontal above the pulley and lowered it straight down. It should be all the way down so that it touches the shaft and long enough so the pulley comes against it fore and aft. Using 2 with 1 on each side would be better so the pulley is straight but one of them will usually fall out. Hold a piece of string taut on the back side of the pulleys to check the alignment. If you have something straight, that can be used too. Check above and below the shafts on the side of the pulleys.
You may have to loosen the motor mounts on the crankcase to get the vertical alignment correct.
Think of how the motor will pivot to the rear under load and how the alignment will change. If the pulleys are not parallel it is better to have any difference so that the pulleys will be straighter when under load and have no clearance the other way.
Remeasure the pulley distance.

Good luck. Setting the pulleys on a Phazer can be a very trying experience.
Hopefully you are in a place where swearing will not bother anyone.
 
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Thanks! Believe it or not I haven't had any belt failures on any of my sleds since many years ago on my old '80 Exciter, when I used to scrounge up the best looking used belt hanging on the barn wall to replace the failed one with! Since then, I have had newer sleds and always kept newer belts on them. Actually having to check alignment, etc is something I haven't had to deal with much until now.

I'll get back with you after checking things out again.
 
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