Oh man, not again!

[supertoast92]

Well I was out running this helix really hard yesterday for about an hour or so (donuts, drifting, burnouts, all that good stuff) in the massive snow we have gotten, and after awhile I started smelling burnt rubber. So when I bring the limping cart back home (noticing that the belt was slipping again), and I look at the engine, there was smoke coming from the CVT cooling exhaust

So we're tearing it down again. Do you think I ran it too hard, and it overheated? I was suggested that it might be a locked pulley.

[olderthan]

when you replace the belt this time
remove the rubber breather on front of cvt case
it probaly filled up with snow
replace with folded scott towel or two or three times folded wash cloth
reuse the clamp then watch it when it gets dirty wash or replace
olderthan

[olderthan]

if you need i can post a picture of the setup
olderthan

[olderthan]

i put a picture on my signature showing the setup
on my cvt
olderthan

[supertoast92]

Ah okay, thanks! I took a look at the intake before I put it together again last week, but as hard as I was running it I'll bet I dug up snow and it flew into the intake. Thanks!

[olderthan]

i am trying to upload picture again
olderthan

[olderthan]

i had to put the picture in a album
under my name if you need it
olderthan

[joshstep1]

Oh wow. That happened to me about a month ago, The smoke coming from the CVT. One person said it could be that the snow plugged up the CVT's air intake and that caused the overheat.

[supertoast92]

Originally Posted by joshstep1

Oh wow. That happened to me about a month ago, The smoke coming from the CVT. One person said it could be that the snow plugged up the CVT's air intake and that caused the overheat.

yeah I was thinking either an overheated cvt due to a blocked intake, or maybe a locked up pulley. Not sure yet, but when I was bringing it home the belt was slipping pretty badly.

[supertoast92]

Hey guys, very interesting thing happened today. We decided to put it up on a jacks and ran it in the garage while looking at the pulleys. Oddly enough everything seemed to be working fine. Only thing we saw was that the belt had been shaved off a bit on the left side (facing the outer edges of the pulleys), and there were bits of it we pulled off.

I took it out for a run and it was slipping (probably because it stretched, maybe not), but the longer I ran it the better it IMPROVED. It's not slipping now. I think I know what the problem was. I was doing 180s in the snow, and when I was still going backwards I was gunning it. I think that was chewing up the belt. Note to self: never do that again!

[joshstep1]

Yeah, that's probably some good advice for anyone. If you're going to do that, make sure you are in neutral. That's what I do when I feeling like being a show off, but that's good that the buggy still works.

[supertoast92]

Yeah, but the problem wasn't that the wheels were turning backwards, it was that I was giving it gas while in reverse so the drivetrain was trying to work to get it going back forward again. I don't think it matters if it's at idle and I do that. Doesn't pulling it out of gear on the fly cause gear damage?

[BuggyMaster]

I guess that could be kinda rough on it but we abuse ours pretty good. Heck, buggymastersjr took an entire trip around our track with the damn brake on. There was smoke coming out the breather. It still ran fine afterwards. We went trail riding last week and it was smoking under heavy conditions but not really slipping.

[ckau]

Yea, excessive heat in the cvt can kill a belt. That crappy little filter in the cvt intake clogs really easy . Most don't know there is a filter there that needs to be checked. The stock filter is very restrictive and not much good. The best solution is to remove the filter totally from inside the rubber boot ,then get a piece of flexible hose from a shop vac, connect the hose to the boot and run it up the frame to head high.Use zip ties to hold it in place so it won't flop around. you can put a uni filter or old pantyhose material for a filter if you want but it's not really necessary. . I don't use any filters. Check the outlet vent in the cvt cover to make sure it is not clogs with mud or trash. I open up the outlet with a grinder to help air flow. The idea is to get as much free flowing air through the cvt as possible. I have been doing this for years with no heat or problems to the cvt.
On another note: Don't use kevlar belts! They are plenty strong alright and stand up to heat better but but they wear down the pulley surfaces. causes grooves to get cut in and will ruin the faces of the variator and clutch pulleys. The Gates belts are the best. If something should malfunction, It's better to have the belt go before something else gets damaged.

[joshstep1]

Pretty good info. Thanks ckau

[supertoast92]

Yes, thanks for the info! We did take out the filter and clean it. There was a thick layer of caked mud and weeds on it so we washed it off and just put it back in.

[EJ Mac]

Don't put that restrictive POS back in do one of the things mentioned above or like Tom Syc mentioned in another thread take the entire rubber boot off and put a scotch brite pad there and clamp it with the clamp. That filter clogs in less than 5 minutes.

[racemybuick]

unless you ride in water above the CVT or super heavy mud or super heavy dust, I have found NO reason to run a filter at all! My doom is over 3 years old, and I have only used 2 belts in all this time, and one belt got trashed because I experimented with different fan and variator heights...


I run NO fitler, and sometimes (more recently than not), I havent even reinstalled my CVT cover... A couple years ago, I watched a gentleman with a 125cc buggy run flawless for an entire weekend of serious hard riding with NO cvt cover at all!!! he rode in mud, dust, water, everything that upper PA could throw at us, and his buggy ran great!

I like to show off what I have when I have it, so my CVT cover hasnt been on for a while... If I ride in sand i'll throw it back on, but if im just playing around in the snow or on my local trails, that CVT is NAKED!!!

Im not saying throw out your CVT covers, or remove YOUR filters, im just saying unless you ride in extreme conditions, there really is no reason why you should smother the CVT unit.



Have fun guys!!!


john

[kliff]

I made this out of stainless screen wire (ACE Hardware).

Carved a buck(mold) out of sot pine, for the finished shape, then started working the wire around and shaping it all the while. When about 90% done, pulled the buck out, shoved it onto the CVT intake, put a hoes clamp on it and forgot it.

Yeah, I know it's on a scooter, but that scooter spends more time in the woods than on the street, and it is a GY6.....

[PAbuggy]

I would not run a carbide or a helix with out the cvt cover on there is a bearing in the cover that holds the input shaft on the driven pully running with out it could cause major problems.